author: Ryan Hayden Take your Bibles with me and turn to the book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah 9. We are going to have a business meeting tonight, so I'm going to try to keep this message on the shorter side.

Last week, we looked at Nehemiah 8 - which was this awesome revival passage. The people gathered in Jerusalem at the beginning of the seventh month where they read the law together and had the law explained to them. Remember that?

As they heard the law explained to them, they started to weep. They were in sin. The scriptures revealed their sin. So they started to weep.

The problem was that those scriptures said that that day - actually most of that whole month - we to be times of celebration. So they had to wait 23 whole days until they could deal with their sin.

Look with me at chapter 9. Lets go ahead and read verses 1-4:

[!bible] Nehemiah 9:1-4 - KJV

1. Now in the twenty and fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, and with sackclothes, and earth upon them.
2. And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers.
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.
4. Then stood up upon the stairs, of the Levites, Jeshua, and Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani, and cried with a loud voice unto the LORD their God.

So this chapter starts on the 24th day. Basically, since the first day when they heard the law until this day, they have been in holiday mode - but the people haven't forgotten that they have unfinished business with God. SO as soon as the holiday is over, they reconvene to take care of business.

They come together before God fasting. They don't eat. They wear sackcloth to show their low position and poverty before God. They put dust on their heads to show their lowly state.

And they come together like this to do what? "to confess their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.". They are there to do business with God. They are there to take care of their sin.

They spend the first part of the morning (three hours) listening to the word. I imagine it was just like chapter 8 - it was being read and explained to them.

Then they spend another three hours confessing and worshipping God. Finally, a group of levites stand before all the people and pray. The prayer lasts from verse 5 through verse 37. It is the longest prayer in the Bible.

Look at verse 38 with me.

[!bible] Nehemiah 9:38 - KJV 38. And because of all this we make a sure covenant, and write it; and our princes, Levites, and priests, seal unto it.

At the end of this time of confession and prayer and worship - they all agree together that they need to renew a covenant with God. That covenant is what chapter 10 is about. We'll get there next week. But basically they agree to put away heathen wives, to marry in the faith, to keep the sabbath and the sabbatical years and to give to support the priesthood. These are all areas that the jews have been disobedient in for their whole history.

Here is an interesting thing. We are almost at the end here of the Old Testament. Yes, I know, this is just Nehemiah and you have the Esther, Job, Psalms and Proverbs and many more prophetical books after that. But historically speaking, besides what is recorded in the last chapter of Nehemiah, this is pretty much the last thing that happens in the Old Testament chronologically speaking.

Let's look at this prayer. Verse 5-37 is a public prayer. And it is interesting for a few reasons:

• First, it is the longest recorded prayer in the whole Bible. But I'm going to read it all in a second, and it only takes about 6 minutes to read out loud.
• Second, the prayer is kind of a sermon. The prayer recounts the whole history of Israel.

So what is interesting to me about this prayer is it is the Old Testament's summary of the Old Testament. If you want to know what the first 39 books of the Bible are about - if you want a cliff notes version of the Old Testament - you won't do much better than Nehemiah 9:5-37.

Let me take a few minutes here and read that to you - and then I'll very quickly give you four things we see in this chapter that apply to us.

[!bible] Nehemiah 9:5-37 - KJV 5. Then the Levites, Jeshua, and Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabniah, Sherebiah, Hodijah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said, 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. 6. 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. 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; 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. And didst see the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and heardest their cry by the Red sea; 10. And shewedst 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. 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. 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. 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: 14. And madest known unto them thy holy sabbath, and commandedst them precepts, statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses thy servant: 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. 16. But they and our fathers dealt proudly, and hardened their necks, and hearkened not to thy commandments, 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. 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; 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 shew them light, and the way wherein they should go. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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; 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. 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. 31. Nevertheless for thy great mercies’ sake thou didst not utterly consume them, nor forsake them; for thou art a gracious and merciful God. 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. 33. Howbeit thou art just in all that is brought upon us; for thou hast done right, but we have done wickedly: 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. 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. 36. 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: 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.

That's a mouthful isn't it? That's a long prayer. But it's great because it shows us how to understand the Old Testament.

So what does the Old Testament teach us about God and Isreal?

• First, it shows us that God is creator. You see that in verse 6.
• Second, it shows God initiating a covenant with His people. You see that starting in verse 7.
• Third, it shows God saving His people, delivering them from Egypt. That starts in verse 9.
• Then, it shows God leading, providing for, and giving His word to His people in the wilderness. That starts in verse 12.

So what does the Old Testament teach us about God?

• He is the creator.
• He chooses His people.
• He saves His people.
• He leads, directs and provides for His people.

