Nehemiah 9 (Part 3) Bible Study (The People of Israel Confess Their Sin) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Well, Maranatha Bible Church, welcome to our Friday night bible study. It is good to end the week with you all here as we open God's word together. I hope that you have come expecting wonderful things from the Lord tonight. I hope you've come expecting to be refreshed in the Lord tonight. Have you ever meditated or reflected on what a miracle it is as we think about our Bible study tonight.

What a miracle it is that we even have a Bible. And yes, we we love talking about as we should the the faithful men and women who gave their lives up some of them so that we might have this book in our hands, in our laps, in our language to read for ourselves, not locked away by the Catholic church, not, locked away in the language that we don't understand. But have you ever thought even even more than that, take a step back. What a miracle it is and what a grace that it is good providence, he chose a book to let us know who he is, what his will is, and how we have redemption through Jesus Christ. Yes.

We look around and we... The heavens declare the glory of God and the skies above proclaim his handiwork. We see God's fingerprints throughout creation. But God took that a step further in this special revelation to you and to me that we can open up and read for ourselves this book to know who he is. What a glorious thing that is.

So I hope you've come with your Bibles tonight. I hope you've come expecting to open them and see Jesus Christ in them. To that end, I'd like to open our service with just two verses from the gospel of John. John chapter 20 verses thirty and thirty one. The Apostle says, now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book.

But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. Now John was talking about specifically his gospel, but we know that this is about the whole word of God that we have. So if you come today tired, Read the book in your lap and see Christ. Have you come weary or afflicted or anxious? Read the Bible with us tonight and may the Lord open your eyes to see him afresh, the comforter of your souls, the the the great I am, the everlasting God.

Let's pray. Father, we come to you today, and we thank you. Lord, we thank you for who you are, the eternal God, the almighty God, the holy one of Israel. And Lord, we thank you for this great salvation that you've given to us as this free gift that we might know you personally and that you will know us personally. Father, tonight, may you remove any scales on our eyes that would seek to to cloud our vision of you.

May you remove any distractions around us that would seek to turn our attention from you. And father, may you work in us, transform us by the renewing of our mind as we open your word to us. And Lord, may we come away changed. May we come away more in love with you. May we come away with clearer vision of who you are and who we are in Christ tonight.

Have your way in this service today for your glory and our joy. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Church, will you stand with us?

Will you stand as we sing to the Lord tonight?

Marvelous

grace of our loving God's grace, grace that is greater than all our sin. Yes, Lord God. We rejoice. We exalt. We celebrate that the work is finished.

God, we do not have to strive and work for forgiveness, but we can live out of forgiveness, Lord. Oh, God. Thank you. Lord, we thank you that we are free to serve, free to love, free to obey, free to know you. And this is the will of God that we know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you've sent.

We pray Lord that by your word tonight that you would open our eyes to a greater degree that we would know you on a deeper level, Lord. Reveal yourself, reveal the glory of your son to us in your word tonight. By your spirit, help us Lord. In Jesus name, amen.

I'll take a brief moment and greet somebody before you're seated and before we study God's word together. Welcome to Friday Night Bible Study. It is always a pleasure. I can't tell you the anticipation and the excitement that I have in my heart every time we get closer and closer to this weekly meeting, and we continue to worship. We continue to worship the Lord in our giving.

The ushers who faithfully help us every week, every service are here to do just that. And so if it is your custom to give on this night or if you desire to do something new and to give to the Lord from a generous and cheerful heart, you can do that at this time, and we're gonna multitask here while that is taking place. Allow me to make a few very important announcements pertaining to some of the things that are just around the corner. You've been prepared for these things, but I will do my best to prepare you up to those actual moments. So here we have a couple of things to keep in mind.

For those who are planning to be baptized at the end of the month on the November 29, this upcoming Sunday, you'll be meeting with pastor Mark Griffin, with, with others who are getting baptized that same day. It will be a class. It will be a time where we go through the word. It'll be a time to answer your questions and to clarify what it is exactly that you are pursuing in this act of obedience. And so please, be mindful of that.

This is something that you must attend. It will be held in the conference room by where the offices are. And so if you don't know where the conference room is, please approach any one of the elders after the service on Sunday. We'll be glad to direct you or just ask somebody that seems to know, and they'll point you in the direction. It's not too far from here, and that will be taking place, shortly after the Lord's Day meeting.

We're looking forward to seeing you there. Besides that, we have two things coming up in the month of November. Also, on the fourteenth to be precise, we have our 9AM Love Life Outreach that'll be taking place in the heart of the city. If you haven't taken down the address yet, there it is on the screen, and you can snapshot that on your phone. And we've been meeting together with different churches and partnerships, to this ministry to see just God move in a special way, in in a in a city that desperately needs it.

So many have, inquired about this and some are a little bit confused of what it is that we're doing. We're not partnering with Love Life, for any protests. We're not picking up signs and, bull horns. We're not doing any of that. This is a prayer march primarily.

And so we're gathering with other believers. We'll be worshiping the Lord in song. We'll be led in praise, and we'll be just praying around the clinic and just making our presence known. It's a it's a peaceful time. It's non confrontational, and, nonetheless, it is powerful.

And And we're looking forward to providing more information about that. In fact, some of the people from the love life leadership will be here, this Sunday. They'll be in the lobby and they'll have their own table with information and you can ask any questions. And and if this is really something on your heart, you can even inquire how you can be, trained for further outreach, where they have actual times where they go and engage with people. That's not what we do, but there are, ways to do that with Love Life if that's something that interests you.

