Scripture: Nehemiah 9:1-37
Sermon Series: Nehemiah: Making a Difference for God – Sermon 11

Our black lab, Harley, is a senior citizen so we’re having to watch her more and make sure she goes outside so she doesn’t have accidents. The other day Jane asked me to make sure that Harley got outside. Well, I got busy and sure enough Harley left us a “present.”

When Jane got home and saw the gift, she asked me if I had let Harley out, and I responded as I’ve seen other professionals do: “I plead the 5^th.”

Now that didn’t really happen. Wouldn’t it be refreshing though if instead of making excuses, or blaming others, if one of our leaders simply confessed: “I blew it. I was wrong. I take full responsibility.”

Some of us are the Watergate Generation. Wouldn’t it have been refreshing, wouldn’t the nation have rallied around him, if President Nixon, instead of a botched cover-up had simply confessed, “What my people did was criminal, but they’re my people and I take full responsibility”?

We’re coming to the end of our study of the book of Nehemiah. We’ve moved from rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem to something much more important – rebuilding the people. God is more concerned about our hearts that what we do. Mark it down – Intimacy with God requires honest confession. Because we’re so prone to sin and because God is rich in mercy, ongoing confession and repentance must be a core part of our lives.

If you want to be a growing Christian, you must have a grip on this truth: Spiritual Health = Honest Confession. A sign that you’re maturing spiritually is a willingness to confess your sin. You can’t come to Christ, unless you admit you’re a sinner. You won’t grow spiritually unless there’s continual confession of sin. God longs to forgive and restore our relationship.

Look with me at Nehemiah 9:1-3 (p. 376). Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the people of Israel were assembled with fasting and in sackcloth, and with earth on their heads. And the Israelites separated themselves from all foreigners and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. And they stood up in their place and read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for a quarter of the day; for another quarter of it they made confession and worshiped the Lord their God.

The events of chapter 8, the Feast of Tabernacles, had ended. Feasting turned to fasting. Wearing sackcloth and putting dirt on one’s head was a sign of deep distress and a contrite heart. It was an expression of self-humiliation and grieving over sin.

They read God’s Word and saw their sin and failure.Reading God’s Word was followed by confession. The exposure to Scripture convicted hearts. Having a sensitive heart to God’s Word is crucial for repentance and walking forward with God. For three hours they read and then for three hours they confessed sin, both theirs and the nation’s. It was a six-hour service.

While God is not demanding six hours of us, it takes time to do business with God. Do you want to be close to God? You can’t do that with microwave intimacy. Too many, rather than our daily bread of God’s Word, scarf down a daily crouton and wonder why we’re spiritually emaciated.

There’s an important order here. First came the reading of Scripture, then confession, followed by worship. Why? God’s Word is like an EKG of our hearts. It reveals the disease of sin. Worship happens when there is a clean heart. Worship requires self-examination, confession and repentance of sin.

God did not design us to handle guilt. If you don’t confess sin, you must do something with the guilt. It’s what’s going on today. Why are so many so angry? Guilt. If you don’t get rid of guilt, you often cover it with anger.

Or, if you don’t deal with the guilt, you fall into depression. Why do we have an addiction epidemic? It’s an attempt to anesthetize guilt.

Famous psychiatrist, Dr. Karl Menninger wrote that if he could convince the patients in his psychiatric hospitals that [all] their sins are [truly] forgiven, 75% of them could walk out the next day. Confession and God’s forgiveness will revolutionize your life. 

Jerusalem was barely habitable. The mortar between the bricks is hardly cured. Poverty was problematic. They’re surrounded by enemies. But it is more important to have right hearts with a righteous God. There’s a lot in these nearly 40 verses, so let’s break it down into main themes that are vital to what is the longest recorded prayer in the Bible. If you’re taking notes…

1. God is way better than we think, vss. 6-10.

You are the Lord, You alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and You preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships You. You are the Lord, the God who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and gave him the name Abraham. You found his heart faithful before You, and made with him the covenant to give to his offspring the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite. And You have kept Your promise, for You are righteous. And You saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt and heard their cry at the Red Sea, and performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh and all his servants and all the people of his land, for You knew that they acted arrogantly against our fathers. And You made a name for Yourself, as it is to this day.

Did you see Young Washington? What a great movie about Washinton’s early days? Don’t you love origin stories? That’s…

Creation

This prayer of confession begins with the original origin story, God created everything. The most difficult verse for those who want to rule their own life is Genesis 1:1, In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1 means God is the Lord of heaven and earth…and us.

