I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles and turn to the book of Nehemiah. Now if you find
Psalms where we were, and then you start backing up, going toward
the front, and you'll come to Job, and then you'll, just a
book, I'm trying to see if there's
one, it's, oh, Esther. Esther's just before Job, and
then Nehemiah's just before Esther. Nehemiah, Esther, Job, Psalms. Nehemiah chapter 9, Nehemiah
9, a very brief history of what
has gone on and then we'll look at Nehemiah chapter 9 verses
1 to 15 and then in the second service I'd like to just pick
up where I left off and look at 16 and 17 of Nehemiah 9. The people had disobeyed the
Lord's command to keep themselves from intermingling with the people
of the land that the Lord had given them. The Lord had told
them to not associate with the people in the land of promise. And they disobeyed God, and the
Lord was pleased to show mercy to them by sending tribulation
to them. Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth. And then we find in this chapter
9, Nehemiah picking up on this time where the Lord has brought
them to repentance and confession. And the priests are going to
offer up a prayer for the nation of Israel, for the remembrance
of God's mercy to them. That's what he's doing, the priest.
So Nehemiah chapter 9, and I'm just going to start and just
go through those first 15 verses. and behold the mercy of God Almighty
to His people. The scripture says, Nehemiah
chapter 9 verse 1, Now in the twentieth and fourth day of this
month. Well, this month is revealed
in Nehemiah 8 and verse 2. If you look there, it was the
latter part of the second verse of Nehemiah 8. It was the first
day of the seventh month. And on that particular day, the
scripture says, The children of Israel were assembled with
fasting, with sackcloth, or sackclothes, and earth upon them. Now they
assembled themselves in the outward tokens of mourning and humiliation,
declaring, I'm a sinner. Man, by nature, is a sinner against
God. And it's by the grace of God
that God would reveal to a man or a woman what they are. I need
to be told, I need to be taught by the Spirit of God what I am. Grace is truly grace. Mercy is
mercy to a sinner. If I don't need mercy, it's not
sweet. Verse 2 said, in the seed of
Israel, separated themselves from all strangers and stood
and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. The people, obediently, they
separated themselves from the idolatrous worship and communion
of the land, admitting the same inward expression of what they were
outwardly showing by the clothes of mourning. I am, as the scripture
reveals in the New Testament, that prodigal. I'm the rebel. I'm the prodigal son. I have
separated myself from the God of all hope. That was the attitude.
New Testament scripture, but the attitude. I am the one that's
disobeyed God. And the scripture says in verse
3, and they stood up in their places. 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. For three hours, that was a day,
twelve hours, And a fourth part of the day, three hours the book
of God's law was read, and then for three hours the scripture
says they confessed. They confessed what they were
against the Lord. They confessed, I'm a sinner.
And they're confessing the Lord's mercies and grace to them because
of what they are, what we've done. Truly, truly. The blessing
upon the reading of the Word of God. This is what happened.
Notice what they did. It says they stood up and they
read a fourth part. And then another fourth part
they confessed. Faith cometh by hearing. Hearing
by the Word of God. All Scripture. All Scripture.
All Scripture, Old Testament, New Testament, given by inspiration
of God, and it's profitable for reproof, for rebuke, for instruction
in righteousness. They heard God's Word read for
three hours, and then for three hours they confessed before the
Lord. Then the Scripture says in verse
4, Then stood up upon the stairs, just a scaffold in the margin
of my Bible, the Levites. Now I'm going to read these names.
You know, so often we read in scriptures and we'll come to
these names and they're hard to pronounce. And very often,
if you go through certain books, you'll just go through chapters
of names. And you remember when the Lord
was talking to the two on the road to Emmaus, and He says,
in the beginning with Moses and all the Scriptures, He expounded
unto them those things concerning Himself. Well, what I've done
is I just want to read, and I'll just tell you what these names
mean, because the great blessing is going to be found in what
these names set forth concerning God's honor, God's glory, and
God's mercy to His people. Now in verse 4 and then in verse
5, some of these names are repeated. So what I'll do is when I get
to verse 5, I'll just go ahead and tell you the names of the
ones that are added. But the Levites, the scripture,
then stood up on the stairs, the Levites. Jeshua, or who is
known as Joshua. And here's what his name means.