If this is completely new to you, this is a great way to start. Just join us there on the fourteenth, and we'll just be seeking the Lord together, and it's a powerful, powerful time. It'll be the last time that Love Live will be going out, to the city because of the weather and the season. So please join us. Later that day, we have our, Thanksgiving dinner and anniversary.

That's 4PM, and registration has been open for a little bit now. Registration will close this Sunday. And so if you've been procrastinating, you can't go beyond this Sunday because we have to know the numbers and prepare the seats. So please please please register as soon as possible. By the end of Sunday, you will not be able to access that link.

So if you haven't signed up yet, I would advise that you do it sooner than later. With these two events coming up on the fourteenth, that means next Friday's Bible study is canceled. So we have no Bible study next Friday. We have a lot going on the following day, and so we will resume our study in Nehemiah the following week, but please don't show up here on the thirteenth because nobody will be here. You don't wanna be that person.

So please let others know who may not be here tonight or or not watching. Just let them know that the Bible study for next Friday will be canceled. Besides that, if this is your first time here, we're we're so blessed that you can join us. We meet here multiple times a week. We have our Wednesday night prayer meeting at 07:00.

We have our Friday night bible study as you know here, 07:00, and we have our Sunday service, the Lord's day service at 10:30AM every single weekend. I encourage you to join us on Sundays if you can. If you don't have a home church, join us for these final moments in the book of Revelation. We're looking to... Forward to seeing how the Lord is speaking to us with his final marching orders, not just in the book of Revelation, but in the last book of the Bible.

And he has been speaking to us so clearly and we trust that he'll continue to do so as we wrap things up in that book. That was a mouthful. That was a lot. Hopefully, you'll be able to retain that, but I wanna just exhale with you and pray calmly and attentively and intentionally and ask the Lord to help us. Can we do that together?

Father, we thank you that you have allowed us to gather in this place. We thank you Lord that your word says, to whom will you liken God and what likeness compares with him? You are incomparable. You stand alone in your own category, oh Lord. You are the holy one.

And thank you Lord at the same time we in Christ can call you father. We can address you as Father. And tonight, oh Father, we pray as your children, you would feed us, you would nourish us, you would energize us, you would help us. And as we heard at the opening of the service, you have given us your word to do all of that and more. So we have come Lord with our mouths open, trusting that you will fill our mouths, and that we would leave here rejuvenated, revived, strengthened, motivated to serve you with greater fervor and devotion.

We ask Lord that you would help and assist with the delivery of this study, that it would be free from all confusion, and that our minds would be free from all clutter, and that the transaction of truth in this next hour would be life changing, because your word never returns void. We thank you Lord, and we praise you for it. In Jesus name we pray, Amen and Amen. Nehemiah chapter nine. Let's turn there together in our Bibles.

This is the third installment in this chapter, and trust me we can have many more. But for the sake of our pace here, and wanting to journey through this book carefully, yes, but also in a manageable way. This is our final time in this chapter, and I wanna remind you at the outset of this study that this is the longest prayer recorded in our Bibles. And in this prayer, you have two major themes. The first one is the greatness of God.

We've explored that briefly last week. And the second one is about greatness as well, but in a different light. The greatness of our sin. And if you're with us last week, then you know we explored some of the specifics of God's greatness to help us better understand how a clear vision of who God is can indeed move us to seek him. In fact, those two themes, those two truths are designed to be registered and to be received accurately so that we would be drawn to that sweet place of prayer, because it happened to this group.

When they understood the greatness of God and the greatness of their sin, it it stirred them to cry out to the Lord. And we understand that concerning God's greatness, but today we have a different task at hand. We'll be now considering not at great length, but enough to understand the severity of our sin, and how that serves the same purpose in drawing us closer to the Lord. And we're not primarily going to examine why our sin is so offensive to a holy God, though we could. Instead, we're going to identify some of the sins that should cause us to confess them, and to bring them before the Lord in humility and brokenness so that we would be restored in our relationship to Him, and also receive again the blessings that flow from being in a practically right standing position with Him.

Now I'm aware that some people who might be listening to this study tonight may not relate to these particular sins, and if that is you I want to encourage you. I want to encourage you to receive these insights to help you understand that we are all capable of such sins. And not just acknowledge that but also with a prayerful spirit by seeing just how awful these possibilities are to cling to the Lord with a greater grip, and to stay closer to the Lord with a greater discipline and a greater trust so that we would not allow ourselves to actually do what we may currently think is unthinkable. In case we have forgotten, the prayer, the main prayer launches from verse six of this chapter. But here's what's so interesting.

The first confession in this prayer does not appear until verse 16. So what's happening between verse six and verse 16? The stretch of adoration and acknowledgement of the majesty, beauty, grace, mercy, generosity, glory of God. That's what's happening in many of these verses. Before the first actual confession takes place, and that in itself provides a lesson.

Does it not? When we come to a place of acknowledging who God is, long enough, when we tune our focus and stay there long enough, it has the capability of eventually bringing our sin to the surface and making our shortcomings increasingly evident. And not necessarily in a manner that condemns us, it shouldn't if you're in Christ, but certainly in a way that humbles us, and convicts us when necessary. That is exactly what takes place in the middle of this prayer. They have been extolling, they have been celebrating, they have been reviewing the faithfulness of God, and suddenly they begin to confess.

And I want us to look at it together now starting in verse 15 to verse 16. Now I wanna remind you, we looked at many verses last week. We'll not be looking at every single passage in this chapter. We don't have the time, but we'll be looking at it thematically. Again we're trying to examine here some of the sins that must be identified and confessed.

