Revival Through Repentance Nehemiah 9 Rev. Min Chung (Lord s Day Service, February 4, 2018) Nehemiah 9 1 Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the people of Israel were assembled with fasting and in sackcloth, and with earth on their heads. 2 And the Israelites separated themselves from all foreigners and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. 3 And they stood up in their place and read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for a quarter of the day; for another quarter of it they made confession and worshiped the Lord their God. 4 On the stairs of the Levites stood Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani; and they cried with a loud voice to the Lord their God. 5 Then the Levites, Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said, Stand up and bless the Lord your God from everlasting to everlasting. Blessed be your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise. 6 You are the Lord, you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you. 7 You are the Lord, the God who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and gave him the name Abraham. 8 You found his heart faithful before you, and made with him the covenant to give to his offspring the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite. And you have kept your promise, for you are righteous. 9 And you saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt and heard their cry at the Red Sea, 10 and performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh and all his servants and all the people of his land, for you knew that they acted arrogantly against our fathers. And you made a name for yourself, as it is to this day. 11 And you divided the sea before them, so that they went through the midst of the sea on dry land, and you cast their pursuers into the depths, as a stone into mighty waters. 12 By a pillar of cloud you led them in the day, and by a pillar of fire in the night to light for them the way in which they should go. 13 You came down on Mount Sinai and spoke with them from heaven and gave them right rules and true laws, good statutes and commandments, 14 and you made known to them your holy Sabbath and commanded them commandments and statutes and a law by Moses your servant. 15 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. 16 But they and our fathers acted presumptuously and stiffened their neck and did not obey your commandments. 17 They refused to obey and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them, but they stiffened their neck and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them. 18 Even when they had made for themselves a golden calf and said, This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt, and had committed great blasphemies, 19 you in 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 should go. 20 You gave your good Spirit to instruct them and did not withhold your manna from their mouth and gave them water for their thirst. 21 Forty
years you sustained them in the wilderness, and they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell. 22 And you gave them kingdoms and peoples and allotted to them every corner. So they took possession of the land of Sihon king of Heshbon and the land of Og king of Bashan. 23 You multiplied their children as the stars of heaven, and you brought them into the land that you had told their fathers to enter and possess. 24 So the descendants went in and possessed the land, and you subdued before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gave them into their hand, with their kings and the peoples of the land, that they might do with them as they would. 25 And they captured fortified cities and a rich land, and took possession of houses full of all good things, cisterns already hewn, vineyards, olive orchards and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate and were filled and became fat and delighted themselves in your great goodness. 26 Nevertheless, they were disobedient and rebelled against you and cast your law behind their back and killed your prophets, who had warned them in order to turn them back to you, and they committed great blasphemies. 27 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 them from heaven, and according to your great mercies you gave them saviors who saved them from the hand of their enemies. 28 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. Yet when they turned and cried to you, you heard from heaven, and many times you delivered them according to your mercies. 29 And you warned them in order to turn them back to your law. Yet they acted presumptuously and did not obey your commandments, but sinned against your rules, which if a person does them, he shall live by them, and they turned a stubborn shoulder and stiffened their neck and would not obey. 30 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. 31 Nevertheless, in your great mercies you did not make an end of them or forsake them, for you are a gracious and merciful God. 32 Now, therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love, let not all the hardship 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 Assyria until this day. 33 Yet you have been righteous in all that has come upon us, for you have dealt faithfully and we have acted wickedly. 34 Our kings, our princes, our priests, and our fathers have not kept your law or paid attention to your commandments and your warnings that you gave them. 35 Even in their own kingdom, and amid your great goodness that you gave them, and in the large and rich land that you set before them, they did not serve you or turn from their wicked works. 36 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. 37 And its rich yield 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. 38 Because of all this we make a firm covenant in writing; on the sealed document are the names of our princes, our Levites, and our priests.
