In this episode of Expository Truths, explore the rich insights derived from the diligent leadership of Nehemiah and the relentless search for truth through the scriptures. Pastor Kyle expounds on the importance of heartfelt repentance, the hunger for God’s Word, and the dedication to worship that are essential for a thriving Christian life. Discover how these enduring principles can inspire believers today to engage in a meaningful relationship with God.
00:00:08 Introduction to Expository Truths and Nehemiah
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 02 :
Please turn in your Bibles to Nehemiah chapter 9, verses 1 through 4. Nehemiah 9, 1 through 4. Now remember, Nehemiah was a faithful Jewish man who was living in the capital city of the Persian Empire, Shushan, also known as Susa. And Nehemiah was a cupbearer to King Artaxerxes. As we saw, the good hand of God led Nehemiah to go to Jerusalem, where the people were in great distress and reproach, and where the walls of the city were still in ruins. And look, God used Nehemiah to lead the people in rebuilding the wall in 52 days. An absolutely amazing work of God. Okay, now what? Well, do more to help the city return to its former glory, of course, which Nehemiah will continue to do. But even more, help to bring spiritual reformation for the people who have been living in mediocrity and rebellion for way too long. The good news is that the wall rebuilding project lit a fire under the people. And so as we saw in chapter 8, the people turned back to the Lord in repentant faith. Remember that? They read from the law. 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 worshipped and they celebrated the Lord. And there was great gladness from all the people. Of course there was. Because that’s a result of being right with God. Joy and gladness. Okay, now what? Let’s look, chapter 9, verse 1. Now on the 24th day of this month, the children of Israel were assembled with fasting in sackcloth and with dust on their heads. Then those of Israelite lineage separated themselves from all foreigners and they stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. And they stood up in their place and read from the book of the law of the Lord their God for one fourth of the day. And for another fourth they confessed and worshipped the Lord their God. Then Yeshua, Bani, Kadmael, Shebaniah, Buni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chinani stood on the stairs of the Levites and cried out with a loud voice to the Lord their God. Now here in today’s passage we can observe five actions by the children of Israel. And the first one is this, that they assembled together and they mourned. Look what happened. The people came together and they came with fasting in sackcloth and with dust on their heads. Say what? You ever done that? Threw dust on your head? Right? Fasting, sackcloth, and ashes or dirt on your head is connected to mourning and to repentance. It’s a scriptural way to demonstrate humility and desperation to God. And when that was done with a heart that backed it up, it was a way for the people to say that they are truly, truly sorry for their sin. that they are truly submitted to their God, and that they are very serious in their plea for God’s help. And look, here we find the people fasting, wearing sackcloth with dust on their heads, and the point is very clear. Lord… We are sorry for our sin. We’re sorry. You’re going to see that in the upcoming verses in the upcoming weeks. We’re sorry for the way, Lord, that we’ve been treating you. We’re sorry for our mediocrity. We’re sorry for our spiritual compromise. We’re sorry, Lord, and we want you to know it, and we want you to see that it’s real, and that we earnestly want to get right with you, Lord. You say, but didn’t they already weep over their sin a couple of weeks ago? Yeah, they did. So why do they need to do it here again? Why not? More is better, you know? I mean, look, when it happened a couple weeks ago at the Feast of Trumpets, it was spontaneous, which was amazing. But now here in chapter 9, this is more of a formalized repentance for all the people, for the nation, which was very important. Yes, they just had a week of celebrating and of great joy, but wisdom says, after that, to go back to the sorrow and repentance for their sin, because if they don’t do that, then hey, it’s easy to forget, see? It’s easy to move on. It’s easy to become callous to sin once again. It’s way too easy. And Ezra doesn’t want that to happen. And so, just two days after the Feast of Tabernacles had ended, Ezra called the people together again to observe this formalized national day of repentance that was followed by a recommitment by the people. That’s important. Because not enough people weep over their sin. We looked at that last week, you remember. Weeping over sin expresses heartfelt repentance and a turning back to God and away from that sin. And that’s something that the people of God should be doing constantly. See, to come to Christ, you have to see your sin for what it is. You then have to weep over that sin because you see it for what it is. And then you have to repent of that in faith constantly. in God to forgive you of that sin, and it’s then that God will indeed forgive you and receive you to Himself with forgiveness and salvation and eternal life. And then look, once you have done that to the saving of the