If we wanna be drawn closer to the Lord, here's the first one. You gave them bread from heaven for their hunger and brought water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and you told them to go in to possess the land that you had sworn to give them. But they and our fathers acted presumptuously, and stiffened their neck, and did not obey your commandments. The first iniquity, the first trespass that is highlighted in this prayer is that of pride. It's spelled out so clearly.

They and our fathers acted presumptuously. That is they acted proudly. So if we desire to restore our experiential relationship with the Lord, if we desire to know again the blessings that come from walking in fellowship with Him, you and I have to be willing to recognize and confess pride when we become aware of it in our hearts. And there is certainly different expressions of pride, there are different manifestations of it, and one of them shows up in this very same passage. How does pride show up according to God's standards?

Well we see it here in verse 16. Notice how it says, They stiffened their neck, and did not obey your commandments. Here's one definition, or one manifestation, or one angle to pride. When you and I cautiously, deliberately, premeditatively Disobey God. We are acting in pride in that very moment.

Every time. This is not to be confused with an error, a genuine sin, maybe an unbecoming word that suddenly spews out of us, or is exposed, or is acted upon. Presumption according to the Lord here occurs when you are fully aware of what God says about a matter. And yet you still choose to walk in the opposite direction at that moment, or as you stand at a crossroads. That is what pride is to the Lord.

And look at the imagery here, in the same breath that we're speaking about, acting proudly. We have this imagery of stiffening one's neck, and that is coming from many things, and one of the things that is related to this is an ox who has a yoke place on its neck and its master desires to draw into a certain direction, but in its stubbornness or refusal stiffens, he tightens his neck because he wants to go his own way. Do you and I remember how Stephen ended his long address when he was on trial before the religious leaders because of his gospel message? He says there in Acts seven fifty one, You stiff necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears. You always resist the Holy Spirit.

As your fathers did, so did you. Notice here that being stiff necked is to resist the Holy Spirit. It is to resist his revealed will. It is to resist his conviction. It is to resist his warnings.

It is to resist anything that he has made known to us. When you and I do that persistently, we fall under the category of being a stiff necked people. You know there are some who convince themselves that when they disagree with God they think it's a matter of having a difference of opinion with God. No. According to God that's pride.

Nothing less. To know the Lord requires something of us, and then to consciously refuse to obey it is nothing short of grievous arrogance. So I want you to understand something. The first sin mentioned in this prayer of confession is not necessarily an action. It's an attitude.

They acted presumptuously. They acted arrogantly. They acted proudly. And this pre action reveals one of the way that horrible arrogance takes root and develops in us if we're not careful. It's in the very next verse.

We read up to verse 16. Look here at verse 17 with me. They refused to obey and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them, but they stiffened their neck and appointed the leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But you are God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding and steadfast love and did not forsake them. Another reference to stiffening one's neck.

But notice here what precedes it. A failure to remember the wonders that God had performed among them. That leads to pride. Spiritual amnesia is one of the most detrimental things to our sanctification. I heard a preacher once say that Israel's greatest danger was not losing its wars, it was losing its memory.

How true is that? Think back to how many commands God had given throughout the Hebrew Remember, remember, remember, remember. Why? Because when you and I begin to forget and disregard what God has done in history or in our own lives, then starts our way believing erroneous things concerning him and ourselves. When you and I forget just how holy God is, we begin to view his commands as suggestions instead of decrees.

When you and I come to a place where we fail to reflect on God's powerful interventions in the past, we begin to look to ourselves for deliverance. Sometimes others. When you and I begin to get cloudy regarding God's faithful provision, then we begin to convince ourselves that what we produce is ultimately our source of security. When you and I are no longer able to trace God's providential hand in our lives, We then begin to take credit for our paths and the success we may found, find in them. And also what should be testimonies becomes mere coincidence.

When you and I no longer are able to see who God is and all that he offers, That is the breeding ground for self sufficiency, self reliance and even self worship. Read it again. They were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them, but they stiffened their neck. Forgetfulness leads to a fortification of pride. And, when that amnesia persists long enough, our thinking becomes so distorted, we can actually even become so audacious to even challenge God.

Notice the same verse here in Nehemiah nine seventeen. They refused to obey and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them, but they stiffened their neck. Now notice this, and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. Don't miss this. When Israel traveled through the wilderness, and so many times during that journey, they thought to themselves and even expressed, I think I think we're going to go back to our slavery.

It came to a point in the book of numbers that they were ready to get rid of Moses and Aaron to actually make it happen. And Nehemiah provides some commentary. They went as far as actually finding somebody to replace Moses. Was that a rejection of Moses? Yes.

But ultimately it was the denial of God's appointed leader. It was them saying, Thank you for leading us thus far. We're very displeased. We're gonna actually select our own guide, and we're actually gonna go in our own direction. And certainly the Lord did not take this too well, and he intervene with his great discipline, but my question is why?

My question is how do you reach such a point? Nehemiah tells us, they were no longer mindful of the wonders that God had performed among them. And their judgment became so distorted, so warped that they were even willing to challenge God. It happens more than you think. I've had conversations with people over certain doctrines and it's so clear or certain charges for practical Christian life.

It's so obvious. But because they have not maintained an awareness of who God is, his authority, his supremacy, his preeminence, the way they discuss or come to conclusions in the word of God is actually disturbing. So pride. This is the first thing that they bring up. This is the mother of all sins.

