The Joy of Discipline
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The Joy of Discipline
Nehemiah 9:26-31
INTRODUCTION
Continuation of the prayer of Israel.
Prayer of repentance.
Understanding of past sins is also an understanding of how God dealt with the sin.
Punishment vs Discipline
Punishment= make you pay for a crime.
Discipline= shape your behavior so you do better.
26 “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.
27 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.
28 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.
29 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.
30 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.
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.
4 Actions of God Toward Our Rebellion
1- God Gives Warnings (26)
1- God Gives Warnings (26)
26 “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.
“nevertheless”= The verses before. He gave them the Promised Land.
Land flowing with milk and honey.
homes already stocked with food.
“cast law behind back”
Rebellion and ignoring God’s law go together.
We keep God’s standards because we want to please him.
He also sent the prophets to warn them.
Ignorance is not an excuse because God sends people to speak for him and to do it clearly.
ILL- Parent Warning: Don’t stick things in the power outlets.
When they are little you do everything you can to make it impossible.
When they are teenagers, and decide to stick something in the power outlet, whose fault is it?
God gives us boundaries because he knows the consequences of breaking the boundaries.
God gives us boundaries for sex.
God gives us boundaries for money.
God gives us boundaries for relationships.
Boundaries are God’s way of loving us.
To not warn people of consequences is far from love.
He allows consequences to teach us lessons.
The purpose of consequences is to teach.
God warns us and would rather we not have the consequences. But the pain is not just punishment. It is to discipline.
2- God Provides Salvation (27)
2- God Provides Salvation (27)
27 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.
He Provides Saviors
Book of Judges
flow of book; People sin, enemy succeeds, God raises up a judge who brings victory.
10 And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.
11 And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals.
12 And they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them. And they provoked the Lord to anger.
13 They abandoned the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth.
14 So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he gave them over to plunderers, who plundered them. And he sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies, so that they could no longer withstand their enemies.
15 Whenever they marched out, the hand of the Lord was against them for harm, as the Lord had warned, and as the Lord had sworn to them. And they were in terrible distress.
16 Then the Lord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them.
Even though we fail he provides a way to salvation.
14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.
15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
3- God is Patient (28-30)
3- God is Patient (28-30)
28 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.
29 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.
30 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.
“you heard...many times”
The cycle continues to be repeated and God continues to bring discipline and forgiveness.
It is an example that he calls on us to live by.
21 Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?”
29 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.
God is patient despite our arrogance, stubbornness and disobedience.
Arrogant people who make a mistake… I don’t like to show them mercy.
30 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.
Many years.
Then discipline.
4- God Gives Second Chances(31)
4- God Gives Second Chances(31)
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.
God is gracious and merciful.
Gracious- Gives us what we do not deserve.
Merciful- Doesn’t give us what we do deserve.
ILL- Jordan and driving.
First day of school.- the flood.
The mysterious dent.
When I got the car- every fender had a dent removed and was painted.
So why did I buy her another vehicle.
She was getting it right.
Mercy and grace.
If a loving father shows mercy and grace how much more does the Perfect Father, our Heavenly Father, love us.
CONCLUSION
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Will you accept God’s love?
Will you accept God’s love?