During the French Revolution, they wanted to get rid of Christianity. One clear night an atheist boastfully proclaimed his beliefs to a poor peasant: “Everything will be abolished, churches, Bibles, the clergy. Yes, even the word ‘God’ itself! We shall will remove everything that speaks of religion.” The peasant quietly chuckled, so the atheist wanted to know what he was laughing about. The peasant pointed to the stars and said, “I was wondering how you’re going to manage to get all of those bright lights out of the sky!”

Creation shouts of God’s sovereignty. He’s far greater than we can begin to imagine. To confess sin, we must begin with the greatness of God.

Promises

God made an eternal promise to Abraham to make him a great nation. The Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite (Nehemiah 9:8) are gone. Every day there’s some news story about Abraham’s descendants. God always keeps His promises. It’s why we must read the Bible, so we know God’s promises to us.

Last week’s message from Nehemiah 8 was about reading God’s Word. Are you doing that? You’ll never know God unless you read the Bible.

History

God interacted with His people through history. The best way to trust God in the present is to watch His faithfulness in the past. God has established a history and pattern of faithfulness.

Do you have a friend who’s always been there for you? Why are you still friends, maybe after years or decades? Because you have history. In a much greater way these Jews had a relationship with God because they had history.

And look at their history, they know that God sees and hears them, because He always has. We know that too based on God’s Word. Do you feel alone, like no one sees or hears you? God always sees and hears us!

Rescue

Do you think Putin will ever leave Ukraine alone? He would if he was Pharoah. Where do you think the pyramids came from? Jewish slave labor. Pharoah wasn’t letting his slaves go, but they cried out to God. The book of Exodus records that God sent ten plagues and Pharoah ends up begging them to leave. Once they’re gone, he changed his mind and tried to re-capture them. Verse 11 is picturesque. And You divided the sea before them, so that they went through the midst of the sea on dry land, and You cast their pursuers into the depths, as a stone into mighty waters (Nehemiah 9:11). Do you need rescuing? Are you enslaved by sin? God is in the rescue business.

Direction

God gave them the original GPS with His commandments. He didn’t leave them to figure it out. God gave them right rules and true laws, good statutes and commandments (Nehemiah 9:13). Why is the world in such a mess? We’re trying to live without God’s right rules and true laws.

Do you want to know how to live? Read God’s Word. It gives guidance for this life and the next. It tells us how to be forgiven by a just God for all of our mess and how to have a fulfilled life now and one for all eternity.

Provision

God gave them free groceries – manna in the morning and quail at night. For forty years, they didn’t have to go shopping. Forty years you sustained them in the wilderness, and they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell (Nehemiah 9:21).

Do you know why we struggle with stinginess with our time and money? We don’t believe God will come through for us. Seniors worry their retirement funds won’t be enough. Psalm 37:25 says, I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread. God knows our needs and will take care of us.

Slow to anger

Out of all God did for them, verse 17 is my favorite. But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them (Nehemiah 9:17).

God is slow to anger, sadly I’m not. Often I’m like Fred Castanza from Seinfeld and the Festivus celebration. Festivus has an aluminum pole instead of a Christmas tree. At dinner, they have the Airing of Grievances. They tell each other what the others have done to irritate them. Fred Castanza goes off with, I got a lot of problems with you people! How often do you feel that way? I got a lot of problems with you people!

God is slow to anger. That’s not all. He forgives, is gracious and will never forsake us. Have you been walked out on? God will never walk out on you. 

2. We are way worse than we think, vss. 16-30. 

Were you disgusted by the fights that broke out during the closing hours of the State Fair? Were you repulsed by some news story or injustice you learned about?

This chapter lists out at least nine sins Israel was guilty of and these Jews are confessing. They were sins on the inside, not outside. We’re comfortable with “outside” sins and happy to lob moral grenades at the culture. We’re fine with sins out there, but we don’t like to talk about the sins in here.

But this is the Jews’ sins. Most of the Bible doesn’t confront the sins of pagans. Those who don’t know God are expected to be godless. Instead, when the Bible confronts sin, it’s our sin. We’re way worse than we think we are. What were some sins we’re guilty of too?

Pride

Both verses 16 and 28 mention the sin of presumption. Yet they acted presumptuously (Nehemiah 9:28). It’s pride, relying on self. It’s worst and most deadly form is believing you can achieve salvation or be “good enough” through your own works, ignoring your need for God’s grace.

The first sin on God’s list that He hates is pride (Proverbs 6:16). Pride looks down on others, judging them for their sins because they’re not our sins. It’s thinking we have all the answers. It’s when we’re overly defensive, shifting blame, refusing to admit we’re wrong. It’s often a petty, critical spirit. Then, pride and prayerlessness are cousins. Why pray if you think you’ve got it all together?