He will save. And then his next name is Benai. Benai means built or caused to
continue. God keeps his own, kept by the
power of God. And then, Kadmiel. Kadmiel. God is the ancient one. God is eternal. Our God's in
the heavens. That's what David said. He's
done whatsoever he has pleased. And then, Shebaniah. Means increased. by Jehovah, increased. I am what
I am by the grace of God. Then Bunai, built or caused to
increase. Some of these names like Bainai
and Bunai have the same meaning, just a difference in the way
that their name is set forth, same meaning. Sherebiah, the
flame of the Lord. Bainai, again, here's another
one, same name, his name built, caused to increase, and then
Chenanai, planted, or the Lord establishes. Salvation is of
the Lord, that's what he said, the Lord establishes. And these
prayed with great fervency, they stood up, and these men, it says
in the latter part of verse 4, they cried with a loud voice,
unto the Lord their gods and confessed the lamentation for
their own sins and for the sins of the people. And then in verse
5, It said the Levites, and here again, some of these names, it
was some of the Levites spoken of in verse 4, and then some
of the Levites in verse 5, and there's a few that was added. It says the Levites, Jeshua,
and Kadmiel, Benai, Heshabniah. He means the Lord has considered
me. The Lord has looked upon me in
mercy. God has looked upon me and his
precious son and shown mercy and compassion. I'll have mercy
on whom I'll have mercy. I'll have compassion. That's
what he said. Heshabniah, the Lord has considered me. And then,
let's see, Heshabniah. And then, Cherubiah, we looked
at. And Hodijah. Jehovah is my splendor. The Lord is my God. God has given
me a heart for Him and He's shown mercy to me. And then Shebaniah
we looked at and Pethahiah. That Pethahiah means freed by
Jehovah. The Lord has set me free. God
has taken my guilt. Applied it to the sun, to the
lamb slain before the foundation of the world. God's people in
the Old Testament believe God just like God's people in the
New Testament believe God. They believe God by faith, by
revelation. They look forward to the promise
of God in the coming Messiah that would put away their sin.
Abraham believed God. It was counted to him for righteousness. And these Levites, the scripture
says, after they had spoken, here's what they said in verse
5. Stand up and bless the Lord your God forever and ever. Blessed
be thy glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and
praise. They said, and more than likely,
they were standing and speaking to respective groups. They said, well they didn't all
stand in one spot, I'm sure, but they probably spoke to the
ones that were in their group, and this is what they said, stand
up. Bless the Lord your God forever and ever. Blessed be His name
for what He's done for us, for who He is, and what He's done
for us. And blessed be Thy glorious name,
which is exalted above all blessing and praise. Now listen to what
they're saying here. Blessed be Thy glorious name. Blessed is Your glory. Blessed
is Your nature. Blessed is your perfection which
is exalted above all blessing and praise, meaning you are more
than we can bless. Our blessing, our blessing is
insufficient to magnify you as you are. Blessed be the Lord. 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. Stand up and bless
the Lord. I'm going to set forth six reasons,
set forth in this scripture right here. why we are exhorted to
bless the Lord. Number one, in verse 6, here's
a reason to stand up and bless the Lord forever and ever, because
you're sovereign in creation. You're sovereign. Look at verse
6. 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 worshipeth
thee." Lord, we bless you, we stand up and praise your holy
name because you alone are sovereign in creating all that has been
made. All things were made by Him And
for Him, and without Him, without the Lord Jesus, nothing was made
that was made. He made all things. Lord, You
alone are the Creator. Psalm 19 verse 1, the heavens
declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth His handiwork. The very variety of nature. shows, declares the invisible
things of Him, His wisdom, His greatness, His power. And the
scripture says in Romans 1, it leaves man just the declaration
of nature, the order of all things. His greatness, His wisdom to
make all things, and they work, everything works. It's here,
the order of the suns and the seas and the stars. The handy
work of God leaves men without excuse. Without excuse for praising
Him. Nature is enough. to leave men
without excuse before God. The scripture says that you made
heaven. You stand up and look at all
the stars. God made that. And he says also, he said, not
only have you made heaven, you made the heaven of heavens. You
made paradise. You created that place whereby
your people are going to be with you. Lord, you made that. And
not only have you made them, and all the things that are therein,
the seas and all that's therein, you preserve them, you keep them. By the word of your power everything
is kept, and all the host of heaven worshipeth thee. Just by the order, the stars
that are not pure in his sight, worship him. Declare His power. Worship Him by just being there. Staying there. I'm reading these
accounts back years and years and years ago and they'd study
the stars and they'd study the constellations and all this kind
of stuff and how these ancient astronomers study all of this
stuff and it's still there. It just stays in order. It's
out there in the space. And it's not just floating off
somewhere. The Big Dipper is still the Big
Dipper. Still there. I remember as a kid, I'd get
up and look at the Milky Way. Out there in the back side of
nowhere in Louisiana. It would be dark. Man, there it was. Wow. You know it's still there. Now
preservest them all, and the host of heaven worshipeth thee."
