Join us on a compelling journey through the scriptures as Pastor John Kyle delves into the book of Nehemiah. Experience the incredible faith of Nehemiah as he leads his people amidst adversity to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. As we reflect on these biblical narratives, we’re reminded of how God uses ordinary individuals to achieve extraordinary outcomes, setting the stage for spiritual rejuvenation.
Welcome to Expository Truths, where we exalt Christ by bringing clarity of truth through the scriptures with Dr. John Kyle, pastor of Faith Community Church in Vacaville. As Christians, we are called to know the truth and be able to proclaim it. We can know the truth when we know the word of God, which is precise, without error, powerful, and effective for both salvation and spiritual growth. Let’s join Pastor Kyle as he takes us verse by verse through the book of Nehemiah, an incredible book showing us how God sovereignly used the faithfulness of Nehemiah to lead the people to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem in the midst of many mighty and powerful enemies.
SPEAKER 01 :
Please turn with me in your Bibles to Nehemiah chapter 9 verses 9 through 12. Nehemiah 9, 9 through 12. Now remember, God led Nehemiah to go to Jerusalem and to rebuild the ruined walls of the city, which was an absolutely amazing task. But even more, God led Nehemiah to be the catalyst in bringing the people back to repentant faith in the living God. See, they were spiritually dry. They were living in compromise and in sin. They were far away from God. And God used Nehemiah to help the city to return to its former glory. And even better, He used Nehemiah to help the people to return to the Lord. After the wall was finished, the people gathered together in Jerusalem. They read from the law of God, the Word of God. And then they wept and rejoiced at the Feast of Trumpets. And then two weeks later, when they celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles, they read from the law again. They worshiped and celebrated the Lord, and there was great gladness from all the people. And then, look, just a couple of days after that amazing event, the people again gathered together. to observe a national day of repentance, where they fasted, they mourned, they wore sackcloth, and they put dust on their heads as they cried out to God to express their turning away from sin and to the Lord in heartfelt love and worship to Him. It was an amazing time. It was real, and God was certainly well pleased by what He was seeing. They then prayed, and we looked at the first part of that prayer last week, and that prayer is found in verses 5 through 37, and it records the longest prayer in the Bible. It’s a penitent prayer of confession that offers an amazing survey of Old Testament history. It seems that this prayer was prepared beforehand, probably by Ezra, and the prayer was then recited by a group of Levites, and they either prayed this prayer successively, or else they broke up into eight different groups, and each group was led by one of those Levites who probably expounded on that prayer, because that time lasted for many hours. Last time, as we looked at the prayer, we saw that the people could give praise to God because He alone is God, because He made everything, including you, and because He chose Abraham. Today, we learn a couple more reasons why we, God’s people, can praise Him as we look at this prayer. Verse 9 says this, Stop there. God saw the affliction of our fathers, and He heard their cry. How comforting is that? How comforting is that? Now remember… We’re at the beginning of this prayer that began in verse 5. And in this corporate prayer, the people are recounting the amazing reasons why they can bless and praise God as they go through their history, beginning at creation. And the purpose of this history lesson is for them to repent and to turn back to God as they see His amazing goodness towards them. Last time we looked at creation and then Abraham, which took us up to Genesis chapter 12. After that comes verse 9, and that one verse moves us from Genesis chapter 12 all the way to the book of Exodus. Let me remind you what happened in the between time. Genesis 12 through 20 covers Abraham. Genesis 21-26 covers Isaac. Genesis 27-36 covers Jacob. And then Genesis 37-50 covers Joseph. Remember what happened? Abraham had Isaac and Isaac had Jacob and then Jacob had 12 sons and Joseph was the favored son of Jacob. Remember that? He made Joseph a coat of many colors. By doing that, he might as well have had Joseph stand on the table and shout, Hey everyone, look at me. I’m daddy’s favorite. Clearly, that robe was a visible representation of his father’s preference of him over his other brothers. And as a result, the brothers hated Joseph and they couldn’t speak peaceably to him, the Bible says. On top of that were the dreams that Joseph had. Hey guys, he said, I had a couple of dreams where all of you were bowing down to me, even you, dad. You know, that’s not good. That’s not good to share out loud, which only added to the envy and to the jealousy. It so happened that Joseph’s brothers were about 50 miles away in Shechem, feeding their father’s flocks. After a while, Joseph was sent to go and check in on them. So he went, and when he arrived in Shechem, he couldn’t find them. Genesis 37, 15. A man saw him wandering around and said, what are you looking for? My brothers, do you know where they’re at? Yeah, they went to Dothan, which is about 15 miles to the north. So Joseph went to Dothan to find his brothers. He’s wearing that robe, mind you. So what happened? His brothers saw him, and while he was still far