We see that in so many places in scripture. It begins there with this sense of arrogance where we bring God down to our level, or even worse we think that we are above Him. But from pride now we go to another sin that is highlighted and that is the sin of idolatry. Look here in verse 18 and verse 19. After confessing the sin of pride, the prayer turns his attention to the sin of idol worship.

Verse 18 reads, Even when they had made for themselves a golden calf and said, This is your God who brought you out of Egypt and had committed great blasphemies. You and your great mercies did not forsake them in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud to lead them in the way did not depart from them by day nor the pillar of fire by night to light for them the way by which they would go. It's amazing how this is brought up in this prayer. Why?

Because it was so pivotal. It was such a turning point for the nation of Israel. And we're so familiar with this. Are we not? But I have to admit, some people find this incident of the golden calf difficult to relate to.

They find it so far removed from anything that they can possibly do. Right? Who here has ever been tempted with the idea of creating or crafting a golden statue and performing sacrifices to her or bowing before it? Not at least in this part of the world, but I want to convince you today that this event related to the golden calf is much more relevant to you and I than we might have initially thought. And the only way we can be persuaded is if we actually look at the original account of it.

They're confessing it after all these years. Why? Because the heart behind this sin can be repeated. I would go far as far as to say is that so many people today have golden calves in their lives, and they wonder why they don't sense God and his blessing, his guidance, and His pleasure. Turn with me to Exodus chapter 32.

I want us to just look at the first three verses. If we're not careful we can easily get carried away into many many applications that this section provides us, but I want us to just consider a few of them. Exodus 30 two:one-three. I want to speak to you today about where idols come from, how they are created, and the possibility of them even in the lives of those who have been redeemed by God. Let's read it together, shall we not?

Shall we? Exodus 32 beginning in verse one. When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, up. Make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.

So Aaron said to them, take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me. So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. The first thing I would love for us to highlight in this critical text is how the birth of an idol emerged from the place of divinely appointed delay. Notice verse one. When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain.

Why was he delaying? Because he was meeting with God. But it was not some trip that he did not make them aware of. In fact, make this reference in your mind or some place in your margins. In Exodus 24 verse 14, Moses had told the elders of the nation that he and Joshua were to go up, but we will come back to you.

So that's a promise. This is not a one way trip. He was going to receive fresh instruction, fresh revelation from the Lord for the people. We will return to you. And when you look there at verse 18 of Exodus 24, we're actually told how long Moses was up there on the mountain of God.

Forty days and forty nights. Now that's a significant number, is it not? Consistently throughout the scripture, the number 40 speaks of testing. You think of forty years in the wilderness for the nation of Israel. You think of forty days of Goliath taunting Israel.

What about our Lord Jesus Christ? Forty days in his own wilderness fasting and praying, overcoming the temptations of the devil. And it's no different here. Moses was on the mountain top for forty days. For what reason?

One of them to test his own people. God was testing his people. Testing them with what? To determine the sincerity and the legitimacy of their devotion to him even when he got quiet. Ordained delay by God is a great revealer whether the Lord is truly at the center of our devotion.

When God seems silent, be aware. He may be testing you. That's exactly what this text shows us. And sadly why some believers can't seem to understand is that when they do not receive some kind of an answer or deliverance or intervention from the Lord, especially within their expected time frame, there's a great temptation lurking, and that temptation is to deviate and to wander and to allow your heart to now begin to yearn for something or pursue something thinking that you're going to find your answer there, your fulfillment there, when in reality it is a trap. When people are waiting on God, they don't realize that gradually their devotion can waver into something far more dangerous than they ever thought.

I've seen it happen so many times. You may be that person sitting here even now. Notice what it says in verse three. The people, look at this phrase, took off the rings of gold. So Aaron says, okay.

You want you want some observable tangible God to lead you? We can make it happen, but it's gonna require something of you. Take off your earrings. Now, at least in the ESV, it doesn't provide accurately what exactly they did in that moment. What's being asked of them.

The wording that the phrase there in Hebrew actually speaks of tearing off. It speaks of breaking off these earrings. To denote enthusiasm and eagerness and fervor in that pursuit. So Aaron says, we need gold, and they did not hesitate for a moment to rip off, materially speaking, the most valuable thing that they had. For what?

An idol. An idol. So you're seeing now a shift of allegiance, are you not? Instead of trustingly waiting on the Lord, they are now getting excited about something else that's about to take his place. And that thrill actually looks like different things.

It actually shows up in different ways. Look here at verse six. We didn't read it, but here's another way that this is demonstrated. In Exodus 32 verse six, And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings, and the people sat down to eat and to drink and rose up to play. It's that first part.

Usually people focus on the last part. What does it mean to play? They weren't playing board games. I can assure you that. This actually speaks of sexual performances.

But besides that, what caught my attention this time is how they rose up early. They didn't sleep in to go worship the idol. They didn't hit the snooze button. They rose up early to worship this golden calf. Generally speaking, whatever you're willing to lose sleep over and wake up early for is something that you value very much.

And that's what they're showing us here. Our priorities are often revealed by what we're willing to sacrifice our time for, our energy for, our comfort for, our possessions for. We need gold. Don't ask twice. We need to wake up early.

You can find me there. For God? No. For an idol. So you see, idols are often formed when the Lord does not act, answer, or come through within our expectation.

When they saw that Moses had delayed, they ran to something else. When God doesn't come for me or provide for me or answer me when I need him to, when I desire him to. Alright. Well that was worth it while the time lasted, while he was visible, while he was observable, while he was answering me. But I think I'm gonna try something else now.