In the church pride is often evidenced by being unwilling to ask for help yet always willing to help. We’re commanded to serve each other, and we all need help. Our pride often won’t let others help us. It hurts the church by not letting others use their gifts to serve us and serve the Lord.

Stiff-necked

Three times they confess they’ve been stiff-necked. Stiffened their neck and would not obey (verses 16, 17 & 30). “Stiff-necked” describes an obstinate attitude that refuses to submit to God’s guidance, much like an ox pulling away from its yoke.

Have you ever seen a baby refusing to do what mom and dad want? They stiffen their bodies and necks as if they could actually resist the will of the parent. We do that with God. There’s something His word says we should do and we refuse. 

What did they worship? A golden calf. Cows are stiff-necked. We become like our idols. Being stiff-necked is when God’s Spirit is pointing out something in our life, but we refuse to surrender.

Ignoring God’s Word

Verse 26, cast Your law behind their back. Tossing something behind your back means you throw it away. It’s like throwing gum out the window of your car.

In Nehemiah 8, we worked through the importance of reading the Bible and obeying it. So, have you read your Bible more this past week, or are you doing what you’ve always done? Are you committed to being faithfully under the preaching of God’s Word? Are you planning to be part of a small group this fall so that you can grow in your knowledge of Scripture?

The nation of Israel at different times in their history lost God’s Word. We haven’t lost it today. It’s just not a priority. What did you do this past week that has eternal significance, so you didn’t have time to read God’s Word?

It’s why we’re committed to building an addition. We want to make it easy for you to study God’s Word and build relationships. They stood for six hours…do you think we can maybe give up an extra hour?

Repeatedly unfaithful

Israel kept repeating the same sins. After they had rest they did evil again before you (Nehemiah 9:28). That sad cycle is clearly seen in the book of Judges. God often brings us to crisis points, so we’ll forsake sin. Too often sinfulness is a yo-yo pattern.

Salvation like birth is instantaneous. Sanctification, growing in grace, takes time, a lifetime. Often your spiritual growth is much slower than you’d like.

Are you like me? I hate it that I still struggle with sins I struggled with years ago. Maybe you’ve had that feeling where you’re thinking, “I know this sin is stupid, yet I find myself back at it and repeating it all over again.”

How many times have you been in a pickle and prayed, “God, if you get me out of this, I won’t do it again.” Then you do it again. Most of us can relate to this video. Isn’t that like us? This sheep doesn’t stumble into the crack; he launches into it. We are way worse than we think we are.

3. God’s love is way deeper than we think, vss. 31-37. 

Write Nehemiah 9:31 on your heart, Nevertheless, in your great mercies you did not make an end of them or forsake them, for you are a gracious and merciful God. Despite all their failures God kept forgiving them. God’s forgiveness is something no human could devise yet every human can experience.

What sins do you find most repulsive? What sins in your own life make you wonder if God can love and forgive you? The nation of Israel committed nearly every sin that there has ever been from child sacrifice to perverse immorality. They murdered the prophets God sent to them. There is no sin that the cross didn’t pay for. It can all be forgiven.

Twice we find this phrase, Steadfast love (verses 17 & 32). In the ESV, the term steadfast love appears 196 times. It means a loyal, covenant-keeping, unyielding love that never stops.

Unlike our fickle human emotions, it’s God’s commitment to show love and mercy even when we’re unfaithful. These Jews had been unfaithful and unlovable. Ultimately, they’ll murder God’s Son, Jesus BUT God still loves them. And He loves you and He loves me, even when we’re so unlovable.

This is why God has not called us to save America. He’s called us to save Americans. He called Israel and the early church to rescue their world. Israel was to be His light among the nations. The Church has been called to share God’s light. The gospel, God’s gift of grace, is the only hope of our world.

Jill Briscoe shares this wonderful story. I have a friend who went to see a woman who was about to be executed. The woman asked her to be present at the execution. My friend asked the convict, “Francis, are you absolutely sure you are a believer? That you’ve come to know Jesus? Do you know your sins are forgiven? Do you know in one hour’s time you’re going to go through that front door, and you’re going to be with God. You do know that don’t you?” “Yes,” she replied, “I know. But my sin is so big. I’ve killed. I’ve taken a life. That’s so big.”

Jill’s friend then told her about walking along the beach on a holiday and seeing a little crab come out of a tiny hole. She walked along, and a child was making a sandcastle. The hole was bigger. Then she walked along, and there were some men excavating in the area. It was now a huge, great hole. As she walked along, the tide came in, filling up the hole.