Not only the things that he made that are these inanimate things
that we saw the stars, but the host of heaven, the angels, those
that he's kept. Lord, you made those. Stand up
and bless the Lord. Ever and ever. Lord of hosts.
Ever and ever. Because He's sovereign in creation. Secondly, He's sovereign in salvation. Look at verses 7 and 8. Thou
art the Lord, the God who didst choose Abram. broughtest him
forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and gavest him the name of Abraham,
and foundest 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 Girgashites,
to give it, I say, to his seed, and hast performed thy words
for thou art righteous, sovereign." Sovereign in creation, sovereign
in salvation. He said, you took Abram. Abram
means high father or the exalted one is my father, is what it
means. The exalted one. He said, thou art the Lord who
didst choose Abram. Brought him forth out of Ur-Kaldis,
gave it to him the name Abraham, father of a great multitude.
Just as the Lord chose to show mercy to Abraham. Chose Abraham, he chose his sheep. God Almighty has a chosen people. Chosen in Christ from before
the foundation of the world. gave them to the Lord Jesus Christ,
the surety. Stand up and bless the Lord who
chooses. The Lord said in John 15, 16,
you've not chosen me. I mean, think about these words. You didn't choose me. I've chosen
you. and ordained you that you should
go forth and bring forth fruit, that your fruit should remain,
that whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in my name, He
may give it you." The Lord dealt with Abraham according to covenant
mercy. That's what He said in verse
8. And foundest his heart faithful before thee, and madest a covenant
with him to give the land of the Canaanites and the rest of
those people there. Lord, you found us his heart
faithful before thee. That is, the Lord gave Abraham
a heart to believe him. When God found Abraham, what
was Abraham doing? He was an idol worshiper, just
like all of us. Worshipping the God of our imagination. And Almighty God called him,
gave him faith to believe. Faith is from above. It's given unto you to believe. This saying of all men having
faith is not so. Faith is a gift of God. Genesis
15, 6, he believed in the Lord and God counted it to him for
righteousness. God gives men faith to believe
and honors what he gives. That woman with the issue of
blood, you remember? If I get to him, touch the hem of his
garment, I'll be made whole. She touched him and he stopped. And he said, who touched me?
Remember the disciples, they said, well, Lord, you're in the
press here, everybody's touching you. No, he said, no, virtue
has gone out of me. And he looked at this woman,
and there she was trembling. And he says, woman, daughter,
thy faith. He gave it to her. He gave it
to her. And it was hers by the gift of
God Almighty, thy faith. By the grace of God hath made
thee whole. The one to whom she looked was
her Lord, and God honored it, and made us to covenant with
him to give the land as that land of promise, a type of heaven.
