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Sermon
of 06-21-03
Nehemiah 9 - Praise God for His Love
by Dr. D.A. Farmer, pastor
1 John 2:3-6;
"And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. 2:4
He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
2:5
But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.
2:6
He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked."
Today we look at chapter 9 of Nehemiah. We have already looked at the first eight chapters. Here in the 9th chapter records one of the longest prayers in the entire Bible. Perhaps you do not like long-winded prayers and feel nervous about me reading all 38 verses of this chapter. Well don't. You see this prayer is not that long, but it is a great model prayer, which will hopefully teach us to pray.
The first two verses record the occasion when this prayer was voiced. Listen; "Now in the twenty and fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, and with
sackcloth, and earth upon them. 9:2 And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers."
The prayer follows the celebration of the Feast of Booths, or Tabernacles, which was observed in Israel for the first time for many years. We looked at that last time we met and looked at Neh. 8. Here in these two verses we find the people expressing their deep feelings of shame and grief. They are fasting and wearing sackcloth. They confessed their sins and their father's sins as well.
The reason for this sudden change in their behavior is not given until the end of this prayer. Let us look ahead to verses 36-37. They tell us what it was that caused them to mourn, fast, and confess their sins.
"Behold, we are servants this day, and for the land that thou gavest unto our fathers to eat the fruit thereof and the good thereof, behold, we are servants in it: 9:37
And it yieldeth much increase unto the kings whom thou hast set over us because of our sins: also they have dominion over our bodies, and over our cattle, at their pleasure, and we are in great distress."
Here are a people that recognize the connection between the evil in their hearts and the terrible conditions of slavery. As we have been noting throughout these series, this is very similar to the days we live in too. We have seen that our hearts can be full of evil too. This can cause us to be bound by the slavery of sin. Unless we allow Christ to free us from sin, the devil will lead us into slavery with him.
In this prayer of the Levites, we can learn how to allow Christ to set us free. Moreover, I hope to prove that before we are through. So where would we start if we wanted to be free? I guess we need to do the same as they did in the opening verses we read. They gathered before God to pray, fast, weep, and ask for mercy. They did not go outside it to involve foreigners. They did not blame others for their plight. They looked to themselves and "confessed their sins and the wickedness of their fathers." Then they did one other thing, recorded in verse 3;
"And they stood up in their place, and read in the book of the law of the LORD their God one fourth part of the day; and another fourth part they confessed, and worshipped the LORD their God." They spent 3 hours of confession and 3 hours of praise and worship.
We find some of the Children of Israel standing on some stairs in verse 4 and 5 shouting in a loud voice. They started confessing the sins of the people. Listen to last half of verse 5;
"Stand up and bless the LORD your God for ever and ever: and blessed be thy glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise."
The rest of this chapter, from verse 6 through verse 37, gives us the actual words they shout. As you read over it, you cannot help but see that they are praying to God asking for His blessings and praising His name. Listen closely because I want you to see that the text teach us how to confess our sin to God and how to praise Him for His mercy and grace. We will start by reading verses 6-15;
"Thou, [even] thou, [art] LORD alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all [things] that [are] therein, the seas, and all that [is] therein, and thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshippeth thee.
9:7 Thou [art] the LORD the God, who didst choose Abram, and broughtest him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and gavest him the name of Abraham;
9:8 And foundest his heart faithful before thee, and madest a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Jebusites, and the Girgashites, to give [it, I say], to his seed, and hast performed thy words; for thou [art] righteous:
9:9 And didst see the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and heardest their cry by the Red sea;
9:10 And showedst signs and wonders upon Pharaoh, and on all his servants, and on all the people of his land: for thou knewest that they dealt proudly against them. So didst thou get thee a name, as [it is] this day.
9:11 And thou didst divide the sea before them, so that they went through the midst of the sea on the dry land; and their persecutors thou threwest into the deeps, as a stone into the mighty waters.
9:12 Moreover thou leddest them in the day by a cloudy pillar; and in the night by a pillar of fire, to give them light in the way wherein they should go.
9:13 Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments:
9:14 And madest known unto them thy holy sabbath, and commandedst them precepts, statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses thy servant:
9:15 And gavest them bread from heaven for their hunger, and broughtest forth water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and promisedst them that they should go in to possess the land which thou hadst sworn to give them."
These verses tell us that God takes care of His own. These verses show that God taught this people how to live in the midst of wickedness and evil. Remember in verse 3 it showed that they had just gotten through reading God's Law. Therefore, they knew what God expected from them. What is more my friends, God has taught us how to live in the midst of evil and wickedness too. God has given us His wonderful blueprint (His Bible) which teaches us the rules of life. It teaches us about how to take care of our bodies and stay healthy. Above all, it shows us how to be ready for Jesus when He returns. It shows the signs to watch for to know when that is near. It shows us what God the Father is like, full of love and mercy. It tells us about the Fathers Commandments and how to keep them. Just like God supplied all the needs of the Children of Israel, He has supplied all our needs too. He gave them bread to eat when there was none. He gave them water from a rock. He has feed us when we were hungry and water when we were thirsty. We all have a home to live in. We may not have two homes but we have shelter during a time of storm.