soul, stay there. Just stay there. Too often, we the people of God settle into a comfort zone of spiritual mediocrity. We take God’s grace for granted. We allow sin into our lives. We get comfortable with that sin. Sin offends God. Every single one. He hates all sin and so should you. Sin put Christ on the cross and you want to cuddle it? You want to embrace it? That’s messed up. Think about this. Sin is a thing that offends God to the utmost. And we should hate it because we love Him. Right? Right? And when we indulge in any sin, we should weep over that sin because of how He feels about that sin. And even though sin for us in Christ can’t condemn us, praise the Lord, it can still hurt us. And it can hurt our fellowship and our joy and our witness. And the wise soul is the one who weeps and repents quickly of all sin and harboring it, living in it, loving in it, being okay with it, not hating it. Man, that is foolish for us in Christ. Foolish. So question, do you mourn over your sin? I mean, do you really hate your sin? Do you battle fiercely against sin, against every sin? Do you see what it does to you when you indulge and embrace it? Again, we should hate every single sin and because we love God, we should fight against sin, all sin, every sin. And when we give in, we should weep over it. And the reason we don’t weep is because we don’t understand the exceeding sinfulness of sin and we don’t see it for what it truly is and we don’t understand how much God hates it and we aren’t seeing things clearly. Because if we saw clearly, then we would weep over every single sin. Lord, help us to see more clearly today. Ezra wanted to make sure that everyone saw things clearly. And so they fasted, they wore sackcloth, they put dust on their heads because of their sins of the past. It was a way for them to acknowledge those sins, to sorrow over them the way they should have sorrowed over them, and to repent of them properly. And that is very, very good. Second, look, they separated themselves and confessed their sins. Verse 2. Then those of Israelite lineage separated themselves from all foreigners. They stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. This separation was a public profession of their loyalty and obedience to the Lord and of their desire for purity. See, since this had to do with the covenant between God and Israel, only the covenant people could participate in this time of repentance and national confession. Okay, but what’s the big problem with foreigners? Well, here’s the problem. From the very beginning that the Israelites became a nation, God had told them to make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land. He said it in Exodus 23, 32. You shall make no covenant with them or with their gods. That’s key. He repeated it in Exodus 34, 12. Watch yourselves. that you make no covenant with the inhabitants of the land into which you are going, lest it become a snare in your midst. You see? He said it again in Deuteronomy 7.2. You shall make no covenant with them and show no favor to them. Why? Because this was God’s way of protecting His people from sin. See, in that context, cutting a covenant with the wicked Canaanites would be tantamount to making a peace treaty, a treaty which would entail common worship and intermarriage. Note that this separation implies a spirit of dedication rather than arrogance. They simply wanted to honor God as His people, and that’s what they did here. You say, but it might make the foreigners feel bad if they separate themselves. Yeah, well, what’s more important? Making people feel good or glorifying God? Right? No. God is the one that we’re seeking to glorify. And even if everyone else disagrees, and even if everyone else stands against us, even if everyone else is offended, that doesn’t matter so long as God is honored, so long as God is glorified, because He comes first. Third, they read from the book of the law the word of God. Verse 3. They stood up in their place, and they read from the book of the law of the Lord their God for one-fourth of the day. Now think about that. For six hours… The people listen as the Word of God is being read to them. Six hours. Let that sink in. Six hours. That shows us the hearts of these people, does it not? These people are serious about repentance, about confessing sin, about living pure lives for the Lord. And so they’re prioritizing the intake of the Word of God. The intake of His Word also will make people serious about repentance, confession of sin, and living pure lives before the Lord. Look, the importance of the Word of God in our lives can’t be emphasized enough. And if they were that hungry for the first five books of God’s Word, how much more us today who have all of it at our fingertips. As Paul writes in 2 Timothy 3.16-17, All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be adequate, fully equipped for every good work. So the Bible is the very Word of God Himself for us. And it’s this divine book that teaches us what correct thinking is, what incorrect thinking is, what correct behavior is, and what incorrect behavior is. And the child of God who truly repents and confesses his sin is concerned with thinking and behaving in a way that honors Christ. Therefore, give me the book. Right? Give me the book. See? You feel that way? Psalm 119.131 says this, I opened my mouth and panted. Why? Because I long for your