CONFESSION AND
REPENTENCE; THE KEY TO FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD.
Nehemiah 9:2, 6-10,
30-36
V:2. " The descendants of Israel
A. We have been set
apart by God and called out from the world.
1. All believers
are the saints of God.
2. The world is
the foreigner.
3. We should
consider ourselves separate from the world.
4. The world is
all around us.
a. We live in
the world.
b. We are not
part of the world.
c. We are the
body of Christ.
B. We must separate
ourselves form the world to communicate with the Father.
1. It is a duty
and a privilege to go to God in prayer.
2. We should
confess our sins before the Father.
3. When we
assemble together, we should begin in prayer confessing our sins.
4. It is the
confessing and the repentance of our sins that presents us clean before
the Father.
C. Once we have
confessed our sins, we are restored to fellowship with the Father.
1. It is in the
fellowship with the Father that blessing flow.
2. It is in the
fellowship with the Father that we mature.
3. It is in the
fellowship with the Father that wisdom is gained.
V:6. "You alone are the Lord. You have made the
heavens, The heaven of heavens with all their host, The earth and all that is
on it, The seas and all that is in them. You give life to all of them And the
heavenly host bows down before You."
A. We need to reflect
from time to time on who God is.
1. God is God all
by Himself.
a. God is
the beginning of everything.
b. God is
the author of everything.
c. God is
the supreme authority.
B. God is the
creator.
1. God created
the heavens and all the angels.
2. God created
the all planets.
3. God created
all the galaxies we know of and any we have not discovered.
C. God created the
earth for man to exist.
1. God gives life
to the plants and the animals on His earth
2. God is the one
who maintains His creation.
V:7. "You are the Lord God, Who chose Abram And brought
him out from Ur
Chaldees, And gave him the name Abraham. "
A. God works
according to His plan. Eph 1:4
1. God planned
out all things before the foundation of the earth.
Amos 9:6, Ps 102:25
1. The good news
is that we are in His plan. Matt 25:34
B. God has a divine
plan for man.
1. God selects
each of us for a specific purpose.
2. God chose
Abraham to be the father of the nation of Israel
a. God chose
us to be the fathers and mothers of others who will follow Christ.
3. God called
Abraham out of the world.
4. God has called
us out of the world. 1 Peter 2:9
C. God changed the
name of Abram to Abraham
1. God has given
us a new name in Jesus Christ.
2. We who believe
are called Christians. Acts 11:26
V:8. "You found his heart faithful before You, And made
a covenant with him To give him the land of the Canaanite, Of the Hittite and
the Amorite, Of the Perizzite, the Jebusite and the Girgashite — To give it to
his descendants. And You have fulfilled Your promise, For You are righteous."
A. God chooses those
who are faithful to Him to carry out His plan.
1. God knows the
heart of man
2. He knows who is committed and who are not
committed.
B. God made a
covenant with Abraham that he would be given the promise land.
1. God has made a
covenant in the blood of Jesus that we have a promised place in
heaven.
2. God made the
promise to Abraham that the land would be given to his
descendants.
3. The promise
God gave to His son is that heaven is the place for all His disciples.
a. Jesus is
the first born of the body of Christ.
b. We
inherited our heavenly place through our faith in Jesus.
C. Abraham was
faithful to God the Father.
1. Our
inheritance is secure in our faith.
D. God keeps all of
His promises.
1. We can rest
assured that God will keep all His promise to us.
2. God is righteous.
a. What God
said, is what He will do.
b. All that
God have promised us is written in His Word.
c. God can
only keep His Word. He can't do any less.
V:9. "You saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt Red Sea ."
A. God is always
aware of our troubles.
1. God knows
what we are going through.
2. God knows
the cause of our troubles.
3. God knows
who is behind our troubles; us are someone else.
B. When we pray to
God, He hears our prayers.
1. God knew the
troubles our parents and grandparents experienced.
a. God
provided for them and protected them.
b. We are
here because of what God did with our ancestors.
2. God blessed
our ancestors so that we are in a blessed state today.
10 "Then You performed signs and wonders against
Pharaoh, Against all his servants and all the people of his land; For You knew
that they acted arrogantly toward them, And made a name for Yourself as it is this
day."
A. If you want to
know the goodness of God, all you need to do is review the history
of your ancestors.
1. God call
Abraham to be the father of a nation.
a. God allowed
the family of the grandson of Abraham (Jacob) to grow into a
nation during 400
years of slavery in Egypt
b. God chose
Moses to bring His nation out of Egypt
promise
land.
c. God
performed signs and wonders against the Pharaoh forcing him to release
His
people.
2. God worked miracles in the past to get us
to this time and place
a. It is good
for us to review our past so we can know the goodness of God.
B. God used the evil hand of foreign kings to grow His
chosen people in to a nation
in one place.
1. Because of the
hardness of the King's heart, God forced the release of His people
by killing the
first born son of every Egyptian family.
2. God uses people,
places and time fulfill his promises to us.
C. God shows Himself faithful to His promises by His
blessing upon us.