I think I'm gonna go into something that God told me never to entertain. And perhaps the most frightening aspect of the golden calf episode is that it did not involve a complete rejection of the Lord. Sounds like it does, but it doesn't. Look how clever we are with our idolatry. Look at verse five.

Exodus 32 verse five. When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it and Aaron made a proclamation and said, tomorrow shall be a feast to who? The golden calf? To Yahweh. So Aaron creating this hideous thing did not look at the nation and say, Alright, Yahweh doesn't exist.

Yahweh is not really the Lord. Yahweh is not truly God. This thing No. He understood. He understood the reality of God enough to actually make an idol and not completely deny the Lord at the same time.

And to me this shows us the great lengths that we are willing to go to in order to preserve the appearance of genuine worship even though we are cultivating idols. We can be so smart at rationalizing our spiritual compromises. And so we convince ourselves, or sometimes others, that even though what we're doing is clearly a violation in God's word, we we say, well, it's a means. This is leading to something that's going to honor God and bless God and advance his work and I'm working on it. I have a plan.

Do you? Or we try to soothe our conscience that we still love the Lord even though we're allowing certain areas of our lives to grieve the Holy Spirit. I still love the Lord. I still show up for the Lord. I still have my ministry for the Lord.

Okay, but what does that mean if you also bow before a golden calf? And so like Aaron, we attempt to calm our consciences rather than confront the real issue. By the way, where did they get this gold from to begin with? They're a nomadic people. They had no time to even pack their bags and leave Egypt.

What's the answer? The Egyptians. The Lord told them in Exodus twelve thirty five through Moses, Go and ask the Egyptians for their silver, their gold jewelry, and their clothing. You're not leaving empty handed. People think that's about reparations.

It has nothing to do with reparations. God had a design and a desire from those materials concerning his glory. And you don't discover that until Exodus chapter twenty five one through nine where the Lord now wants to build a sanctuary so that he can dwell among his people. And what does he ask for? Where's the gold?

Where's the silver? Where's the yarn? Where's the materials that you took from Egypt? For what purpose? To build me a house so that I can be near you.

So what's the lesson there? I think it's really clear. You can consider the gold and the silver and anything else as a blessing from the Lord. It is a blessing from Lord. It's a provision from the Lord.

It's a gift from the Lord. And how idols are often created in our own lives is that we take instruments of worship and turn them into objects of worship. That's what they model for us here. The gold was given by God so that they can build a house for him and instead they created golden calf. And if I'm not careful and if you're not careful, we can look at our abilities.

We can look at the relationships that we have. We can look at our marriages. We can look at our children. We can look at our our our promotions. You can look at your innovations, and those things that should be consecrated to honoring God become the very things that we worship instead.

That's what this golden calf represents. So now it becomes a little bit more relatable, does it not? It's not about a physical statue of some source, though in many cases it can be. It's about what went into it and what it represents. And so now this prayer of confession, Nehemiah nine becomes increasingly applicable.

What what is it in my life that I can actually identify and say, I think I think I'm actually giving more excitement, more enthrallment to this than to the Lord. I think I've allowed myself to to give what belongs to God supremely to something else in in a way that is eclipse God. And it's very possible that you're sitting here still and thinking to yourself, but how did Israel allow themselves to get to this moment? I mean, after all that they saw, after all the miracles, after all the manifestations of might and glory just took a few weeks for them to create this thing. Can I give you one strong explanation for how Israel came to this point?

If you wanna know the answer, you have to travel to the book of Psalms. I want you to see this in Psalms 106. Psalm 106. I'll wait for you to turn there. It's worth it to see it in your own bibles in verses 19 through 22.

Yes. Delay had something to do with it. Yes. They misuse their gifts, but there's something even deeper. Psalm 106 verse 19.

They made a calf in Horeb and worship the metal image. They exchanged the glory of God for the image of an ox that eats grass. They forgot God. Their savior who had done great things in Egypt, wondrous works in the land of Ham and awesome deeds by the Red Sea. Does that sound familiar?

What happened with their pride? Why were they stiffened in their necks? They did not have in mind the wondrous things that God had done among them. How were they led into their idolatry? According to Psalm 106, they forgot God their Savior.

I'm trying to drill something in our hearts tonight That there needs to be. This sense of conviction that I must rehearse the truths of God. I must. Always wash myself with the realities of God. I must revisit the testimonies of the Lord.

I must keep them fresh in my mind. There's so much at stake if you don't. Pride is waiting. Idols are waiting. So much rests on not forgetting.

Keeping who the Lord is ever before your vision. Even if you're familiar with these things, there's something that happens to our heart when we contemplate them with intentionality and a heart of worship. So they confess their pride. They confess their idolatry. I have to tell you there are so many other things that they bring up in this prayer but I want us to land on one more thing And that is found in verse twenty seven and twenty eight.

Let's go there together. In Nehemiah nine twenty seven we read, 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 from heaven. You heard them from heaven. And according to your great mercies, you gave them saviors who saved them from the hand of their enemies.

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. And when they had turned and cried to you, you heard from heaven, and many times you delivered them according to your mercies. So in this overview of Israel's failures, the Holy Spirit now highlights something that many might overlook. The habit that the nation of Israel had developed since their infancy as a people of primarily calling out to God when they were in trouble and only when they were in trouble. That's what we call crisis driven faith, and that's the third thing that they confess here, at least in our study.