Introduction Nehemiah 8:2 So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could understand what they heard, on the first day of the seventh month. Nehemiah 9:1 Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the people of Israel were assembled with fasting and in sackcloth, and with earth on their heads. We are journeying through the Book of Nehemiah. Chapters 1-7 is about the building of the wall for the nation of Israel. Now, chapters 8-10 serve as a rebuilding of the people of Israel. This is nicely divided: chapter 8 is about revival through the word, chapter 9 is about revival through repentance, and chapter 10 is about revival through commitment. Is revival possible for generations that feel entitled to everything but aren t willing to pay for anything? As we study the Word, we see that revival can happen when God is working, but it doesn t happen without the Word. There needs to be faithful preaching of the Word which leads to a faithful response through repentance, causing a commitment to be made. I believe that this instance is a true revival because the times chapter 8 and 9 take place show an incredible reaction to the reading of God s law through the Israelite s weeping and crying, so much so that the priests had to tell them to stop. The gathering for repentance in chapter 9 happens around 20 days after chapter 8, showing that there was a genuine fire in their hearts that caused their commitments to last for several weeks. Several chapter 9 s in the Bible are very important. Three great national prayers for revival happen in various chapter 9 s: Ezra, Nehemiah, and Daniel. God is working in the history of humanity. Arthur T. Pierson said, History is His story, and this is shown through the revival of the people through repentance in this chapter. I. Companionship through the Word [1-5] As the people gathered in companionship under the Word to repent, we can see four separations take place. A. Separation from sin [1] It says this repentance took place on the 24 th day. The Day of Atonement is on the 10 th day after seven days of the feast of booths and an eighth day of solemn assembly. Now, they are gathering together after feasting which had now turned into fasting. The Word had brought conviction, leading people to confess their sins. This corporate fasting is important so that they will examine their hearts to fast from not only food but anything besides God that brings them joy. They wanted to feast in the
Lord. Whenever we lack passion, we lack love and devotion for God because of idolatry to other things in our hearts. B. Separation from other nations [2] In verse 2, it says that they separated themselves from all foreigners and confessed their sins and iniquities of their fathers. To be clear, they re not blaming their ancestors for their sinful behaviors, but they re acknowledging that they hold that same nature and are repenting of it. They re confessing their sin natures so that they can be healed, forgiven, and changed. The Israelites separated from all foreigners because they knew that Israel as a nation was called by God to be different from all other nations to show that God is using them. This is what it means to be holy: to be separate. The Bible says we are to be holy and separate from our sins but also separated for God. E.M. Bounds says, A holy life does not live in the closet, but it cannot live without the closet. A holy life starts with prayer in our closets, but we are also to go out into the world to share the light of Jesus Christ we received in the closet. The annual Day of Atonement had passed a few weeks before this event, but the worshipers knew that they needed constant cleansing and renewal from the Lord. We must not focus on our own self-examination to the point that we are ignoring God and condemning ourselves. We need self-examination so that we can go to the Lord, but we are not meant to stay in that self-condemning state. We should be honest with ourselves in how we deal with the Lord, but we must also always look up towards the Lord. The more you look on yourself, the more discouraged you will become. Therefore, look up and focus on His perfections, not only your own imperfections. The Lenten season is coming in a week and a half on Valentine s Day, going until Easter. Some of us might want to be in love with someone for that day, but we can rejoice that we can start that day by fasting so that we can fall in love with God. During Lenten season, you might decide to give up something or adding something that would help you get closer to the Lord. C. Separation to God [3] As seen in verse 3, it says that the Israelites read from the book of the Law of the Lord, their God, for a quarter of the day. That s three hours of scripture reading which was then followed by three hours of confession. They were completely giving themselves to the Lord so that they would be engrossed in God. Some of us have no problems doing blank for three or even six hours. We need to love the Lord more than our addictions and spend time with Him. So, use your addictions as a measure for how much more we need to fall in love with God with an undivided heart. These people could do these things for six hours because they were alive and in love.