V:30. "However, You bore with them for many years, And
admonished 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."
A. The Lord is very tolerant with us.
1. Even though we
are often disobedient and sin against Him, He does not rush to
punish us.
2. God gives us
chance after chance to get right with Him.
B. God blessed His people with freedom and a promise land.
1. The Israelites
were given the Word of God to live by.
2. They failed repeatedly
to follow God's command and they worshipped idol gods.
a. God gave
these commands to Moses around 1490 BC.
b. God allowed
Israel
3. God tolerated Israel
a. We serve a
God who is longsuffering.
b. He is not
quick to punish His people.
V:31. "Nevertheless, in Your great compassion You did
not make an end of them or forsake them, For You are a gracious and
compassionate God."
A. The God we serve
is a compassionate God.
1. It is God's
desire that we follow His commands.
2. Following
God's commands works to our best.
B. We belong to God.
1. He is the
supreme parent.
2. He knows that
the heart of His children are not always with Him.
3. Because of His
great love, He tolerates disobedience for a while.
4. When God could
have destroy us, He saves us from ourselves.
C. We serve a
gracious God.
1. We don't
deserve His blessing, but He blesses us sometimes without
regards to
our sin.
2. He overlooked
our sin when He sent Jesus to be our savior,
V:32. "Now
therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps
covenant and lovingkindness, Do not let all the hardship seem insignificant
before You, Which has come upon us, our kings, our princes, our priests, our
prophets, our fathers and on all Your people, From the days of the kings of
Assyria to this day."
A. We should give God
honor by being mindful of who He is.
1. He is our God.
a. He is our
Lord and master.
b. He is our
provider and protector.
c. He is our
shepherd.
2. He is great.
a. There is
non greater than God.
b. No one can
do what God does.
c. God speaks
and things that were not, come into existence.
d. He created
everything out of nothing.
3. God is mighty.
a. God has all
power.
b. It would be
difficult for us to fully understand His power.
c. How much
power does it take keep all the planets in their orbit?
d. How much
power does it take to create an orbit?
e. There is nothing that God can't do.
4. God is awesome.
a. All events in
time are in His plan.
b. God knows the
end from the beginning.
c. Nothing
escapes His attention. Even the hairs on our heads are counted.
Matt 10:30
d. He made and
controls the seasons for our benefit.
5. God makes
covenants and He keeps His covenants.
1. God agreed
with Himself to save us by sending His son to die for us.
2. God agreed
with Himself to provide and protect us.
3. God agreed
with Himself to provide a place in heaven for those He called out
of the
world.
6. God continues to
show His love for us in our moment by moment existence.
B. All the hardships we face in life are there to chastise
us and to bring us to a
knowledge of who God is.
1. God has to remind
us sometimes through trials and tribulation that He is in control.
2. God reminds us
sometimes that He is the only authority. Job 38:4
V:33 "However, You are just in all that has come upon
us; For You have dealt faithfully, but we have acted wickedly."
A. We need to look in the mirror to see how bad we really
are.
1. We should comes
to the realization that we have not always followed God.
2. We should
realize that some of the hardships we face are our on doing.
3. God is just
when He punishes us for our sins.
B. God has always been faithful to us.
1. God keep His
promises.
2. All the works of
God is for our welfare.
3. The good and the
bad works to our advantage.
V:34. "For our kings, our leaders, our priests and our
fathers have not kept Your law Or paid attention to Your commandments and Your
admonitions with which You have admonished them."
A. All have sinned
and fall short of the glory of God.
1. All of our
ancestors and each of us have failed to keep God's command.
2. The Lord
Himself said, "here is none righteous, no not one." Rom 3:10
B. We have to face
the truth that while we were in sin, Christ died for us.
1. We had the Word
and knew to do right, but we did not.
2. God has punished
us from time to time but we still sin.
3. The God we
serve tolerates us because of His love for us.
V:35. "But they, in their own kingdom, With Your great
goodness which You gave them, With the broad and rich land which You set before
them, Did not serve You or turn from their evil deeds."
A. God has been good
to us.
1. He has given us
everything we need, yet we will not dedicate ourselves to Him.
2. We are in the
situations we are in because we have not followed God.
B. The Israelites
reflected on the disobedience of their fathers.
1. They concluded
that their ancestors did not serve God and continued in their sins.
2. When we review
our past, we need to face our sinful behavior.
3. We should give
God praise because He has always been good to us.
a. While we
were in sin, God was still good
b. God could
have let us suffer the consequences of our sins, but He blessed us.
36 "Behold, we are slaves today, And as to the land
which You gave to our fathers to eat of its fruit and its bounty, Behold, we
are slaves in it."
A. If we don't follow
God, we will be slaves to sin.
1. Without God in
our lives there is no freedom
2. Because of the
shed blood of Jesus, our Lord and Savior we are counted
innocence before God.
B. God has freed us
from the depths of hell.
1. Our freedom in
Jesus gives us a place in heaven.
2. If we choose
slavery, it should be to righteousness of God.
3. If God is the
slave owner, blessing will abound.
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