Nehemiah chapter nine. The title
of our lesson this morning is Manifold Mercies. I'd like for
us to leave here this morning with these things upon our heart. I want us to see who God really
is. I want us to see who we are.
I want us to see how amazing God's mercy really is. His many
manifold mercies. so that we see how we continually
need mercy. We never get to the point, we've
graduated or risen up high enough spiritually, we don't need God's
mercies. Now we always need his mercy, how rich his mercy is. And to leave here very thankful
for God's manifold mercies. Now the book of Nehemiah really
is a continuation of the book of Ezra. Ezra, he returned to
Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem
to rebuild the walls and the gates of the city. The theme
of this book is the same as the theme of the book of Ezra. It's
the restoring of God's people and the restoring of the right
worship of God. Now, we'll see this, the Lord
willing, in both messages this morning. If you and I are gonna
worship God, we're gonna have to worship him as he's revealed
in his word. It's not who we think he is or
who we'd like to think he is, We can't worship God if we say
that He's something that He isn't, if something He says He isn't. We can't say, well, God loves
everybody, and Christ died for everybody. He wants to save you
if you would just let Him. Well, that's not who God is. That's
not honoring to God, and God won't bless that. We're not going
to be able to worship God that way. If we're going to worship
God, it must be the God that's revealed Himself in His Word.
We're going to have to find out who God says we are and who God
says he is. Another way we're gonna find
that out is see what he says in his word. This is the only
source of truth there is. And when Nehemiah returned to
Jerusalem and he rebuilt the walls, this is how he restored
the right worship of God and how he restored the people to
God by reading God's word to them and expounding it to them.
Now, verse one of Nehemiah chapter nine, Now the 24th day of this
month, the children of Israel were assembled with fasting and
with sackcloth and earth upon them. And the seed of Israel
separated themselves from all strangers and stood and confessed
their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. And they stood
up in their place and read in the book of the law of the Lord,
their God, one fourth part of the day. And another fourth part,
they confessed and worshiped the Lord, their God. Then stood
up upon the stairs of the Levites Jeshua and Benai, Kadamil, Shebena,
Benai, Shereba, Benai, and Chenei, and cried with a loud voice unto
the Lord their God. Then the Levites, Jeshua and
Kadamil, Benai, Hashbena, Sherebea, Hodaja, Shebenai, and Pethahai,
And they said, stand up and bless the Lord your God forever and
ever. And blessed be thy glorious name, which is exalted above
all blessing and praise. Now for six hours, these men
stood and read the word of God. And then for six hours after
that, the people stood and confessed. They confessed their sin, they
confessed how great God is, and they worshiped. I'm telling you,
that's one long service, 12 hours. But you know, we wouldn't be
nearly as concerned about the length of time our services are
taken up if we really felt our sin, what it really is. And we
really felt our desperate need of God's mercy. We probably wouldn't
worry whether or not we're going to get to see his restaurant.
We just really wouldn't. So here's the first thing I want
us to see, and this is what they learned as the word of God was
read to them for six hours. They learned the character of
God. Nehemiah wanted them to understand this, who God is and
what he's done for his people. Look at verse six. Thou, even
thou, art Lord alone. Thou hast made heaven, the heaven
of heavens, with all their hosts, the earth and all things that
are therein, the seas and all that is therein. and thou preservest
them all. And the host of heaven worship
thee, worships you. God created the heavens and the
earth. You just look at creation. I mean, it's obvious how great
God really is. How you look at creation, you
just see God's wisdom and his goodness and how high above us
God must be to have spoke all this into existence. That alone
ought to make us worship Him to see how high above us He really
is, the Creator. And look at verse 7, God's so
good. Thou art the Lord, the God that didst choose Abram,
and broughtest him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and gavest
him the name of Abraham. And you found his heart faithful
before thee, and madest a covenant with him to give the land of
the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, and the Perizzites,
and the Jebusites, and the Gergesites, To give it, I say, to his seed,
and you've performed your words, for thou art righteous." God
is so good, he chose to begin Israel, not with some good man,
but with Abram, the idolater, this man worshiping idols. And
he gave him a new name. He gave Abraham a new name because
he gave him a new nature. You're not Abram anymore, now
you're Abraham. And why did God find Abraham's
heart to be faithful? It's because God gave him a new
heart. He gave him that faithful heart. And God promised this
land to Abraham's seed. And sure enough, God did it.
