Morning Message Texts: Nehemiah 9: 1-4, 6-7, 9-12, 16-18
The Israelites Confess Their Sins
1 On the twenty-fourth day of the same month, the Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth and putting dust on their heads.
2 Those of Israelite descent had separated themselves from all foreigners. They stood in their places and confessed their sins and the sins of their ancestors.
3 They stood where they were and read from the Book of the Law of the LORD their God for a quarter of the day, and spent another quarter in confession and in worshiping the LORD their God.
4 Standing on the stairs of the Levites were Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani and Kenani. They cried out with loud voices to the LORD their God.
6 You alone are the LORD. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.
7 “You are the LORD God, who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and named him Abraham.
9 “You saw the suffering of our ancestors in Egypt; you heard their cry at the Red Sea.
10 You sent signs and wonders against Pharaoh, against all his officials and all the people of his land, for you knew how arrogantly the Egyptians treated them. You made a name for yourself, which remains to this day.
11 You divided the sea before them, so that they passed through it on dry ground, but you hurled their pursuers into the depths, like a stone into mighty waters.
12 By day you led them with a pillar of cloud, and by night with a pillar of fire to give them light on the way they were to take.
16 “But they, our ancestors, became arrogant and stiff-necked, and they did not obey your commands.
17 They refused to listen and failed to remember the miracles you performed among them. They became stiff-necked and in their rebellion appointed a leader in order to return to their slavery. But you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. Therefore you did not desert them,
18 even when they cast for themselves an image of a calf and said, ‘This is your god, who brought you up out of Egypt,’ or when they committed awful blasphemies.
Morning Message:
I am determined to take us through all ten of these steps to spiritual renewal. It is a bit challenging, and I hope that you don’t become bored with it. My thought is that this is something beneficial for us to be reminded of before we enter the season of Lent. We have just enough time if we cover two of them for each of the remaining Sundays before Lent begins. We have covered the first two: Getting Back to the Book and Getting Serious About Obedience. As we continue to follow the Israelites and their journey to renewal, three weeks have passed since the gathering began at the Water Gate in Jerusalem. Remember, the people came to Ezra and Nehemiah and asked to hear the Word of God. After a time of reflection and celebration for all that God had done, it was time for the people to repent, both personally and as a nation. Now I want to take a moment here and have us contemplate this notion of national repentance. I have never really thought much about this, but as I prepared this message it dawned on me, maybe this is something we need as a nation.
We do have a National Day of Prayer that takes place on the first Thursday in May of every year. The modern law formalizing its annual observance was enacted in 1952, President Harry S.Truman’s idea. At the time the threats from the Korean War were weighing on the minds of the American public, so as is commonly the case, that is when we turn to prayer. Actually, fasting and prayer had been established by the Second Continental Congress from 1775 until 1783, and by President John Adams in 1798 and 1799. Like everything else in our Christian faith, it was unsuccessfully challenged in court. That fact alone tells me that it must have been a good idea. Why would anyone oppose prayer for our nation? The devil opposes everything that could even remotely glorify God and his Son Jesus. When he can’t kill it, he simply turns our attention away from it and allows it to slowly die from our thoughts. When revival and renewal finally take place in this nation people will fall to their knees in confession.
Let’s talk about us for a moment, you and me. How concerned are we about sin? On a scale of one to ten where would you rate your concern over sin, ten being the most concerned and one being the least? Now don’t change your answer just because you are in church. Think for a moment. I can read some of your thoughts because I have some of the same thoughts. You are thinking, “Why should I be too concerned over sin. My sins are forgiven.” That’s too easy and deep down we know it. We know that resisting sin is still an ongoing battle, an everyday battle, but still, we are probably only at about a five on our concern level. Five is the easy answer. Here is the problem: Are we ready to feel guilty? Stop viewing sin from your perspective and try viewing it from God’s. That’s difficult, but we must allow our hearts to be broken by the things that break the heart of God. Not just when we sin, this is not meant to give you a guilt trip about your sins, unless you need that. When we see sin and godlessness in the world maybe it would help if we remember that sin is going to cause eternal death and damnation for some.
This chapter in Nehemiah is full of worship and confession. Verses 5 through 38 is the longest sustained worship hymn in scripture. It is unknown whether this was read or recited from memory by the Levites. Still, it is a wonderful example of confession as part of worship and a memorable review of the blessings of God. I know that I have preached about this before, but I think this is something so important for our faith, and we take it for granted: Reviewing the blessings of God. Look at your history: the good, the bad, and the ugly. Can you see what the people are doing here as they petition God and ask for blessings? They are recalling the history of their nation. Its not written down for them. It has been passed down verbally to them from generation to generation. They see the mistakes that their forefathers made, even the ugly history of being disobedient to God. They see the correction and the mercy of a loving God. They see the very hand of God as He led them by cloud and fire and this brings them to their knees. What might happen in our hearts if we developed a true appreciation for our nation’s past?
I want you to see the result of their true confession and worship. Until verse 36 through 38, the Levites through their hymn reviewed Israel’s history; now they gave it a personal application. The people committed to once again being God’s people. Verse 38 says: “In view of all this, we are making a binding agreement, putting it in writing, and our leaders, our Levites and our priests are affixing their seals to it.” People will say that this life is too important to dwell on the past. I think that scripture teaches us that when it comes to our faith and commitment to God, it is vital to always recall and remember who we were so that we can become what God intends us to be.
In Christ’s Love and Peace,
Pastor Bob
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