D. Separated to bless the Lord [4-5] Here we see the Levites, the spiritual leaders, who cry out with a loud voice to their God. The rest of the chapter is basically them leading a prayer to the rest of the nation. These were the same Levites who were interpreting the word that Ezra preached in the last chapter. Now, they are leading in a long, formal, prayer that directs people s thoughts to the goodness and power of God. These Levites are reciting the Old Testament not so that God would remember what is written but so that the people of Israel would remember God s faithfulness and mercy. This is the longest formal prayer and recounting of the Old Testament in the Old Testament. So, the repentance that led to the revival of the nation started from the spiritual leaders. Perhaps, American Christians are in an urgent situation because there is no urgency in their hearts, starting with the leaders. As I read this passage, I feel some urgency in my heart, but I feel like I am lacking even more urgency that I need in light of all that s happening in our nation and the world. More urgency is needed starting with me praying, Lord, give us more urgency in our church that we would have love for the nation, love for the people, love for You, and love for the people in need your grace. Repentance means turning away from sin so that we can turn towards God. It means saying that we want God more than anything else. We re saying that we love our sin, but we want to love God more than that sin. The Israelites and Levites are taking ownership of their sin. This generation has a culture of acceptance which can help picture the acceptance of God. But, Biblical acceptance only comes after true repentance. Acceptance without repentance would put spoiled brats in the Kingdom rather than mature children of God. Therefore, we need to create a culture of true repentance. A single person s confession may lead to a moment of testimony, but a culture of repentance may lead to a movement of a generation. We must know our sins so that we would be so dissatisfied in our state, turn to the Lord and be forgiven, and be faithful in our lives so that the world can see God through us. I ve seen some major revivals in my lifetime, but I don t think we will see another one because there is no national consciousness of sin that would lead to a major revival. In fact, there is hardly any personal consciousness of sin around the world, but the consciousness that leads to repentance is essential in revival. We need to create the culture of repentance to cause mini-revivals within our hearts and families which might make a major revival possible. II. Confession based on the Word [6-31] The Levites are recounting the history of Israel so that they can be reminded of God s faithfulness and have hope amid their unfaithfulness. There are two themes to this prayer:
people are sinful, but God is gracious. The word, You, referring to God, is used about 85 times, so it s actually about God and His faithfulness. Unless you see both God s faithfulness and your sinfulness, you will never be able to repent. Have a balance of these two facts deeply in your hearts of these two facts. Note that God is the subject and initiator throughout these verses. A. The God of Genesis [6-8] 1. Creation [6] First, the passage starts with the God of Genesis saying, You are the Lord, which means Yahweh. Yahweh means God is the one God who has no competitors and existed since the beginning of time. The Levites are exclaiming that God is the creator who defined us. God has created all, including the heavens, and the armies in heaven will worship Him. 2. Re-creation [7-8] Not only is He the creator, but He is the re-creator too. After He created man who had fallen, He started to restore man through Abraham and started building up a nation. Notice that God is the subject of every action. It says, You are the Lord who chose Abraham and brought him out You found his heart faithful before you, and you a made covenant with him You have kept the promise It s interesting that in verse 8, even as the Levites are talking about the faithfulness of Abraham, the focus is on God finding the faithfulness in Abraham. The prayer is very theocentric so that we can understand from God s perspective. B. The God of Exodus [9-21] 1. The God who saves [9-11] We see that God is the God who saves in verses 9-11 as shown with the crossing of the Red Sea. Again, God is the subject of our salvation as it says, And you saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt and heard their cry at the Red Sea, and performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh and all his servants you knew that they acted arrogantly against our fathers you made a name for yourself you divided the sea before them and you cast their pursuers into the depths. You can see that God is the one who is initiating and doing everything He can for our salvation. In verse 10, we see the reason He does this as it says, And you made a name for yourself, as it is to this day. This phrase, to this day, emphasizes that God s name has stayed the same between the 1000 years that passed from the Exodus to the time of this prayer. This is what history is about: God giving His name, character, and way, so that people can trust Him, love Him, and be saved. That s