He did exactly what he promised he'd do. He performed his promise.
And God made Abraham righteous. Not through his own obedience,
but through the obedience of Christ. Abraham believed God. And God imputed it to him for
righteousness. That's how good God is. Now look
at verse nine, here's the power of God. And did see the affliction
of our fathers in Egypt and heard their cry by the Red Sea and
showed signs and wonders upon Pharaoh and on all his servants
and all the people of his land. For thou knewest that they dealt
proudly against them. So didst thou get thee a name
as it is this day. And thou didst divide the sea
before them. So they went through the midst
of the sea on dry land and their persecutors Thou threwest into
the deeps as a stone into the mighty waters. God is so powerful. He is the almighty. That means he has all might,
all power to do whatever he wills. And God's so good, he uses this
unlimited power for the good of his people, to deliver his
people from Egypt. And that's given to us as a picture
of the and goodness of God, how He delivers His people from bondage
and the power of sin. And you know, the story of Israel
leaving Egypt and going through the Red Sea is such a familiar
story to us. Most of us have known that story
since we were just so little. And I'm afraid because it's so
familiar, we really miss, this is extraordinary power. God made
the sea stand up in walls. I mean, if you think of that.
And that ocean bed that's been covered with water for how long?
God made it dry ground so his people could just pass through
easily. And then God used that exact same place and exact same
power to destroy his enemy and set his people free. Now you
think how wonderful It felt, I try to think sometimes about
being a slave. You remember that movie that was out a couple years
ago, 12 Years a Slave, where this free man, he had a good
job and things, and somehow he got taken as a slave and taken
down south to be a slave. I think about how horrible that
would be, to be a slave. These people that went through
the Red Sea had never known anything but being a slave. and now they've
been set free by the power and grace of God. Think how that
felt. Well, we know believers know
something about how that felt, because that's nothing compared
to being set free from sin, from the bondage of sin, the condemnation
of sin. That's because of God's power
and his goodness to his people. In verse 12, God, he set him
free. He didn't leave him alone. Verse 12, moreover, thou leadest
them in the day by a cloudy pillar. and in the night by a pillar
of fire to give them light in the way wherein they should go.
God brought his people out into the wilderness and he led them
all the way through. He led them by that cloudy pillar
and that pillar of fire so they wouldn't get lost, so that they
always had his presence. Day and night, they always had
the presence of God. That's how good God is to his
people. Verse 13, thou camest down also upon Mount Sinai spake
us with them from heaven and gave us them right judgments
and true laws and good statutes and commandments and made us
known unto them thy holy Sabbath and commanded them precepts,
statutes and laws by the hand of Moses, thy servant. God gave
his people the law. He came down on that mount and
gave his people his law. He gave them all the ceremonies
and all the priesthood, all these things that point to Christ.
God gave them laws for their good. Life will be better, you
know, if you follow these laws and you do them, this is for
the good of the nation. God gave them ceremonies and
priesthood that pointed them to Christ. God gave his people
the only way, he's to be worshiped. God came and gave that to them.
So they know how they can approach God and be accepted. They know
how they can come before God and worship. Now you think what
a gift that is. The only nation on earth at that
time that had that gift was Israel. What a gift. And you'd think
after all that, Israel would be so thankful. Wouldn't you
think they'd just be overcome with thanksgiving. They'd be
so dedicated to God after all his blessings to them. Just like
us. You who believe. God's given
you every spiritual lesson. He's given you everything. He's
given you His Son who's always given you everything. Well, you'd
think we'd just naturally, we'd be so thankful. You'd think, God's given me all things. Well,
I'll never grumble or complain because He's given me everything.