They are admitting their guilt and that their faith was framed only to seek the Lord when they were afflicted, in trouble, suffering, oppressed, subjugated. When they were confronted by great distress, they called upon the Lord. When they were at ease, they did evil. Verse 28, look at it with me. But after they had rest, they did evil again before you.

In the same way that divinely ordained delay exposes the sincerity of our devotion to the Lord, so does seasons of ease and prosperity. And Israel failed this test on numerous occasions, and what seems to be referenced in this prayer are the days of the judges. If you've ever read the book of Judges, there is a clear cycle of sin, consequences of sin, repentance, crying out the Lord, deliverance, time of repose and tranquility, sin again. That's the cycle in the book of Judges. But I want to remind you that this ugly habit was not limited to that era.

You can find it throughout Israel's history. Think of the Kings for example. I think of King Hezekiah, great man of God. When he was sick, cried out to the Lord. His tears were hurt by God, so to speak.

Once he was healed, he fell into the sin of pride. I think of King Asa, another wonderful king, innovator, inventor. I mean, he brought a wonderful, wonderful administration to the people of Israel, namely the people of Judah, and they were blessed under his leadership. And then he had a time of great peace. And after many, many years, he forgot what it was like to depend on the Lord, and so he went to others, the enemies of Israel.

He paid them off from the treasure house of the Lord, and God disciplined him for it. And so you see this throughout the pages of the Old Testament, but then my mind went this afternoon, especially with the Kings to David. And in my estimation, I think you you can agree with this. David often passed the test that his heart remained the same in both times of distress and great prosperity. So an interesting prayer is Psalm 55 verse 17 where David is in trouble and he's crying out to the Lord.

He wants to let the reader understand just how much he cried out to the Lord when he says, Evening and morning and at noon I utter my complaint and moan, and he hears my voice. He redeems my soul and safety from the battle that I wage for many are arrayed against me. We can relate to that. This man is in trouble, serious trouble. People want to kill him.

People want to destroy him. They want to rid him of the earth. So what does he do? Uninterrupted prayer. Lord, every waking moment of my days, I'm seeking you in this moment.

I'm desperate for you to answer me. We understand that. At first glance, he would say, well, there's nothing different with David than with the other kings throughout Israel's roster. But then you look at other passages that reveal what David does or what more specifically is in his heart when all is well. I need you to go to this verse with me in second Samuel, and And I want you to see this in chapter seven.

And and notice here what is said about David at the height of his reign as king. Now when the king lived in his house and the Lord had given him rest from all his surrounding enemies, highlight that, when the Lord had given him rest from all his surrounding enemies. What what did we learn about the people of Israel in Nehemiah nine? That when they had rest, they did evil again. When David as king, as the face of the people of Israel, at least at this point in history, had rest from all his surrounding enemies, what do we discover?

The king said to Nathan the prophet, See, now I dwell in a house of cedar but the ark of God dwells in a tent. And Nathan said to the king, Go do all that is in your heart for the Lord is with you. Do you see what this reveals about David? He's achieved incredible things. His power was so palpable.

It was so undeniable that his silence, all his enemies. He's living in a house and not the house that he had in Bethlehem. He's living in a palace. People fear him. Any resources at his disposal.

The people are praising him. He's at the top of the charts. And we get insight into what was preoccupying Him. The glory of God. And he had a friend that he can discuss this with, Nathan the prophet.

In fact, I believe that David so admired Nathan that he named one of his sons Nathan because of it. You have to go visit one of our studies in second Samuel to see that. And Nathan says, Go and do that as all in your heart. Now the Lord says, Hold on, Nathan. You spoke too soon.

You have to go back and tell him that he can't build me a house. But in in the book of Kings, when Solomon is dedicating the house of God, he tells us that the Lord was pleased with what was in David's heart, even though he never realized, and he never got to actually actively participate in the building of the temple. The fact that the desire was in his heart, God commended him for it. I love that that even though I may have desires in my heart, holy desires, righteous desires, and I may never see them, God in his providence and his wisdom and his sovereignty will now allow me to pursue them. That desire in itself can be an act of worship.

This man is not like the other kings in what they did in times of rest. If we can be honest here and we should, he's unlike many people. Because success and security has a way of expelling our thoughts concerning God, not extolling them. And yet this man here in his house is thinking to himself How am I living in this place and God's presence is in a tent? Where does your heart go when everything is going smooth?

No persecution. No sickness. You have a nice cushioned bank account. Everybody in your family is behaving. Your marriage is like another honeymoon.

Where does your heart go? Or is your faith framed as a crisis driven faith? You know, Nehemiah's generation was ashamed of that. They were ashamed of it. That's why they're speaking about it in this prayer of confession.

Oh, we have a heritage of only calling upon the Lord when we need something from him. David is the exception. He's not the rule. And I believe Nehemiah's time and Nehemiah's generation wanted to break away from that reputation and actually love the Lord, worship the Lord, stay near the Lord even when they had rest. This is the kind of example that should cause us to pause and examine our own hearts.

Do thoughts of God only surface when the waters are rising? The waters of tribulation and trepidation. When turbulence is felt is that is that when you begin to really be conscience of the Lord? Or like David, do you and I find ourselves joyfully meditating and delighting in God because whom have I in heaven but you and there is nothing on earth I desire beside you? I don't want my heart to only become desperate for God when I'm in trouble.