made a covenant with him. Not because Abraham believed
God and God decided to make a covenant with him. No, God Almighty had
everlastingly made a covenant with Abraham according to God's
will and God's purpose. And Abraham's faith evidenced
what the Lord had eternally purposed. God Almighty saves his people
on purpose and has performed thy words. God's faithful. As the Lord promises, this is
the way it is. My word gonna stand. My purpose
gonna stand. Thou hast performed thy words. That everlasting covenant. David
said, that was all my salvation. This is all my salvation. This
is all my hope. He made with me an everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things and sure. Stand up, those Levites
said, stand up and bless the Lord thy God forever and ever. He's sovereign in creation. He's
sovereign in salvation. Thirdly, He's sovereign in providence. Look at verses 9 to 12. and did see the affliction of
our fathers in Egypt, and heard us their cry by the Red Sea,
and show us signs and wonders upon Pharaoh and all his servants. on 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 that 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. Moreover,
thou leadest them in the day by a cloudy pillar, and the night
by a pillar of fire to give them light in the way wherein they
should go. Stand up and bless the Lord because
God Almighty is sovereign. As I've said before, I think
about Brother Scott every time I say that. Brother Scott saying
this, who's running this show anyway? Who's ordering these things?
You think all this mess over there across the ocean, across
the pond, You think it's out of control? Are you kidding me? God Almighty orders, He rules
in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth
and no man stays His hand. No man! does ought against that which
God Almighty purposes. He keeps his own heat orders. Not one thing happens outside
of God Almighty's power and might and purpose and will. Not one
thing, not one mosquito is outside the sovereign mercy and grace
of God toward his people. The Lord is ever mindful, ever
watchful, ever listening to the cries of his people, knowing
the state of his elect. Psalm 3415, the script says,
the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and his ears are
open unto their cry. And just as he beheld the affliction
of the people, his people, Israel, In the Old Testament, in Egypt
there, Egypt was under bondage and God Almighty saw He put them
there, He kept them there. And that affliction, He ordered
that for their good and for His glory. And He beholds His sheep,
even as He beheld them in the world. Psalm 103, 14, He knoweth
our frame, He remembereth that we are dust. He knows that. He brought them
out of Egypt with a powerful hand. A beautiful picture of
spiritual deliverance in regenerating grace. But we, just as they,
brought out of darkness, they were brought out of Egypt, and
there it is, a type, a picture. Remember, natural Israel in the
Old Testament was a picture, a type, a type of God's true
Israel. The true Israel of God, a picture.
And just as he brought them out of Egypt, He brings his people
out of darkness, called them out of bondage. They walked out
free, free. But they needed continual deliverance
and we need continual deliverance. Scripture says in verse 9, He
said, You heard their cry. Now they were already out of
Egypt. And the Scripture says, Thou didst see the affliction
of our fathers in Egypt and heardest their cry by the Red Sea. They'd
already been brought out. And they got to that Red Sea
and there they were. There's the Red Sea on one side,
here's the Egyptian army on the other. And he heard their cry.
And scripture says a strong wind began to blow and parted that
Red Sea. I told you one time I preached
a message on Christ, our Red Sea. It was opened up. The picture of that blessed opening
up of himself and he was bruised for our iniquities. And they
walked across on dry ground. God Almighty delivered them.
In verse 10, the scripture says it showed signs and wonders upon
Pharaoh and his servants on the people. Thou knew that they dwelt
proudly against him, so didst thou get a name for thyself.
Divided that sea, they went through it in the midst of the sea on
dry ground. The scripture says, led them
in the way, verse 12, by a cloudy pillar. The day by pillar of
fire, light at night that they could see the way to go. You
deliver your people. daily, called us out of darkness. We're in this world, we're not
of this world. Stand up and bless the Lord.
He's sovereign. He's sovereign in creation, sovereign
in salvation. He's sovereign in providence.