You'd think that, wouldn't you? God's been so gracious to me
while I'd be so dedicated to Him. I'll never go anywhere else.
I'll never look anywhere else. I've just taken up with Him.
That's what you think. Look at verse 15. God hadn't
stopped yet. Thou gavest them bread from heaven
for their hunger, and brought forth water for them out of the
rock for their thirst. And you promised them that they'd
go in and possess the land which you'd sworn to give them. God
gave them spiritual blessings. He gave them material blessings.
You know all that time they were in the wilderness? Those shoes
they wore going through the Red Sea are the shoes those who are
20 and under wore into the promised land 40 years later. All that walking they did. Their
feet never slipped. Their clothes never wore out.
They had to get a new pair of pants or new shoes. God's so
good how he provided for them. He gave them food to eat every
morning. There was the manna. Quails came. They had water to
drink. Hadn't God done the same for
us? There's not a person here who went hungry this morning
before he came. Not one. You got clothes in your
closet to wear. You drove a nice car here. God's
just always blessed us. How abundantly you think? I'm never gonna doubt God again.
I'm never again gonna think, what am I gonna eat and what
am I gonna wear? God's provided for me all this
time. He's not gonna stop now. And much more importantly than
that, All that time Israel was in the wilderness, God preached
the gospel to them. Every morning when they had bread
to eat, it was manna, which is a picture of Christ, the true
bread from heaven. All the water that they drank,
where'd that come from? It came from that smitten rock,
a picture of Christ, smitten for our sin. God preached the
gospel to them there in the wilderness. Now that's who God is. He's so
wonderful. He's so powerful, He's so glorious,
He's so good, He's so gracious to His people. That's who God
is. Now I want us to look secondly,
who you and I are. Let's look here at the nature
of man, verse 16. But, but, they and our fathers
dealt proudly and hardened their necks and hearken not to thy
commandments. God spoke and they wouldn't listen. God's so high above us. God so
freely gives to his people. And how do we react? How does
the nature of man react? It says proudly. That word proudly,
it means presumptuously. We just expect more. We just
presume that's what we deserve. God will keep giving it to me
because I deserve it. Now you and I know the children
of Israel well enough, and I don't really want to talk about them
near as much this morning as I want to talk about you and
me. Let's apply this to us so we get a blessing and learn something. God gave the law, didn't he?
He came down on Mount Sinai and gave the law. And he made it
plain to the people, you can't keep it. You cannot keep this
law. No matter how hard you labor,
no matter how hard you try, you can't keep the law. God gave
them a commandment to rest one day. They couldn't even do that.
They couldn't even rest. Look at Matthew chapter 11. This
is what Christ our Savior said. You can't keep it. No matter
how hard you labor, no matter how hard you work, you can't
keep it. But our Savior said, I did. Now you rest in me. Look
here, Matthew 11 verse 28. Here's God's goodness. His son
says, come unto me. All you that labor and you're
heavy laden, you come to me. I'll give you rest. Take my yoke
upon you and learn of me. For I'm meek and lowly in heart
and you'll find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy and
my burden is light. And what gracious words, sweet
words from God to sinners. You can't keep the law, but now
you come to me. I know you can't keep it, but
you submit yourself to my righteousness. I kept the law for you. You come
to me, you surrender to me, and I'll give you rest. I finish
the work for you. You can't, no matter how hard
you labor, you can't establish righteousness by your own law
keeping. So you surrender to me, I'll make you righteous.
And what do we do? We stiffen our neck and we rebel
and refuse to submit. Christ says, take my yoke upon
you. It's easy. And we stiffen the neck and won't
submit. bow that neck to bow down to
his yoke. We won't do it. We just out of
pride refuse to come begging for mercy. We just refuse. We're
too proud to do that. We think, I'll do it myself. I'm just too proud. I stiffen
my neck and refuse to bow humbly before him. We don't stop there. To make
it worse, We refuse to rest in Christ. We refuse his easy, light
yoke. But you know what we will do?