I I want my heart to always remain thirsty and hungry for the Lord because I know that there is nothing that can compare with what he has to offer my soul. So your faith, let's put it to the test. Does it only get hot when things are combusting in your life? Or can you honestly say that even the blessings that might enter into your life, you you see those as simple tokens of God's goodness and more reasons to simply love him the way he deserves to be loved. This is what they are speaking about here in Nehemiah nine.

And if you want to look at other things that they confess you can certainly do that but for the sake of time they actually now discuss the the effects of some of these sins, the consequences of pride and idolatry and the crisis driven faith. I want us to see that very briefly. Come back to Nehemiah nine and look here at verse 32. Now they begin to petition for themselves, and they write and they read the following. Now therefore our God, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love.

Let not all the hardships seem little to you that has come upon us, upon our kings, our princes, our priests, our prophets, our fathers, and all your people since the time of the kings of the Syria until this day. I want you to know some of the ramifications, some of the ugly outcomes of sin that also is encouraging them to confess these things and to to cling to the Lord. Number one, the effects and the consequences of sin are universal. They're universal. Do you see that in verse 32?

Let not all the hardships seem little to you that has come upon us, our kings, princes, priests, prophets, our fathers, and all your people. Nobody's exempt. Sin doesn't care if you're president. Sin doesn't care if you're a pauper. Sin doesn't care if you're rich.

Sin doesn't care if you're poor. Sin doesn't care if you're a man. Sin doesn't care if you're a woman. Sin doesn't care if you're experienced with sin. Sin doesn't care if you're only entertaining it for the first time.

I know some people who have dabbled in the same sin for a thousand times, and one person who has explored it for the first time, and the person who's done it once has lifelong ramifications, and the person who's done it a thousand times still thinks they're getting away with it. Sin is universe... The effects of sin are far reaching. Doesn't discriminate. Thank God God's grace doesn't discriminate either.

It is universal, but it is also enduring. Look at the last part of verse 32. Since the time of the kings of Assyria until this day, that's a long time to be oppressed. That's a long, long time to be enslaved. You want to know why you and I should confess sin as soon as we can?

Do you you wanna know why you and I should go to war with our pride, our idolatry, to ask God to revolutionize our relationship with him so it's not just a crisis driven trust, a crisis driven faith? Because sin and its consequences can linger and sometimes even scar us in the long term. In the case of the nation, they're honest enough to actually look back centuries and realize we're still feeling the effects of it today. Why do Christians not hate their sin as much as sin hates you and me? Sin wants to completely crush you to find powder.

So why even nibble on it? Why not loathe it? Why not take up arms and say whatever it takes by the grace of God to see this thing under my feet? Because it's design is to keep you subdued and ultimately destroyed, which brings us to another effective sin in this passage. Look at verse 36.

Nehemiah nine thirty six, Behold, we are slaves this day in the land that you gave to our fathers to enjoy its fruit and its good gifts. Behold, we are slaves. They had to repeat it twice. There is no such thing as a free person. Every single living person is a slave to something.

That's what the Bible says. You're either a slave to sin or a slave to what? That's what the Bible says. You're either a slave to sin or a slave to what? Righteousness.

Every single one of us has a master. Oh, I know you think you have your autonomy, you think you're independent, you think you're the master of your own faith, the captain of your own soul. You're not. You're a slave, as am I. The question is, who's your master?

That's the real question. And the beauty about being a slave to God's righteousness is that in that kind of slavery, we actually know the greatest freedom. It's a paradox of sorts, but this kind of slavery is a miserable one. To be a servant of sin is an awful matter, and they admit that. We're slaves.

We're slaves, and anybody who's honest enough about their sin, if they're in entrapped, if they're ensnared by sin, that's the feeling you have. I'm a slave to these impulses. I'm a slave to this emotion. I'm a slave to this particular temptation. I can't help it.

You can't help it. God alone can help you. God alone can liberate you. Not only does it enslave... Look at verse 37 with me.

It robs Pride, idolatry, having our own version of what it means to relate to the Lord among other things, it robs us. Look at verse 37, and it's rich yield goes to the Kings whom you have set over us. And speaking about the land, what it produces, It goes to the Kings whom you have set over us because of our sins. They rule over our bodies and over our livestock as they please, and we are in great distress. This is an amazing prayer.

Lord, we realize that that all these treasures and and all these things that we benefit from, the the fact that we have to give it away, the fact that it's taken from us is because of our sin ultimately. It's not because of geopolitics. It's not because our failures militarily speaking. No. It's because of our sins and the principle is true for spiritual well-being.

Sin always takes. Anytime you think that sin will give you something, you have to remind yourself, this is a lie. This is a lie. This fantasy is a lie. This series of deception to make me more profitable is a lie.

The way I treat people and making me feel better even though it's sinful, the way I look upon others and treat others and speak to others, that's a lie. It's all a lie. It's always ready to take from you. Take your joy in the Lord. Take meaningful and valuable relationships.

Take ministry away from you. Take your peace. It robs. It robs. These are the awful realities of sin.

And the people have realized it and that's why they're on their faces before the living God in desperation. But this prayer does not only show us the necessity to confess if we are to break free. It also reveals to us that true confession will move us to make a fresh covenant with the Lord. That's how this whole thing ends. It's not so much that I I just need escape.

True confession also admits, Lord, the greatest mistake is that I didn't listen to you in the first place, but now I realize my wrong. And not only do I say help me with this, but I ask that you keep me close to you so that by your grace, I never repeat it again. I don't want to. We just talked about some of the things that it brings into our lives. Look at verse 38, it's the final verse of this chapter.