And then fourthly, He's revealed Himself. You stand up and bless
the Lord. God Almighty has told you who
He is. Look at verse 13, 14. Thou camest
down also upon Mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven.
gave us them right judgments, true laws, good statutes, commandments,
and made us known unto them by Holy Sabbath, and commanded us
them precepts and statutes and laws by the hand of Moses, thy
servant. Thanks be unto him. He has not
left his people with only the light of nature. Everybody has
the light of nature, and they're blind. to the mercy and grace
of God. They don't know, but they're
not without excuse. But God Almighty has been pleased
to leave His people not in the darkness, the blindness of unbelief,
to be standing before God without excuse, but still with no light. God has mercy on whom He has
mercy. John 17, we've been looking at
John. I'll read this. John 17, we bless the Lord because
He's not left us to ourselves. John 17, 6-8, the Lord says,
I've manifested Thy name unto the men which Thou gavest Me
out of the world. Think of the mercy of that. I manifested Your
character. unto the men which thou gavest
me out of the world. Thine they were, thou gavest
them me, they've kept thy word. Now they've known that all things
whatsoever thou has given me are of thee. For I have given
unto them the words which thou gave me. or gavest me. They've received them and have
known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed
that thou didst send me. Almighty God has been pleased
to not leave us in darkness. By the grace of God, every man,
every woman regenerated by the grace of God this morning, you
stand up and bless the Lord. God's revealed himself to you.
God has taught you. He's taught you who He is. You
leave a man or woman to Himself, and I'm telling you, God to them
is a figment of their imagination. He's nobody. He's somebody that
needs help. He's somebody that's waiting
on men to do something for Him, to exercise His free will. If
you know anything of God's grace and God's mercy concerning the
Sovereign God, God Almighty, if you know that you're a blessed
man or blessed woman, stand up. and bless the Lord fifthly because
he supplies our daily need. And we have his word on our final
deliverance. Look at verse 15. And gave us
them bread from heaven for their hunger and brought us forth water
for them out of the rock for their thirst and promised them
that they should go in to possess the land which thou has sworn
to give them. that manna, that they physically
ate that. But there's a picture of eating
the bread of heaven himself. That rock that God Almighty told
Moses, He said, you know, you strike the rock. Water, and that
rock followed Him. That rock was Christ. They actually
drank that water. That water was a picture of the
Lord Jesus Christ. The water of life Himself that
flows from the smitten rock Himself, who is the chief cornerstone
Himself. It was a picture. They were feasting
physically. Yes, they were feasting physically.
But those were spiritual pictures of the true bread, the true water,
the true life that we have. Stand up and bless the Lord because
he supplied this morning. I got to make breakfast. I had
some eggs and I had cheese on it and I had some meat and I
ate it and I enjoyed it. But I'm telling you, to a believer,
And Lord forgive us for not realizing, not thinking as we ought. Every
time I take a bite of an egg or a piece of meat or something
like that, that's a picture. That's a type of God's supply
to my eternal soul. To feast upon Him. All things
made by Him. He made that. All things are
for Him. All things magnify Him. All things
bless His holy name. Lord forgive me for seeing through
a glass darkly. Bless the Lord. Oh my soul. He supplies our daily need. Thanks
be unto Him. He's taking care of His people.
Stand up and bless the Lord your God because He's the God of all
grace and all mercy. I'm going to read these last
two verses and then Lord willing, I'm going to come back and verse
16 and 17 will be the text that we will look at. But here, verse
16 and 17, Bless the Lord, for He's the God of all grace and
mercy. But they talk about all these
things that the Lord had done for them. Sovereign In creation,
sovereign in salvation, sovereign in providence, provided for their
needs, kept them, led them, directed them, but they and our fathers
dealt proudly and hardened their necks and hearkened not to our
commandments. and refused to obey, neither
were mindful of thy wonders that thou didst among them, but hardened
their necks, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return
to their bondage. But thou art a God ready to pardon,
gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness,
and forsookest them not." This morning, we'll be honest, there's not
one believer in this congregation this morning that would not say,
that old man, that man whom I was born in Adam, that old man has
got that attitude right there. Thanks be unto God. He doesn't
reign. He's there. He's there. Paul
clearly set that forth in Romans 7. Oh wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? And a believer is going to say
that old man right there still wars against the law of my new
mind. But thanks be unto God, God Almighty,
who is merciful and gracious, long-suffering, long-suffering,
not willing that any of his people should perish. Keeps them a God
ready to pardon. Lord, bless these words to our
hearts for Christ's sake.