We'll submit gladly to the bondage of the law. Look at verse 17.
And refuse to obey. Neither were they mindful of
thy wonders that thou didst among them, but hardened their necks.
And in their rebellion, they appointed a captain to return
to their bondage. Now this is man's dead mind.
Only a dead mind could come up with such faulty logic as this.
Man's dead mind says, well, I heard, I heard Christ say, come unto
me, all you that labor and heavy laden, I'll give you rest. But
I won't listen. I refuse to submit to the easy
rule of Christ. But you know what I think I'll
do? I'd really enjoy this. I'd just
love to submit myself to bondage to the law. I'd just like to
go back to the law. That hard, cruel taskmaster of
the law, I'd like that. Can you imagine such a foolish
thing? Well, we can because we do. We've got the same nature.
The children of Israel said, God, we've seen all of his wonders,
all the plagues. We've come through the Red Sea.
We've seen the smitten rock and the manna. You know, I'd just
rather go back to, I don't like this bread. I don't like this
water. I'd rather go back to being a slave in Egypt rather
than have what God's provided for me. And man's nature, the
nature we all carry around with us, says the exact same thing. We won't submit to God's free
grace. But I'll submit to at least trying
to keep some of the law myself. You know, that'll make me feel
better. That's why the apostle Paul wrote the whole book of
Galatians He said, oh foolish Galatians, who's bewitched you? Who has just gotten a hold of
your mind that you'd think I'd rather submit to the law than
do the grace of God? Well, but that's what we do.
This is the way our nature just naturally goes. And nobody would
blame God for saying, all right, after everything I've done for
you, you want to go back to bondage? Go ahead, I'm done with you.
But God didn't say that because God is merciful. God is rich
in mercy because of his manifold mercies. Look here at the rest
of verse 17. But thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and
merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness. And you forsook
them not. That's what they deserve, but
you didn't forsake them. because you're God ready to pardon.
You're gracious and merciful. God did not cast his people away
because he's merciful. He's slow to anger. He's great
in kindness. This word merciful, it means
full of compassion. Full of compassion. That's all
there is, is compassion for his people. There's no room in God
for wrath towards his people because he's full of compassion
for them. Now that's good news because
you and I do the same thing that Israel did. Even we who believe
do the same thing. We try to, we would if God wouldn't
stop us from it. We try every single day to go
back to the law to earn our acceptance with God. We do. How many times
have you thought this? Well, I said this wrong. I did
this wrong. I thought this wrong. My motives
were evil and wicked. I'm going to straighten myself
up for a few days. I'm not going to do that anymore.
And then after I quit doing that, then I'll go to God in prayer. That's going back to bondage
to the law. Would you listen to me? I promise you, we've done more
wrong than we realize. We've said more wrong than we
realize. There's more iniquity in our heart than we realize.
Don't think you clean that up and then come to God. What is
God saying in His word? He forgives sin. Then in your
sin, come to the Father, begging for mercy, begging for the blood.
Why was the blood of Christ shed? Not to cleanse us from some of
our sin. We'll clean up some and didn't
know. The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all
sin. Then in your sin, you come to
Him. God's merciful to sinners. He's not merciful to self-righteous
people. He's merciful to sinners. And when we say, you know, I'm
gonna straighten up before I come to God, all that is is sin. It's going back to the law rather
than depending completely on the grace of God. And when we
do that, and you know we do it, And that's right, I'm not going
to do that anymore. We'll do it again soon. And you
know why God doesn't cast us off when we do? Because God's
merciful. He's merciful to his people.