Now in the rest of the chapter we have a swinging back and forth between confession and praise. Please stay with me as we finish reading the rest of the prayer.
"But they and our fathers dealt proudly, and hardened their necks, and hearkened not to thy commandments,
9:17 And refused to obey, neither were mindful of thy wonders that thou didst among them; but hardened their necks, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage: but thou [art] a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and forsookest them not.
9:18 Yea, when they had made them a molten calf, and said, This [is] thy God that brought thee up out of Egypt, and had wrought great provocations;
9:19 Yet thou in thy manifold mercies forsookest them not in the wilderness: the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to show them light, and the way wherein they should go.
9:20 Thou gavest also thy good spirit to instruct them, and withheldest not thy manna from their mouth, and gavest them water for their thirst.
9:21 Yea, forty years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness, [so that] they lacked nothing; their clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled not.
9:22 Moreover thou gavest them kingdoms and nations, and didst divide them into corners: so they possessed the land of Sihon, and the land of the king of Heshbon, and the land of Og king of Bashan.
9:23 Their children also multipliedst thou as the stars of heaven, and broughtest them into the land, concerning which thou hadst promised to their fathers, that they should go in to possess [it].
9:24 So the children went in and possessed the land, and thou subduedst before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gavest them into their hands, with their kings, and the people of the land, that they might do with them as they would.
9:25 And they took strong cities, and a fat land, and possessed houses full of all goods, wells digged, vineyards, and oliveyards, and fruit trees in abundance: so they did eat, and were filled, and became fat, and delighted themselves in thy great goodness.
9:26 Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against thee, and cast thy law behind their backs, and slew thy prophets which testified against them to turn them to thee, and they wrought great provocations.
9:27 Therefore thou deliveredst them into the hand of their enemies, who vexed them: and in the time of their trouble, when they cried unto thee, thou heardest [them] from heaven; and according to thy manifold mercies thou gavest them saviours, who saved them out of the hand of their enemies.
9:28 But after they had rest, they did evil again before thee: therefore leftest thou them in the hand of their enemies, so that they had the dominion over them: yet when they returned, and cried unto thee, thou heardest [them] from heaven; and many times didst thou deliver them according to thy mercies;
9:29 And testifiedst against them, that thou mightest bring them again unto thy law: yet they dealt proudly, and hearkened not unto thy commandments, but sinned against thy judgments, (which if a man do, he shall live in them;) and withdrew the shoulder, and hardened their neck, and would not hear.
9:30 Yet many years didst thou forbear them, and testifiedst against them by thy spirit in thy prophets: yet would they not give ear: therefore gavest thou them into the hand of the people of the lands.
9:31 Nevertheless for thy great mercies' sake thou didst not utterly consume them, nor forsake them; for thou [art] a gracious and merciful God.
9:32 Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the terrible God, who keepest covenant and mercy, let not all the trouble seem little before thee, that hath come upon us, on our kings, on our princes, and on our priests, and on our prophets, and on our fathers, and on all thy people, since the time of the kings of Assyria unto this day.
9:33 Howbeit thou [art] just in all that is brought upon us; for thou hast done right, but we have done wickedly:
9:34 Neither have our kings, our princes, our priests, nor our fathers, kept thy law, nor hearkened unto thy commandments and thy testimonies, wherewith thou didst testify against them.
9:35 For they have not served thee in their kingdom, and in thy great goodness that thou gavest them, and in the large and fat land which thou gavest before them, neither turned they from their wicked works."
This is an amazing story! These people had just come out of 400 years of slavery in Egypt. They had no military training. They were not an aggressive people. Yet they confronted armies of well-trained men who were used to fighting, and won the battles. They took over great cities and won the land. When was the last time you thanked God for the victories you have achieved in your life? When was the last time you thanked God for your promotion? Or your family? Or your health? When was the last time you thanked God for His blessings?
These verses show the wonderful patience of God with His people! Even if His people walk away from Him, He still shows love, mercy and offers total forgiveness. Even if they practiced evil, God waits for them to return. And He will us too friends.
Revelation 3:20 says; "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me."
Not only does He knock, but He speaks and ask to come in.
As we saw at the beginning of the sermon in verses 36-37 the people acknowledge that they are slaves in their own land because of their own sins. Do we acknowledge that we are slaves to sin too? Do we confess our wrongdoing to God and praise Him for His love and mercy?
Listen to how they end their prayer in verse 38; "And because of all this we make a sure covenant, and write it; and our princes, Levites, and priests, seal unto it."
They sealed their covenant. Would you be willing to make a covenant with God today? And would you be willing to seal that covenant with God today? The covenant you make should be one to walk in His ways. Obey His laws and keep His Commandments. To seal it is simple. Listen to John 14:15:
"If ye love me, keep my commandments."
That is all there is to it. To seal your covenant with Jesus and the Father is keep His commandments. If you're a still a little confused on keeping God's Commandments then when we continue with chapter 10, we will look at this seal of obeying God's law in more detail.
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