off, they conspired to kill him. Here comes this dreamer. Let’s kill him. Let’s throw him into one of those pits. Let’s say a wild beast devoured him. Then we’re going to see what becomes of his dreams. Great idea, brother. Great idea. We won’t kill him. We’ll just throw him into that pit. So Joseph came. The brothers stripped him of that tunic that they hated. Then they threw their brother that they hated into a waterless pit. Genesis 37.25 says that after throwing Joseph in that pit, look what the brothers did. They sat down and they ate a meal. How callous is that? How hard-hearted is that? I mean, they could certainly hear his pleas for help and his cries of pain, his cries of anguish, but they didn’t seem to care. It happened that as they were eating, they saw a company of Ishmaelites going down to Egypt. And so Judah says, hey brothers, instead of killing Joseph, let’s sell him. He’s our brother, right? Let’s not kill him. Let’s be nice and let’s sell him as a slave. Great idea. So they sold him. They pulled up Joseph out of that pit. They sold Joseph for 20 shekels of silver, the average price of a slave at that time. And then off Joseph went to Egypt. They then went back to Dad, showed him that coat of many colors that they had dipped in blood, and said, Dad, look, we found this. A wild beast must have devoured Joseph. But as we know, God was with Joseph. That changes everything, right? Even in the midst of all that hardship, God was with Joseph. Look what happened. His brother sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites, who then took Joseph down to Egypt, who sold him to Potiphar, who was an officer to Pharaoh and the captain of Pharaoh’s guard. And in all that, that couldn’t have been very fun for Joseph, you think? Not fun, right? I mean, he’s now in a foreign land. He probably thinks his life is going to end. He has to be full of fears and full of doubts, and this is no cakewalk. For Joseph, Genesis 39.3, the Lord was with him and the Lord caused all that he did to prosper, even though he’s a slave. Genesis 39.5, the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake and the Lord’s blessing was upon all that he did in the house and in the field. And then Genesis 39.21, the Lord was with Joseph and showed mercy to him and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper in prison. Again, even as a slave. The Lord was with him, and even in prison, the Lord was with him. Joseph’s now working in Potiphar’s house, overseeing the whole household. But one day when Potiphar was away, his wife made a pass at Joseph. Lie with me. Godly Joseph refused, and he gave two compelling reasons for refusing. First, Joseph appealed to Potiphar. How can I do this to him? Second, Joseph appealed to the Lord. He said, how then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? See, Joseph knew that more than anything else, this would be a sin against the Lord whom he loved. Joseph knew that he and Potiphar’s wife weren’t the only ones there in that room. He knew that what he did, that all that he did was immediately before the Lord. In the end, Potiphar’s rejected wife lied about what had happened, and Joseph ended up in prison for doing the God-honoring thing. Hey, sometimes doing the right thing will cost you, right? Anybody know that? Many times, doing the right thing will cost you. But it’s always worth it in the long run as a child of God. We know that, right? Why? Because the passing pleasure of sin can never compare to what we give up when we sin. I mean, it’s better to suffer any loss, any cost, any sacrifice than to be eaten up by remorse. Better to be hurled down from a high place for doing right than win worldly honor by doing wrong. We know that. Better to rot in prison than sin against God. So prison. Question, was God with him even then? No. Yes, he was. Remember, while Joseph was in prison, Pharaoh had a couple of dreams, and by the mighty providence of God and through an amazing series of circumstances while Joseph was in prison, it became known to Pharaoh that Joseph could interpret those dreams. Why? Because God is the interpreter of dreams, and God was moving and working through Joseph. So Joseph came out of prison. He cleaned himself up. He appeared before Pharaoh. Pharaoh shared his dreams with Joseph, and Joseph rightly interpreted them. If you remember, the dreams revealed that there’s going to be seven years of plenty in the land, followed by seven years of famine in the land, and the famine would be so great that the years of plenty would be forgotten. Joseph then adds these wise words of advice. Let Pharaoh select a wise man in the land who will help the nation prepare for the seven years of famine, so that when the famine comes, you will be ready and will have food during the hard times. Pharaoh then said, okay, Joseph, you’re that man. And just like that, Joseph went from being a prisoner to being second in command over all the land of Egypt. The years of plenty came, and Joseph used his God-given wisdom to store up much grain. And then the years of famine came, not only in Egypt, but to the land of Canaan as well. Pretty soon, people began to run out of food, and the only place that had any grain was in Egypt. Then one day, Joseph’s brothers from Canaan showed up, One ingrained, not recognizing Joseph. And so, through a series of very dramatic events, Joseph finally revealed himself to his brothers with much weeping, tears, and gladness. Joseph then sent and called his father Jacob and all of his relatives to come to Egypt to live there during the times of famine, which they did. And look, they stayed there in the land of Goshen. Centuries have now come and gone. The patriarchs