The blood of Christ paid for even that sin. Now listen, this
is very important. It says here, thou art a God
ready to pardon. Ready to pardon. Now that doesn't
mean that God's just waiting on you. to come to him and then
he'll wash you. No. Christ did not die to make
God merciful. He didn't. Christ died because
God is merciful. Christ died. You know why he
died? Because God was ready to forgive. God was ready to pardon
the sin of his people. And the only way God could forgive
him is if his son died. See, Christ died because God
is merciful. God wasn't ready to cast off
his people. And the reason he doesn't cast off his people and
forsake them is because he forsook his son at Calvary. God is ready
to pardon. Now, that's mercy. He sent his
son to die for his people because God's ready to pardon. Oh, that's
good, isn't it? We think, oh, that's so good.
Well, I've learned that lesson. Now God, he showed me, he called
me, he saved me. I rebelled, but he mercifully,
he brought me back. I'll never do that again. I'll
never leave him again. I'll never look anywhere except
Christ again. Verse 18. Yea, when they made
them a molten calf and said, this is thy God that brought
thee up out of Egypt and brought Great provocation. Immediately
after God's mercy, not forsaking his people, you know what they
did? They started worshiping an idol. They said, let's make
us, let's get all of our gold and we'll put it together. Let's
make us a God to worship. This, this calf we made, that's
God that brought us up out of Egypt. You think anything can
be more wicked than that? Our own heart. Now again, I'm
not gossing over what they did, but let's apply this to us. What
can be more wicked than our own heart? Even we who believe think,
you know, I'm gonna do good. give to somebody. I'm going to
go help somebody. I'll go visit the sick. I'll
have a kind word for somebody. And you know, God bless me for
that. All that is idolatry. That's
all that is. That's not the God of this Bible.
And that just shows you we've got the same wicked heart that
children of Israel did. And when we do that, you'd think,
well, this time God's really going to cast us off. I mean,
we've just gone to the limit now. God's done with us. I'm just not worthy of Him. Well,
now that's true. We're not worthy of Him. But
God does not keep His people. He doesn't just refuse to cast
us off because we're worthy. God does not cast off His people
because Christ is worthy. That's it. God does not cast
off His people because He's merciful, because His Son is worthy. He
put our sin away. Now look at verse 19. Yet thou,
in thy manifold mercies, forsook them not in the wilderness. You
didn't forsake them. Oh, thank God for manifold mercy. Many different kinds of mercies.
Mercy to cover all my sin. This word manifold, it means
abundant. In quality and quantity. It means
exceedingly good. And it means suffice. God's mercy
is perfect to cover all my imperfections. God's mercy is great in quantity
to cover all of the multitude of my sin. His mercy is exceedingly
full to cover my exceeding sinfulness. And His mercy will suffice. It's
enough to cleanse and save even the chief of sinners. Now, depend
on God's mercy. Just look to Him for His mercy. Well, all right. I've seen it
over and over and over again. Now I'm gonna be thankful. Now
I'm gonna love the Lord. Now I'm never gonna ask for anything
else again. Just look to God and his mercy.
Verse 19. Yet thou and thy manifold mercies
forsook them not in the wilderness. The pillar of the cloud departed
not from them by day to lead them in the way. Neither did
the pillar of fire by night to show them light and the way wherein
they should go. Thou gavest them also thy good
spirit to instruct them. You withheld not thy manna from
their mouth and gave them water for their thirst. Yea, forty
years thou didst sustain them in the wilderness, so that they
lacked nothing, their clothes waxed not old, their feet swelled
not. Moreover, thou gavest them kingdoms and nations and didst
divide them into corners, so they did possess the land, the
land of Sihon, the land of the king of Heshbon, the land of
Og, king of Bashan. Their children also multiplied
as thou as the stars of heaven. You brought them into the land
concerning which thou had promised to their fathers, so they should
go in and possess it. So their children went in and
possessed the land. And thou subdued before them
the inhabitants of the land and the Canaanites. And you gave
them into their hands with their kings and the people of the land
that they might do with them as they would. And they took
the strong cities and the fat land and possessed houses full
of all goods wells dig, vineyards and olive yards and fruit trees
in abundance. So they did eat and were filled
and became fat and delighted themselves in thy great goodness."