commandments. Oh, that we would all feel that way. There’s a hunger here, a thirst, a yearning for the Word of God. Like an animal panting that is desperately thirsty, so does the psalmist pant for the Word of God like they did in Nehemiah chapter 9. And please note that while this is a hunger for the Word, it’s really a hunger for God Himself because we know God through His Word, see? So if you love Him, then you’re going to be in His Word a lot, because that’s how you draw near to this God whom you love. David Brainerd was a missionary in the 1700s, and his journals reveal his longing, his intense longing for God. Listen to this. Oh, for holiness. Oh, for more of God in my soul. Oh, this pleasing pain. The godly life is painful. It’s very painful at times, but it’s also pleasing because it draws us closer to Him. He said, My whole soul cried, Lord, to Thee I dedicate myself. Oh, accept me and let me be Thine forever. Lord, I desire nothing else. I desire nothing more. Whom have I in heaven but You, Lord? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You. And I pray that we would have a hunger like that. One biographer said that Brainerd’s life was ruled by an extremely uncommon devotion to God. He said that Brainerd was possessed with a thirst for God that gave his words a compelling earnestness. And where did this earnestness and passion come from? This. Brainerd was a man of the Word. That’s it. He was a man of the Word of God. That’s it. All great men and women of God in the past have been men and women of the Word. And I’m going to add in prayer. But the key for us is to be men and women of the Word and of prayer to take it in and then to live it out. Where are the brainers today? Where are the men and women who pant for the Word because they want more of God? Where’s a hunger for God in the midst of a lukewarm people? The people in Nehemiah 9 stood again for hours to hear the word of God like they did a couple of weeks ago. They’re doing it yet again. I love that. Can’t we read it at least for 10 minutes? See? Fourth, they confessed and they worshipped. Verse 3. For another fourth, they confessed and worshipped the Lord their God. So just as reading and listening to God’s Word is central to the people, so is the humble confession of their sins. So they confessed their sins and as the word worship indicates, they bowed down before the Lord for another six hours. So for 12 hours, the people respectfully stand and listen to the Word of God, and then they humbly worship God, and they bowed themselves down and confessed their sins to Him. How do you think God felt about that? God certainly loves that when His people respond to Him in that manner. That’s real. This is flowing from the heart. This is done out of deep love. And this has to be extremely well-pleasing to the Lord. Worship. True worship. Are you a true worshiper of the Lord? What’s worship in the Bible? Worship describes both a way of life and a specific activity. Here that activity was bowing down before God and confessing their sin. In a broader sense, worship refers to an overall lifestyle of serving and glorifying God. In Nehemiah 9, bowing before the Lord was considered worship because it was real as the people were humbling themselves and exalting the Lord in their lives. In John chapter 4, the word worship literally means to kiss toward with the idea of kissing the hand of a superior out of reverence for him. So when it comes to God, the goal of worship is to honor, to revere, to glorify, and to magnify Him out of our deep love and respect for Him. So we figuratively kiss His hand by the way that we live our lives for His glory and honor. Worship is indeed what life is about. This is what we were created to do. This is our chief aim as Christians, to glorify Him, to please Him, to honor Him, to worship Him, and to enjoy Him forever. In Romans 12, Worship is seen as a lifestyle where our worship of God reveals itself by how we live it out for His glory. See, as true worshipers, we live our lives as living sacrifices unto Him day by day by day. What does that mean? Well, in the Old Testament, before Christ, sacrificing animals was the norm. Sacrifice was a regular part of their worship where they would slaughter an animal to cover up the sin of the people until Christ could die for that sin once and for all. Sacrificing animals was very important back then as both a living picture of Christ And also as an example to show the seriousness and the heinousness of sin. When you spoke of a sacrifice, there was always a death involved. Sin is serious. And here, Paul does something very unique by talking about a living sacrifice. A living dead person. What exactly is a living sacrifice? Basically, Paul is saying this. Before Jesus rescued you, you were dead in your sins. You were full of guilt and wrath and sin and you were doomed, eternally doomed for destruction. But then… Our great and merciful God rescued you and delivered you from all your sin, and He made you alive when there was absolutely nothing you could do about it on your own. You couldn’t save yourself, right? You couldn’t cover up your own sin. You didn’t have a chance on your own. No, you were dead, and then God did something, and He made you alive by grace through faith. And now, now that you’ve been made alive, guess what? You’re called to be dead. See? Isn’t that interesting? The point is this. Before Christ, you