what our life is about: we must know His name so that we can make His name known to the world. Do you know God? Do you know Him as God, as a savior, as a friend? Do you love and enjoy Him? These stories exist so that we would know His name, so life is not about you but about Him. 2. The God who leads through the journey [12-15] In between now and heaven, God leads us through the journey just as He led the Israelites from Egypt to the promised land. In verse 12, He leads them through the wilderness using a pillar of cloud and fire. In verses 13-15, He leads them through the wilderness using the commands and the Word given to Moses. 3. The God who is gracious, merciful, and steadfast [16-18] We also see that God is still gracious and merciful to the Israelites despite their unfaithfulness because of His steadfastness and covenant loyalty to them. And now, this is the first time the Levites are pointing out how sinful they are. It says, But they and our fathers acted presumptuously and stiffened their neck they refused to obey and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them, but they stiffened their neck and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt they had made for themselves a golden calf and had committed great blasphemies. They were so sinful in the wilderness amid God s mercy. The Israelites were in much deeper suffering when they were in Egypt and comparatively, the wilderness was much easier. They were beaten as slaves and had no Sabbath in Egypt, but nobody is beating them in the wilderness. Yet, they were sinning much more than they were in Egypt. We re like the Israelites here. When we re in pain, we cry out to the Lord, but as the suffering starts to subside, we start to have divided hearts to seek for pleasure in other places that aren t God. We need to be cautious when we are on the brink of prosperity so that we don t love other things more than God. Thomas Carlyle said, For every one hundred men who can stand adversity there is only one who can withstand prosperity. John Steinbeck wrote, If I wanted to destroy a nation, I would give it too much, and I would have it on its knees, miserable, greedy, sick. In verse 19, the Levites pray, you in your great mercies did not forsake them in the wilderness. God is constantly pouring His love upon them and chasing after them. Even when the rebellion of the Israelites was great, God s compassion was greater. No matter how awful and numerous our sins are, God s grace is always greater, and He will be glorified, the primary purpose. Secondary to that, we receive blessings and joy because of His glory, but it s always about God s glory. It s never about us, but about Him. C. The God of Joshua [22-25]
The Levites cover the book of Joshua using the language of Deuteronomy. We can see this in verse 23, You multiplied their children as the stars of heaven, which is reminiscent of God s promise of family blessing in Genesis. Verse 24 also refers to Genesis with the reference to how the Israelites possessed the land showing that the promise from Genesis is fulfilled in Joshua. We see God s faithfulness through children and land. This faithfulness is especially shown in verse 25, And they captured fortified cities and a rich land, and took possession of houses full of all good things, cisterns already hewn. Because of the lack of rainfall, every house had to have its own well or cistern to store water from the rainy season. God shows his meticulous faithfulness towards each family by making sure that each of their cisterns were full. We need to thank God for the different ways He has blessed every one of us in our lives. D. The God of Judges and Kings [26-28] In these verses, the Levites are emphasizing God s discipline for the children that He loves. The Levites say in these verses, they were disobedient and rebelled against you and killed your prophets therefore you gave them into the hand of their enemies, who made them suffer they cried out to you and you heard them from heaven, and according to your great mercies you gave them saviors but after they had rest they did evil again. This depicts the cycle of Israel s history. God blesses them and they are faithful for a while, but then their hearts become divided causing them to sin. God warns them with words, but they don t listen which leads to exile. In their suffering, they cry out to the Lord, and He saves them. After, they sin again. God disciplines the Israelites so that they won t destroy themselves and can repent of their sins to be restored. E. The God of the Prophets [29-31] 1. The God who warns [29-31] This cycle appears again in the Prophets as seen in verse 29, you warned them in order to turn them back to your law. We see that God always warns before the punishment which is done as described in verse 30, by your Spirit through your prophets therefore you gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands. The circumstances come when the people don t listen. I always say there are two ways to be broken by God. You can either listen to the word of God and repent, or you can ignore and let hardships come into your life. 2. The God who restores [31] God is also a God who restores. We see in verse 31, Nevertheless, in your great mercies you did not make an end of them or forsake them, which shows that God did not throw the Israelites and start anew. God restored the old and sinful people after their repentance. He does not give up on His people.