Oh, God was faithful to his promise. He's faithful to his people.
You'd think after all of that, God's been so faithful to me,
I'm gonna be faithful to him. Yeah, that's what you think.
Verse 26, here's our nature. Nevertheless, They were disobedient
and rebelled against thee, and cast thy law behind their backs,
and slew thy prophets, which testified against them, to turn
them again to thee. And they wrought great provocations. After all of God's faithfulness,
the people were disobedient. God gave them his law, and they
cast it behind their back. God sent them prophets to tell
them the truth, to turn them to God. They killed them. If
anybody's gonna tell me the truth, I'll kill them. Boy, that's rebellion, isn't
it? Three or four or five strikes.
How many strikes have we got to so far? You're out of here. God's not going to put up with
that anymore. No, God's not going to cast His people off because
God's merciful. God has manifold mercies for
His people. Verse 27. Therefore, thou delivers
them into the hand of their enemies who vex them, who vex them. And
in the time of their trouble, When they cried unto thee, thou
heardest them from heaven. And according to thy manifold
mercies, thou gavest them saviors, who saved them out of the hand
of their enemies. When they cried unto thee. Now, you know, if
it was us who was delivered over to our enemies, we'd think, it's
not very merciful. Deliver me over to my enemies,
they can do with me whatever they want. And that just shows
you our proud heart. Now, God will chastise us He's
not going to forsake them. He will not forsake them because
of His mercy. And as soon as that rebellious
people cried out to God, God heard them. As soon as they cried
for mercy, God was merciful. He gave them saviors. He gave
them men that God raised up to deliver them from this bondage.
He sent them men like Samson and Gideon and David and Cyrus. And He delivered them. Surely
they learned their lesson now, right? I mean, how often can
this cycle be repeated? Many, many, many times. Because
our nature never changes and because God's nature never changes.
Verse 28. But after they had rest, they
did evil again before thee. Thou leftest thou them in the
hand of their enemy so that they had dominion over them. Yet when
they returned and cried unto thee, thou hurtest them from
heaven And many times did you deliver them, according to what? According to thy mercies. Why does God keep putting up
with the sin and rebellion of his people? Because God's merciful. He's merciful to his people in
Christ. All of our sin, even our repeated
sin, has been blotted out under the blood of his Son. God is
rich in mercy. And he's rich in mercy because
of the value of the blood of his son to pay for sin. Verse
29, and testified against them that thou mightest bring them
again under thy law. Yet they dealt proudly and hearken
not unto thy commandments, but sinned against thy judgments,
which if a man do, he should live in them. And they withdrew
the shoulder and hardened their neck and would not hear. Yet
many years did thou forbear them and testified against them by
thy spirit and thy prophets, yet they would not give ear.
Therefore gavest thou them into the hand of the people of the
lands. See, there's no hope for our nature to change. There's
just no hope. That's why it's gonna be put
into the ground. But God's mercy is so great.
It's never the less. Our sin is great, but God's mercy
is never less than our sin. Verse 31. Nevertheless, for thy
great mercy sake, thou didst not utterly consume them and
forsake them. For thou art a gracious and merciful
God. God did not forsake his people
and he does not to this day forsake his people. Because God's merciful. And when God's merciful, he's
merciful in justice. Because that sin has been already
paid for. It's been already blotted out.
We deserve to be forsaken, but we're not because our substitute
was forsaken for us. Well, then what's our plea? Now,
what's our plea going to be? Is our plea going to be, we've
been committed to the gospel. We took a stand for the gospel.
We've supported the gospel. We've got the right doctrine.
That's not going to be our plea. The plea of a great sinner is
this, God's rich in mercy. Let's come to God and plead for
his mercy, his mercy, his manifold mercies to his people. All right,
I hope the Lord will bless that too.