But then something happens. Starting in verse 16-17 you see that despite all of God's goodness, Israel rebells against God.

• They do it first in the wilderness with the golden calf. (18)
• Then they disobeyed God in not entering into the promised land.
• Then, after God brought them into the promised land, pretty much the whole history of the judges and the kings was them disobeying God and ignoring or persecuting the prophets God sent.
• All of this culminated in them being sent into captivity - (and they still were kind of in captivity when this was written.)

So the whole history of Israel has been this nasty cycle where God was good, God blessed, the people rebelled, God brought judgment, the people repented, God blessed, the people rebelled and the cycle started all over again.

And so the children of Israel acknowledge that and they recommit to obeying God's commands.

Now, what can we learn from this story? Let me very quickly give you three things we need.

1. we need to clearly see God's goodness.

That's what this was mostly about. It was about how good God is. How faithful God has been to His people.

They came for the purpose of confession, but they started with worship.

Listen, at the root of all sin is this idea: God is not good. God is holding out on us. God is trying to trick us.

And when we have true revival - like the people had here in Nehemiah 9 - we see that God is good and always has been good.

• God is our good creator.
• God chose us out of His goodness.
• God redeemed us out of bondage to sin.
• God has directed us and provided for us.
• God has given us His word that shows His goodness to us.

God is good.

Truly, until we see how good God is, we aren't going to have a clear view of our sin. We almost have to see how good God is to see how bad we are. We need His holiness to see clearly about our own sin.

So the first thing we need to see clearly is God's goodness. The second thing we need to see clearly is

2. We need to clearly see our own sin.

The people in this chapter didn't blame their sin on anyone else. They owned their sin. They owned the sin of their forefathers too. They recognized that their sin has been a family problem.

And that through generations, God has been good and merciful. God's judgment, as it has come, has been fair and just. And God has been quick to forgive and heal.

But they were coming here to recognize their sin - and it is healthy for us too to consider our sin. How many times we have failed God. Even after He has been so good to us in saving us, we have failed Him.

You, know, I love 1 John 1:9

[!bible] 1 John 1:9 - KJV 9. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

That word "confess" there, it means "to say the same thing." We have to say the same thing about our sin that God does. We need to see it like God does.

When we do, He promises to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Isn't that a wonderful promise?

In my study this week I came across a list of questions to ask to help with confession. Listen to these questions and ask yourself these questions:

author: Ryan Hayden

Questions about our relationship with men:

• Am I creating the impression that I am better than I am?
• Is there hypocrisy in my life?
• Am I honest in all my words and acts?
• Do I exaggerate?
• Am I reliable?
• Can I be trusted?
• Do I confidentially pass on what was told me in confidence?
• Do I grumble and complain in the church?
• Am I jealous, irritable, impure, touchy or distrustful?
• Am I self-conscious, self-pitying or self-justifying?
• Am I proud?
• Do I thank God that I am not like other people?
• Is there anyone I fear, despise, criticize or resent?
• What am I doing about it?

Questions about my devotion to God:

• Does the Bible live in me?
• Do I give it time to speak?
• Do I go to bed in time and wake up in time?
• Am I enjoying my prayer life today?
• Did I enjoy it this morning?
• When I have a problem do I talk about it or pray about i?
• Am I disobeying God in anything?
• Am I doing something that makes my conscience uneasy?
• When was the last time I spoke to someone to win them for Christ?
• Am I a slave to books, friends, work or what others thing?
• How do I spend my spare time?

author: Ryan Hayden

We need a clear view of our sin, so we can confess it and ask God's help with it.

So:

1. We need a clear view of God's goodness.
2. We need a clear view of our sinfulness.

There is a third thing here:

3. We need a clear commitment to obey God.

What these people were doing here is just committing again to obey God. They were committing to stop their sin.

If we just confess our sins, and then never stop with the sin - then what is the point? God wants to "cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

At some point, the worship and confession has to turn into action. The people were committed to faithfulness.

Conclusion

So, brothers and sisters, as we close tonight, let’s take these three lessons from Nehemiah 9 to heart. First, let’s fix our eyes on the goodness of God—His faithfulness, His mercy, His provision through every season of our lives. Second, let’s be honest about our sin, not hiding from it or excusing it, but confessing it as God sees it, knowing He is faithful to forgive. And third, let’s turn our confession into action, committing afresh to obey God in every area of our lives.

The people in Nehemiah’s day didn’t just pray a long prayer and go home—they made a covenant to live differently, to honor God with their choices. Tonight, as we head into our business meeting, I challenge each of us to do the same. Where has God been speaking to you? Where do you need to renew your commitment to Him? Let’s leave here tonight not just as hearers of the Word, but as doers—ready to walk in obedience, trusting in His goodness every step of the way. Let’s pray.