There s a paradox within the Christian life. The closer you become with God, the godlier you become, and the more you see the depravity of your heart. Therefore, you see the greatness of your own sin more. If you re spiritually mature, you will see the greatness of God and sins together. However, we will not just see the glory of God; we will look up and receive His forgiveness. So, our lives have ongoing repentance so that we can continually receive this forgiveness. Mourning of sin should be for both personal and corporate sins of God s people. III. Commitment according to the Word [32-38] A. God is gracious and righteous The summary of the past [32-33] As the Levites interpret the past, they see how God is faithful and gracious. Verse 32 mentions His steadfast, hesed, love and in verse 33, they state, we have acted wickedly. The Levites are including themselves in this blame by using the pronoun we. B. We were disobedient and wicked The interpretation of the cause [34-35] As they are summarizing the past, the Levites see the cause for their sufferings coming from their disobedience. This is emphasized in verses 34 and 35: our fathers have not kept your law or paid attention to your commandments and your warnings they did not serve you or turn from their wicked works. The Levites are not blaming God during their exile, instead they see their sins as the cause. We often cry about why innocent people suffer, but really, we don t realize just how wicked we are. God is so patient with His wicked people because He doesn t send them to hell. Any suffering we face is always less than the suffering we deserve. Suffering is given to us so that we can turn back to God in repentance. C. We are slaves The present situation [36-37] The Levites then turn to assessing their present situation that they are slaves to the Persians as explained in verse 37, they rule over our bodies and over our livestock as they please. This is also a reflection of their spiritual slavery to their sin. D. We make a firm covenant The present application [38] In light of God s faithfulness and their sinfulness, they make the application of making a firm covenant with the Lord. We will see the full-fledged pledge of this covenant commitment in chapter 10. In verse 38, they begin to make a commitment to the Lord. Usually the word used for covenant beriyth, but this is a different covenant word that emphasizes their commitment to faithfulness. They want to be faithful to God because of His faithfulness to them. E. Our hope righteous and covenant
We might be discouraged from committing because we have already failed before. We become hopeless as we are recommitting. The two words righteousness and covenant are our hope to be committed to the Lord. 1. Righteousness Nehemiah 9:8 You found his heart faithful before you, and made with him the covenant to give to his offspring the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite. And you have kept your promise, for you are righteous. Nehemiah 9:33 Yet you have been righteous in all that has come upon us, for you have dealt faithfully and we have acted wickedly. Romans 5:17 For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. Romans 4:22 That is why his faith was counted to him as righteousness. Romans 6:13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. Romans 6:18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. Verse 8 says, you are righteous, which some commentators view as the most important word in the chapter. What does it mean to be righteous? Most commentators say it means to keep a covenant. I think that righteousness is part of God s character that makes Him keep His covenant. God s righteousness is part of who He is on a fundamental level. Righteousness means that God is always doing the right thing. God Himself is the standard of what right is. This is why it says in 2 Timothy 2:13, he cannot deny himself because He is righteous. Righteous is used twice in this chapter in verses 8 and 33, where it is mentioned that you have been righteous during the entire history of Israel because of His character.
Conclusion Can we ever be righteous? The word righteous is a very important word across the book of Romans. We can see that righteousness is a free gift that is given to us by our faith. All our unrighteousness was laid onto Jesus on the cross, and we receive all His righteousness. But, will righteousness actually be part of our character? Romans 6 suggests that it will be part of our character because we are going to be used as instruments for righteousness as slaves to it. This suggests that righteousness has become a part of us. We are given the ability, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to love God more than our sins. 2. Covenant Nehemiah 9:32 Now, therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love, let not all the hardship 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 Assyria until this day. Nehemiah 9:38 Because of all this we make a firm covenant in writing; on the sealed document are the names of our princes, our Levites, and our priests. 1 Corinthians 11:25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me. Covenant is mentioned twice in the chapter. In verse 32, we see that God is the one who keeps the covenant and steadfast love, and in verse 38, we are making our firm covenant in response. What s the difference between a regular commitment and a Christian covenant? A regular commitment is what we personally are determined to do, but a covenant commitment is a commitment based on God s determination of us. He gives us strength. The new covenant of Jesus Christ s blood serves as our foundation that forgives us of our failures. Because not only is Jesus faithful and forgives us for our failures, He also helps us keep our commitments and grow. When we fail, we can go to him again and again. As we are hungry for Him with our holy dissatisfaction, we grow to become more and more righteous and faithful. Covenant means our actions and life will change to be able to do, choose, and love, to do the right thing because of Jesus.
I want to share one last story about William Wilberforce. He was a key figure in the abolition of slavery in the British empire in 1807. Wilberforce was elected to Parliament in 1780 at the age of 21 and became a Christian at 26 in 1785. Wilberforce s first Parliamentary bill was to discuss abolition and was introduced and failed in the House of Commons in 1788 when he was 29. The bill came up over many years and was constantly defeated, due to the money that would have been lost through the abolition of slavery. It wasn t until 1807 when he was 48 years old that the bill passed the House of Lords and Commons. It took 19 years for the bill to be passed. When the news of the abolition reached Wilberforce, he asked his friend Henry Thornton, Well Henry, what should we abolish next? It never occurred to Wilberforce to quit because it was the right thing to do. Our attitude for a worthy cause should not be to accomplish it as soon as possible, but to dedicate ourselves to it not matter how long it takes. That ought to be our attitude in our fight against sin. Though we are freed in our justification, we must fight against sin for our sanctification. We need to create a culture of repentance that will cause a small revival in our hearts, but will prepare us for the possibility of a revival in our families, churches, and nation.