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Confession
Nehemiah 9
Confession leads to
Consecration, and ultimately to Celebration.
If you were in
When we get right with God
we bring the glory to God that He so richly deserves, and we will be blessed
the way He wants to bless us.
ill.--many pulpits today
proclaim how God wants to bless us, but they leave out the fact that we are
a limiting factor that stays His hand from being able to bless us more.
Nehemiah 9 will prove that He will bless us more when we get right
with Him. God does business
with those who mean business!
Confession leads to
Consecration, and ultimately to Celebration.
When we turn away from God
he pours out judgment and condemnation, but when we turn to Him He pours out
blessing after blessing!
The devil knows that, so
he will do all he can to keep you from getting right with God.
If you're not saved, get saved, get right with God, and don't let the
devil get you off track. If
you're saved but not right, get right.
John 10:10
... I am come that they might have
life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
But don't expect to find
the abundant life if you're not willing to get right with God!
1 Peter 1:8
... yet believing, ye rejoice with
joy unspeakable and full of glory:
But don't expect to find
joy unspeakable if you're not willing to get right with God!
We cannot have a half
hearted, fence riding, weak kneed, watered down, anemic approach to our
Christianity and expect to find God's best for our lives!
Confession leads to
Consecration, and ultimately to Celebration.
Here's the beginning of a
great revival, it starts with...
Confession.
vv. 5-38 is their
prayer...the longest in the Bible.
In it they recount the story of their history and how God would bless
them, they would forget and sin, He would judge them, and they would repent
and return to more blessings.
And those who forget the past are destined to repeat it.
You should read it on your
own. It's proof positive of
this verse...
2 Chronicles 7:14
If my people, which are
called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and
turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive
their sin, and will heal their land.
We will never get to the
celebration until we start w/ the confession.
Sin will come between you and God, rob you of your joy and your song.
Here's 3 basics you'll find in their prayer
of confession-Israel's God, Guilt, and Grace...
·
It's a God centered
prayer. If you took all the
references to God out of this prayer it would suddenly be very, very short.
Too many of our prayers today are man centered.
All about what we want and not about what God wants.
Real
confession is based on the character and nature of God.
We
see in their prayer that their God is a glorious God.
Middle of v. 5
Everything the devil does ends in misery...everything God does ends
in glory! We are saved by grace
and it ends in glory. Jesus
died on the cross, but He rose in glory.
He had a glorious birth, a virgin birth.
He had a glorious life, a perfect life, never sinning in thought,
word, or deed. He had a
glorious death, a sacrificial death, for the sins of the entire world.
He had a glorious resurrection, bursting out of that tomb like a
heavenly beam of light! And
make no mistake, He'll be glorious in His return to earth.
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
16 For the Lord himself shall
descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with
the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
17 Then we which are alive and
remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord
in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
What a glorious day that
will be!
Their confession was based
on the character and nature of God.
And only a glorious God can provide the kind of forgiveness that is
needed by people like these in our text, and these in the pews!
It will be a glorious forgiveness, a glorious mercy, a glorious
grace, and a glorious eternal love they will receive, and we can too!
We
see in their prayer that their God is a powerful God.
v. 6
This is about creation.
Throughout the Bible God reminds us of His creation.
He points us back to the first verse of the Bible and reminds us of
how it all started. And we need
some reminding today!
Our world is trying to
kill God w/ a big bang but it won't work.
And the concept of billions of years is trying to erase the 6,000
year Bible history. We're
desperately looking for some connection to monkeys when we should be
reconnecting w/ our Maker!
We're still searching for little green men that aren't there...but if we'd
just open our eyes we could look into the face of the extra terrestrial Who
created us and we could return to Him and be welcomed into His home beyond
the stars!
---
Somewhere in outer space,
God has prepared a place
for those who trust Him
and obey.
Jesus will come again, and
tho' we don't know when
the countdown's getting
lower every day!
10 and 9, 8 and 7, 6 and 5
and 4 ... call upon the Savior while you may.
3 and 2, coming thru the
clouds in bright array
The countdown's getting
lower every day!
---
It's wonderful to know as
we pray to our Father in Heaven that He's the same God Who created
everything in the beginning. Or
else, why pray to Him?
ill.--light years.
Light is booking it at 186,000 miles every second.
That's 6 trillion miles per year.
And yet the closest star to our solar system is 4 light years away.
Our galaxy is 100,000 light years across, and is just one of hundreds
of millions of galaxies. Don't
you know we serve a great big, powerful God!
And that same God of creation is powerfully big in grace and mercy
that we need.