were dead spiritually, but you were alive to everything else. Sin, the world, Satan, the things in life that don’t matter. Those things that drove you before Christ. The things of the world. And now that you have Christ, you’ve been made alive spiritually, but now you’re called to be dead to everything else save Jesus. A living sacrifice where your life is lived in worshipful adoration and glory to God. That’s real worship. It’s a life lived for the glory of God where acts of worship like giving and singing and bowing down and prayer and reading His Word and repenting and… So on, all of that reflects the life of worship to God. They also confessed. Confessed what? They confessed their sin. Confession literally means agreeing with someone else. Agreeing with who? Agreeing with God. This, of course, is something that you do once at the beginning of the Christian life when you’re saved, but it doesn’t end there, not at all. Instead, confession is to be a continual part of the Christian life even after salvation. Just as we see here the people of God doing in Nehemiah 9. Note that true confession is much more than just words, but it’s a statement of identification, faith, confidence, and trust. So confession here clearly implies saving and repentant faith. Confessing your sins to God means that you have come to the conclusion that God can and will forgive you of all that sin. So the confessing person is a person who trusts and believes in God as Lord and Savior, and who humbly and penitently brings his sins to God, knowing that God will take care of that sin. Confession means to say the same thing that God does about that sin. To agree with God and to all the implications of that sin as it relates to the person who commits it and to a holy God against whom it is committed. This includes the confessor’s hatred of sin, his sense of guilt because of it, his contrition because of it, the determination to put that sin out of his life and to never do that thing again. That’s real confession. So instead of denying our sin problem… we agree with God and with what He says. We confess it in repentant faith and we lay it down at the feet of our good God who forgives us. One said, before God can deliver us, we must undeceive ourselves. Confession is the way that we do that. Another said, confession of sin puts the soul under the blessing of God. So instead of covering it, don’t cover it. That doesn’t do you any good. Instead of covering it, our call is to bring it to light before the living God. And that’s what they did here in Nehemiah 9. It’s truly an amazing time, don’t you think? Hunger, I mean, think about that month. Hunger for God, hunger for His Word, deep conviction of sin, weeping over sin, true repentance, true worship, true confession that hides nothing, and true faith and love for the Lord who saves. Oh, that that would happen with us today. Because spiritual mediocrity won’t cut it. It won’t cut it. I believe that Jesus is coming soon. And He’s going to be looking for passionate, eager, worshiping people. And He’s not going to be looking for a mediocre group that’s wallowing around in their sin. Lord, help us to be ready. Lord, help us. Fifth, they cried out to God. Verse 4. Eight of the leaders, I’m not going to try to read their names again because I didn’t do very good, stood on the stairs of the Levites and cried out with a loud voice to the Lord their God. That’s a prayer. Of course they prayed. They’re always praying in Nehemiah, right? We’re going to look more at this next time, but I wanted to make sure that we got to this point that they cried out to God. How good is that? They cried out to God. You can never go wrong when you cry out to God. When in doubt, cry out to God. When not in doubt, Cry out to God. See, God is there for you as child. God hears you. God loves you. God listens to you. God cares deeply for you enough to die for you. Come on. How much God must love it when His repentant, worshiping, faithful, loving, sin-hating, God-exalting children cry out to Him. Lord, help! That’s a great prayer, by the way. Lord, I need you. Lord, I love you. Lord, I exalt your name. Lord, thank you. Lord, use me. Lord, revive me. Lord, restore me. Lord, forgive me. Lord, help me. Oh yes, this is an amazing time for the people of Israel on this day in Jerusalem. May we learn from them and may God work mightily in us all as we think about these truths and the implications they have for our lives. Let’s pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, we love you so very much and we thank you for this time. I pray, Lord, that you would bless us. I pray, Lord, that we would contemplate these things for our own lives and for our church. I pray that you would speak clearly to us through your word, Lord. I pray that we would be a people that… isn’t harboring sin, a people that hates sin with passion, a people that earnestly seeks to glorify Your name, that loves You intensely, a people that repents often and doesn’t harbor sin. Oh Lord, help us. I pray that You would use us mightily for Your glory. And I pray that you would bless us today as we go out from here. We love you and we thank you in Jesus name. Amen.
SPEAKER 01 :
Thanks for joining us for today’s exposition from the book of Nehemiah on expository truths with Dr. John Kyle. To find this and We’ll be right back. 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.