Because of all this, we make a firm covenant in writing on the sealed document of the names of our princes, our Levites, and our priests. What are they doing here? They wanna make a statement before the Lord. We are ready to walk with you again. And so true confession is not just asking God to bring us relief from our distress.

This true confession includes repentance. A strategic, sincere willingness to walk away from that which grieves God and put your hand in the hand of Him who's created you to walk with Him. That is what genuine confession should lead us all to. It does no good to just say, I know what I'm doing is wrong. It doesn't even do any good for you to tell the Lord that if you have no intention or desire for him to help you change it.

And so tonight, we've done what many people would not willingly do and that is to come to terms with the greatness of our sin. Some of the sins that are keeping us from the Lord and some of the sins that we need to be able to say, this is an offense to the Lord, and I will bring it to him and ask him not just to forgive me, but to fill me with his Holy Spirit so that I can walk away from this and walk with him. And I wonder at this Bible study tonight if you can actually resonate with any of these things. I wonder how many may be disappointed with the Lord and you're on the verge of disobedience. I wonder how many of us might have amplified or magnified the blessings of the Lord to a place that they do not belong.

And the giver of every gift now is taking a back seat. Is your neck stiffened in any way? Has the Lord been wooing you in a certain direction? You know? No, no, no, no, no.

I can't go there. You justify it, and you even reinterpret what the Bible plainly says, or you convince yourself, this does not apply to my situation. Careful. Careful. So I join you tonight in responding to this Bible study and asking the Lord to search us.

Search me Lord. Search me and see if there would be any wicked way. I wanna be cleansed. I wanna be free from anything that would hinder me from knowing genuine intimacy with you. And here's the wonderful thing, if this is your first time coming into this Bible study in this chapter, you have to revisit what we talked about last week because the greatness of God is our help.

As great as our sin is, His mercy is greater. His forgiveness is more powerful. His commitment to us even in our failures is astounding. So come to him afresh and trust that he is ready to renew you and restore you. He's faithful.

Let's pray and thank him for it. Lord we thank you How your Bible, your word, the book of books, diagnoses the human heart perfectly. And Lord, we do not run away from the sharp blade that it is when it comes to our carnality and our own human wisdom. We gladly lay ourselves down and allow your word to do surgery on us. And so Lord, if there's any area in our lives where we are acting presumptuously, carve out that pride.

Lord, if there are any golden calves that we have raised up and we have excused it because like Aaron, tomorrow we worship the Lord. Help us realize that you have no rival. You will not share your glory. You take first place always. And Lord, if our faith is so immature, so trivial, that the only times we engage with you, or that your name appears in our lips, or that we become conscious and aware of of your goodness is when we're in trouble.

Lord, deliver us. Help us graduate into greater godliness. And we trust, Lord, as we even read in this Bible study, you are a God who is ready to forgive. You are not reluctant. You are not hesitant.

You are ready as long as we're ready to repent. So we repent. And may we leave here with the sense of your pleasure and confidence that we have a vibrant living true relationship with you. We sing to you now from the place of rejoicing and knowing that even in our sin there is no sin that can keep us away from you as long as we confess. We make a covenant with you.

Help us keep it in Jesus name. Amen and amen. If you need to remain seated and just speak to the Lord from that tender place, you can do that. If you wanna stand and worship triumphantly, you can do that as well as long as we engage with the Lord in these final moments. You know, as I was thinking about this study tonight, I I wondered, these these are so many embarrassing sins.

You might even wonder how they even mustered up the courage to confess anything. Like is there even a point? I mean this is a mountain of offense. And there's one thing that they say here that we didn't have a chance to dwell on. It's a small phrase.

It says here in verse 30 of Nehemiah nine, many years you bore with them. 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 know, as I get, as I get older, not too old, but as I, the years are just going by like this. If anybody was to ask me, looking back in your walk with the Lord, what's the top or one of the top things that amazed you about Him?

At this point, you know what one of them would be? His patience. His patience. He's so patient. I love that scripture in John 13, how he loved his own and he loved them until the end.

Until the end. It's such an enduring love. It's such a steadfast love. It's rock solid. It's, you know, you and I wake up every morning and we feel differently.

Sometimes we'll have the same feeling for a stretch of a few days if, if we're consistent like that. The Lord's love never changes. It doesn't waver. You don't have to wonder, is it different today than it was yesterday? It's, it's a patient love.

Many years you bore them. I'm not looking forward to the day where my daughter has to hear me say, if I ever have to, I mean, nobody's perfect. I just have to say it once. I don't have to say it more than once, right? Parents, you might have said that to your children at one point or another.

Yes, God has said it once, but even though years go by and we disregard and we ignore, He bears with us and He sends messengers and He providentially awakens us and He, He drowns us to Himself. Leave here with that, with that absolute assurance that I'm approaching a God who's not just willing to tolerate me, but genuinely loves me and cleanse me and wash my feet over and over again. Don't ever forget that. Confession to our God is a matter of great joy because we can be confident that he is patient. Lord, we thank you for this sweet night of bible study.

Even with a discussion like sin, we still savor your goodness. As we go our separate ways, perhaps we need to confess, and we pray that you would help us do that in a way that when we get here by Sunday, we have a fresh song in our mouths, that we feel a lightness in our hearts, that we would have a countenance that can only come when we are close to you. We love you, Lord, and we thank you for using these studies to sanctify us. In Jesus' name we pray, amen and amen. May the Lord go before you in all things, in your praise and even in your confession.

God willing, we'll see you on Sunday as we explore Revelation 22. Have a blessed weekend. Take care.