Middle of v. 17, "...but
thou art..."
v. 31
Grace and Mercy - grace is getting something good you don't deserve.
Mercy is not getting something bad which you do deserve.
ill.--a policeman pulls
you over doing 90 in a 55. You
explain how you were hungry and were heading to the drive thru.
Then you beg and plead and he agrees not to give you a ticket.
That's mercy. But what
if now he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a $20 bill and says, dinner
is on me! That's grace.
[it's also unlikely!]
As sinners we deserve
hell, and don't deserve heaven...so thank God for His great grace and mercy!
Their God is glorious, and powerful...
We
see in their prayer that their God is a caring God.
v. 9
God hears when we cry.
He didn't just create the universe and abandon it.
He is personally involved in the affairs of His creation.
Matthew 10:29
Are not two sparrows sold for a
farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.
He personally conducts a
funeral for each disease filled fowl who falls, how much more does He care
for us!
Psalm 147:9
He giveth to the beast his food,
and to the young ravens which cry.
Psalm 147:4
He telleth the number of the stars;
he calleth them all by their names.
Luke 12:7
But
even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. [some of you make it
easier] Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.
He's the exact opposite of
what Bette Midler said He was in her song, "From a Distance."
No, he is here, close by, and personally involved.
He knows the deepest needs of your heart and wants to help if you'll
let Him.
He's a caring God.
He cares about big things and even when you've just misplaced your
glasses and can't see to find where you put them [on your face!]
glorious, powerful, caring...
We
see in their prayer that their God is a trustworthy God.
v. 15
The end of the verse is all about a promise God had made to them, and
He kept that promise. Even
today Jews are being kicked out of neighborhoods in
Titus 1:2
In hope of eternal life, which God,
that cannot lie, promised before the world began;
What has God promised us
regarding confession?
1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness.
Isaiah 1:18
Come now, and let us reason
together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as
white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
1 John 1:7
... the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us
from all sin.
What a mighty God we
serve!
Glorious, powerful,
caring, trustworthy.
He's worth confessing to.
Just come and tell Him like it is.
That's what confess means.
"To say the same thing."
Con = with and fess = to speak [fess up!]
And be specific.
Count your many sins...name them one by one.
And it will surprise you what YOU have done!
Tell the truth.
He already knows the truth, He's just waiting for you to admit it and
return to Him. You're agreeing
with God instead of offering excuses, alibis...or just ignoring the
situation and sweeping it under the rug.
It's facing the music!
And that confession will
lead to consecration, and celebration!
Now notice-
·
...notice the use of the
conjunctions but, yet, and nevertheless.
v. 16-but
v. 19-yet
v. 26-nevertheless
v. 28-but
v. 31-nevertheless
These conjunctions show
the contrast between God's goodness and
"God, you've been good to
us, BUT, we've spit in your face."
Let's not be too quick to
judge
ill.--a little girl would
hug her baby doll, and look at it as if expecting a response...again and
again. Finally she went to her
mom and said, "There's something wrong with this baby doll.
I love her and love her and love her, and she never loves me back!"
I think God must feel the same way.
They are confessing their
guilt!
·
They received grace from
God when they confessed. They
deserved judgment but in mercy God forgave them.
Then He gives them blessing after blessing after blessing!
16 times in this chapter
the word 'give' or 'gave' is used.
It's talking about God's grace.
v. 8
God gave them a land they did not deserve.
v. 13
God gave them His Word and guidance.
v. 20
The Holy Spirit! And
bread and water in the wilderness to boot!
And it wasn't a reward for their goodness...it was in spite of their
griping! That's grace.
v. 24
Victory over their enemies.
v. 27
Saviours = judges and leaders to help them.
None of this did they
deserve. It was all gifts of
grace.
God is so good!
And His goodness is leading them to repentance.
Romans 2:4
Or despisest thou the riches of his
goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of
God leadeth thee to repentance?
In context Paul is also
talking about
God's first choice is to
use goodness to lead us to Him, but if we insist, He will use judgment to
bring us back to Him in repentance.
If you're saved but not
right w/ God--stop and think about how good God has been to you in giving
you salvation. That alone is
worthy of our undivided loyalty.
But beyond that He's given us the Holy Spirit to help us thru this
life.
John 16:7
Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It
is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter
will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.
Not only has God given you
salvation and His Spirit, but another gift that keeps on giving...
*Constant
daily forgiveness if we confess*
Lamentations 3:23
[The
Lord's mercies] are new every morning: great is thy
faithfulness.
Go to part 2 on Consecration & Celebration
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