have all died off. And several other generations have been born and raised in Egypt. And guess what? They’re still there in Egypt. And so as time went by, the people grew and multiplied until another king arose who didn’t know Joseph, and therefore he had no reason to be kind to the Jews who were multiplying and becoming powerful in the land. See, they were becoming a great threat to the Egyptians, and so the new king began to deal treacherously with them and to oppress them. How? The book of Exodus tells us the story of what happened. Exodus 1.11 says it like this. Therefore they sent taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. So this was a time where God’s people suffered greatly. They suffered horribly. Slavery, pain, death of children, hardship. Wretched, terrible, horrible affliction. But look, verse 9. God saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt. And He heard their cries by the Red Sea. So while God won’t always deliver us out of our trials, He sees it. and He hears our cries, and He will certainly walk with us in the midst of them. And our call through it all is to trust Him, the One who knows exactly what He’s doing with us as His beloved children, even when we’re in the midst of affliction, even when we’re in the midst of slavery. God saw the people’s affliction. Man, I love that. Even in great tragedy and pain and sin and hurt, which is part of life on this very sinful planet, God will use even that for your eternal good and for His eternal glory, and the end is worth all of it. And one day, all the wrongs that have been done will be made right, and God loves you more than you can ever think or imagine. He saved you, He will sustain you, and He will take you home to glory to be with Him forever. Another reason to praise God is this. He led Israel out of Egypt, verses 10 through 12. You showed signs and wonders against Pharaoh, against all his servants, and against all the people of his land. For you knew that they acted proudly against them, so you made a name for yourself as it is this day. You divided the sea before them so that they went through the midst of the sea on the dry land, and their persecutors you threw into the deep as a stone in the mighty waters.” Moreover, you led them by day with a cloudy pillar and by night with a pillar of fire to give them light on the road which they should travel. And God is in charge of all this, is he not? Remember what happened? All the Jewish children were supposed to be drowned in the Nile. But the Exodus account tells us that in order to protect their newborn son, Moses’ parents, Amram and Yohebed, hid Moses for three months. Can you imagine trying to hide a newborn baby for three months? Especially knowing that if you get caught, that not only is your baby going to die, but you’re also going to most likely die a terrible death as well. But even so, despite the consequences, Moses’ parents hid him because they saw that Moses was a beautiful child. I believe that means that Moses’ parents somehow knew that God had a special plan for this particular baby, and thus they acted, and then they defied the king’s edict, and they hid Moses for three months. But look, after three months, there finally came a tipping point where they could no longer hide their little baby boy. Remember what happened? Yohebed made an ark of bulrushes, daubed it with asphalt and pitch, put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river’s bank. Moses’ sister followed. The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, and that’s when she saw that ark with the baby in it. She had compassion on him and said, “‘This is one of the Hebrews’ children.’ Then his sister popped out of nowhere.” It said, Shall I go to Pharaoh’s daughter? Shall I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women that she may nurse this child for you? And Pharaoh’s daughter said, Yes, go. So she went and called her mom. Then Pharaoh’s daughter said, take this child away and nurse him for me and I will give you your wages. So she took him and nursed him and he grew and Moses became the son to Pharaoh’s daughter. That’s an incredible story. I mean, look how everything worked out. Moses’ real mother now gets to nurse him. She will get paid to do it and she doesn’t have to hide it. That’s absolutely incredible. And now Moses is the adopted son of Pharaoh’s daughter. Think of that. From slavery to being a prince in Egypt. And he was raised as a prince in Egypt for 40 years. What happened after the 40 years? Well, he came to his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel. After seeing one of them suffering wrong, he defended and avenged him, and he struck down an Egyptian. Because of that, which is found out by Pharaoh, Moses fled into Midian, modern-day Saudi Arabia, where he lived for the next 40 years of his life. He had two sons there. Moses is now 80. That’s when the angel of the Lord, Jesus, appeared to Moses in the burning bush. After that, Moses was sent by God to bring the Israelites out of their slavery in Egypt. And note that while Moses was used by God to do this, God is the one who really did this, very clearly, right? Remember, God did those amazing signs and wonders against Pharaoh. Ten incredible plagues, water turned into blood, frogs, gnats, flies, dead livestock, boils, hail, locusts, darkness that could be felt, and then Passover, the death of the firstborn. Let my people go! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! Finally, after Passover, the death of the firstborn, which is a great picture of what Christ does for all who put their trust in Him as Lord and Savior. Finally, yes! Leave! Get out of here! Go! And they left. Amazingly. We find that as the Egyptians urged the people to hurry and to leave the country, the Israelites asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold and clothing. Hey, can I have your jewelry as I leave, please? Give it to me. Okay. Okay. They gave them what they asked for. So they plundered the Egyptians. So they left Egypt a couple million people. Once slaves, now free. Okay. But what happened? Pharaoh chased after them. That’s a big mistake. Pharaoh soon had them trapped along the shores of the Red Sea with nowhere to go. The people became afraid, but Moses said, don’t be afraid, the Lord will fight for you. And he did. God then opened up the Red Sea. They all walked in the midst of the Red Sea on dry ground. Think about that. And that’s an amazing, what a miracle. Water to the left. Water to the right, dry ground in front of you. Amazing. And look, all the Israelites made it safely to the other side of the sea. But Pharaoh, in his sin and arrogance and pride, he and his army pursued the Israelites. God caused confusion to Pharaoh. And when they were in the midst of the sea, that’s when the sea returned to its normal death and all the army of the Egyptians drowned. And all that was the doing of God. What a reason for the people of God to praise God. I mean, He delivered them in a truly miraculous way many times over. Us too. Us too. Like Israel and Egypt. Without Christ, we’re all slaves. Slaves to sin. Slaves to Satan. We’ll die in that bondage and we will die in that misery. We will die in that affliction left on our own. The Bible is very clear about that. The end result of a life without God is eternal wrath. But guess what? Good news, right? Good news. Jesus came to free us from our spiritual slavery and bondage. What a God! So He, Jesus God the Son… left heaven, came here, took on human flesh, lived a perfect life, died on the cross, and rose up from the dead three days later. And it was on the cross that the sin of every person who would ever believe was placed onto Jesus, and He was punished for all that sin, so we who believe could be saved, forgiven, and freed from our eternal bondage, freed from our eternal slavery. he rescued us he delivered us he set us free and gave us life life eternal life did you hear that eternal life the idea of redemption fits in well here redemption means to buy back it speaks of being set free by the payment of a price a ransom The picture is this, when a prisoner had been taken a captive and has been made a slave by a wretched slave owner, before that slave could be set free from that captivity from the slave market, a ransom price would have to be paid. And when the price was paid, only then could that slave be set free. So redemption is the deliverance of someone or something through the payment of a price, a ransom. And that’s exactly what happens to every Christian. We were all slaves to sin. Satan owned us, and he is a wretched, wretched master. But look, Jesus didn’t come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a Ransom for many. And in His amazing grace, He bought us back. He took us off of that slave market of sin and hell, and He made us His own. What price did He pay for our souls? His very life. Right before He died, He declared, It is finished. That’s a term from the world of commerce that literally means, It has been and now stands paid in full. It’s like having a bill of sale that now says that nothing more is owed. No, it’s all been paid up. Redeemed. That’s us in Christ. See, He bought us back and out of the slave market of sin that we were all in. He paid the asking price. He died so that we who believe could be His. What a God we have. And He gives us everything we need to arrive safely home. And He ensures that all who are His will indeed arrive safely home. Is that not a reason to praise Him today? Come on. For Israel… They praised Him for their physical deliverance. How much more us today for our spiritual and eternal deliverance and everything else that He gives us in this fast and fading life. Therefore, how about this? How about this? Praise Him. Exalt Him in your life. Lift Him high. Worship Him. Live for His glory. Battle sin fiercely and pursue Christ-likeness and redeem the precious time that you have left for His glory. How about that? How about that? Let’s pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, we love You and we thank You so very much. We thank you for your wonderful word that reveals so much truth to us. Thank you for who you are. Thank you for what you’ve done. Thank you for giving us a reason to live. Thank you for giving us a reason to praise. I pray that we would indeed praise you from the depths of our hearts today. And especially in light of this season, Lord, help us to lift you high and to realize how incredible absolutely incredible you are to us, your children. So Lord, we exalt your name. Help us to do that more in our lives and help us to do that more in this church. And may we encourage each other in these truths. We love you. We thank you. Bless us now as we go out. In Jesus’ name, amen.
SPEAKER 02 :
Thanks for joining us for today’s exposition from the book of Nehemiah on Expository Truths with Dr. John Kyle. To find this and other sermons, visit expositorytruths.org. Faith Community Church seeks to exalt Christ by bringing clarity of truth through the scriptures with a commitment to glorifying God through the pure, deep, and reaching message of the gospel. Pastor John is the Thank you. Join for services at Faith Community Church Sundays at 9 and 1045 a.m. 192 Bella Vista Road, Suite A. To learn more, visit vacavillefaith.org or call 707-451-2026. That’s 707-451-2026. Or visit vacavillefaith.org.