That’s what the blood of Christ does—it fills up the hole. I don’t care if it’s a big hole. I don’t care if it’s a tiny hole. Even the little hole hurts God as much as the big hole. Sin hurts God but the blood of Jesus can fill any and every hole. My friend, have you let Him fill the hole of sin in your life?

4. God’s cure is way more liberating than we think. 

As they read God’s Word, the more they realized how vile their sin was. The only cure was confession. It’s by confessing our sin to God that our soul begins healing.

There’s a paradox in the Christian life: the longer you walk with God, the more godly you become. Yet, the more godly you become, the more you’re aware of the sinfulness of your own heart.

It was not at the beginning of Paul’s Christian life, but toward the end that he said, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them all (1 Timothy 1:15, NLT). The closer Paul walked with God the more he was aware of his own sinfulness, even though he was growing in holiness. The more you spend time in God’s Word and know God, the more you’re aware of sin in your life. It will keep you dependent on God’s grace.

Too many Christians are losing the “Blame Game.” It goes back to Adam who blamed Eve and God when he sinned. We blame our children, our spouse, our parents, our boss, or our employees. There is no freedom in the “Blame Game. There’s only one cure for sin – honest confession!

We can’t add Christ to our lives but not subtract sin. There is no real change in belief without a change in behavior. Their prayer of confession flowed out of reading of God’s Word. The Bible reveals to us the real condition of our hearts because sin blinds us to our own heart’s condition.

These Jews read God’s Word and confessed their sin. When it comes to sin, we have four options. 

1. We can live in denial with no sense of sin.
2. We can rationalize.
3. We can try to fix it ourselves like Adam and cover ourselves with fig leaves.
4. We can confess and repent. That’s the biblical and the only cure.

Confession literally means to say the same thing. Confession is simply agreeing with God about our sin. It’s not pleading for forgiveness. It’s simply agreeing with God that He’s right and we’re wrong. Confession always begins with God. It begins with His Word. When I compare myself with the absolute holiness of God, I recognize that I fall miserably short. We need to view sin as God views it. God sees sin as a rebellion against His authority and defiance of His law. It’s not the size of the sin but the holiness of God that makes our sin so grievous in His sight.

What’s the only unforgivable sin? The one that you won’t confess. There’s nothing more miserable than a Christian living in known sin. He can’t enjoy his sin because of a guilty conscience, and he can’t enjoy fellowship with God because of failing to confess sin and repent. To many Christians have merely learned to manage their sin, when God wants us to confess it.

Periodically, there’s talk of revival in our country. Revival only takes place when there’s confession of sin. In Nehemiah 9, there’s revival. Do you want revival in your life, in our church? Then, we must be honest about sin, confess it and repent of it. Without getting rid of the cancer of sin, we can’t be cured. God’s cure is way more liberating than we think.

Conclusion

These Jews got honest about sin and God blessed them. He wants to do that for you and me. Confession begins by acknowledging that God is right, then, admitting that you’re wrong. And finally, repent and by His grace, commit to change. It’s not easy, but as we depend on Christ, He will complete the good work He started in us when we called upon His name; He’ll transform us until we reflect His glory! Please, don’t put it off any longer. Confess your sins and find out what it means to be truly forgiven.

Steve Brown talks about the time when early in his pastoral ministry he counseled a woman who, some twenty years before, had been unfaithful to her husband. For years that sin had haunted her, and Steve was the first person she’d ever told about it. After they talked and prayed for a long time, Steve recommended she tell her husband. It wasn’t easy for her, but she promised she would tell him. 

“Pastor,” she said, “I trust you enough to do what you ask, but if my marriage falls apart as a result, I want you to know I’m going to blame you.” She didn’t smile when she said that, either.

That’s when Steve Brown commenced to pray with a high degree of seriousness. (He says, “I pray best when I’m scared.”) “Father,” he prayed, “if I gave her dumb advice, forgive me and clean up my mess.”

He saw her the next day, and she looked fifteen years younger. “What happened?” he asked. “When I told him,” she exclaimed, “he replied that he had known about the incident for twenty years and was just waiting for me to tell him so he could tell me how much he loved me!”

And then she started to laugh. “He forgave me twenty years ago, and I’ve been needlessly carrying all this guilt for all these years!

My friend, Jesus died for all your sin 2,000 years ago. Why are you needlessly carrying all this guilt? God wants to set you free. He wants to heal you. He’s promised that If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). Confess your sin and let Him forgive you today! Run to the Savior! Run to the cross! Jesus is waiting for you with open arms!