Turning your Bibles to Nehemiah. This is Nehemiah chapter 9. As we know, Nehemiah was a man
of prayer and here we have before us as we've been going through
Nehemiah the outworkings of God's love for His people and the way
He gets glory for His people. And I thought we'd start Down in Nehemiah 9, verse 16,
we just look through to the end of the chapter I just wanted us to, as we read
these things and I'll just look at a few parts of it in detail,
I suppose the question that comes to mind is why does God do it
the way he does it? And if that's the way he's done
it in the past and God doesn't change, Why is he doing these
things for us now because he's done them for us in the past? As we see the prayer began of
course with great declarations of the of the being and the existence
of God, His nature in verse 5, His nature and His creation,
His creator and His worshipped, verse 6, and He's a God of electing
love. of particular grace and particular
redemption. He not only discriminates amongst
all the people of Ur of the Chaldees, but he actually chose Abraham
and he names him, he changes his name to Abraham. And he's a God who is a promise-keeping
God. The end of verse 8 is a great
Declaration, isn't it? He has performed his words. Thou hast performed thy words,
why? For thou art righteous. He's a God who sees, in verse
9, and a God who hears, and he's a God who, having seen and heard,
he acts. He acts in salvation and he acts
in judgment. And he brings his people through
those seas which symbolize death for the enemies of God. And he
brings them through on dry land. And then he's a God who leads
his people. He leads them with a cloudy pillar
and a pillar of fire. And then He comes and He speaks
to them, and He gives them right judgments and true laws and good
statutes, and then He makes known to them the Holy Sabbath. We
know it's about the Lord Jesus, the rest of God's people. And
He gives them these things by the hand of a servant, and He
feeds them, and He waters them, and all of it signs of His grace
and His mercy to His people. And He makes a promise, a promise
that they'll come in and possess this land. And here they are,
as we might remember, almost a thousand years after all those
remarkable events, a thousand years of remarkable history.
Here they are in this land of promise, this land of bounty,
and here they are in this city which now has new walls, but
it's a city that's still desolate. And despite the remarkable events
of Chapter 8, where the Lord came and they had that remarkable
worship service and they were told not to weep. We actually
find these people at the end of this prayer, we find these
people still are in great distress and they're calling out to God. It's one of the longest prayers
in all of the scriptures and so it's extraordinarily instructive. But in verse 16, after all that
has happened, they pray, led by the Holy Spirit, but they
and our fathers dealt proudly. They hardened their necks, they
stiffened their necks against God, and they hearkened not to
thy commandments. They dealt proudly and in pride
there is a hardness of neck rather than a softness of heart. There's
a deafening, a deaf ear turned to God. There's a refusal to
obey. There's a refusal to even remember
the great things that God has done amongst them. but hardened
their necks and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return
to their bondage. Rebellion is the fruit of pride,
isn't it? In fact, rebellion is as the
sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry,
says 1 Samuel 15.23. An evil man seeketh rebellion,
Proverbs 17.11. And then we have this remarkable
contrast, don't we? We have in this prayer of Nehemiah
a remarkable pattern of contrast, isn't it? The activities of these
people who had seen God's graciousness and God's justice and God's judgment
in the most remarkable ways and their response is rebellion. and hardness of heart. And then
verse 17, halfway down, it says, but, don't you love the buts
of the Bible when they relate to God? But thou art a God ready
to pardon. gracious and merciful, slow to
anger and of great kindness, and forsookest them not." What
a great description of our God. As we go through this, it's good
to be reminded that in verse 17 he's called to be a God that
is gracious and merciful and ready to pardon. Verse 19, He's
described as the God who has manifold mercies. Verse 31, there
are great mercies. And then we are led to see that
He's a gracious and merciful God yet again. But how gracious and merciful
is He? How slow to anger and great Just
look at the next verse. When they had made them a molten
calf, they made an image in their impatience, and they lied about
it. Aaron lied about it. He said that out of the fire
popped this thing, but worse than their lies and worse than
the idolatry, they actually said, is the God. This symbol, this
little ball, this little golden ball, a symbol of a powerful
animal on the earth, is a symbol of the powerfulness of a God.
This lump of dirt is thy God. This is the God that brought
you up out of Egypt and had brought great provocations. It is remarkable,
isn't it? Idolatry is just extraordinary,
isn't it, in its wickedness. They had stood there at the foot
of that mountain and heard the voice of God, and their response
is to make this. And yet God is ready to pardon,
gracious and merciful. They wrought great provocations,
verse 18, acts of contempt, yet Yet in thy manifold mercies forsookest
them not in the wilderness. These are the activities of God
in not forsaking them. The first, there was a pillar
of cloud departed not from them by day to lead them in the way,
neither the pillar of fire by night to show them light and
the way wherein they should go. They had cloud to protect them
from the sun. They had light to show them their
way at night. And they had with these two things
a direction of where they should go. They were led through a wilderness,
fed and watered and clothed. Thou gavest thy good spirit to
instruct them and withheldest not thy manner from their mouth.
and gave us them water for their thirst. Yea, forty years did Thou sustain
them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing." Lacked
nothing. Remember the Lord Jesus when
those had followed Him? Have you lacked anything? Have
you missed out on anything? Their clothes waxed not old,
nor their feet swelled not." Don't forget they were carrying
the treasures of Egypt with them, and the weapons of Pharaoh's
army, and their clothes miraculously for 40 years didn't wear out.
God showed His mercies yet again. Moreover, on top of this, to
these rebellious people. You gave them kingdoms and nations
and divided them into corners so that they possessed the land
of Sihon and the land of the king of Heshbon and the land
of old king of Bashan. Their children also multiplied
as thou, as the stars of Hebron." Remember those great promises
to Abraham in Genesis. Your children, just look at Abraham
in this starry night. That's how many children you're
going to have. Before he had one. and brought
us them into the land concerning which Thou had promised to their
fathers that they should go in and possess it. So the children
went in and possessed the land, and Thou subduest before them
the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gavest them
into their hands with their kings and the people of the land, that
they might do with them as they would." And this is what the
Lord did. They took strong cities, and
a fat land, and possessed houses full of goods, wells digged,
vineyards and olive yards, and fruit trees in abundance. So
they did eat, and were filled, and became fat, and delighted
themselves." What did they delight themselves? In Thy great goodness. They didn't delight themselves
in the Lord as much as in the things that he gave them, and
they were disobedient. Nevertheless, they were disobedient. really means that they've embittered
themselves and rebelled against thee and they cast their law
behind their backs. Literally it means that they
threw it, they hurled it down, they picked up this book and
they hurled it down behind their backs. and slew thy prophets
which testified against them to turn them to thee, and they
wrought great provocations." Thou deliverest them into the
hands of their enemies who vexed 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 saviours, judges, who saved them out of the hand of their
enemies. But after they had rest, they did evil before thee." They
did evil before the face of God, as it were. Just think of what
happened in Ezekiel Chapter 1 in Jeremiah and those places where
these people turned the temple of God into a place of idolatry
and harlotry in his face. Therefore leftest Thou in the
hands of their enemies, so that they had dominion over them.
Yet when they returned and cried unto Thee, Thou heardest them
from heaven, and many times did Thou deliver them according to
Thy mercies, and testified against them, that Thou might bringest
them again unto Thy law. Yet they dealt proudly, and hearkened
not to Thy commandments, but sinned against Thy judgments,
which if a man do, he shall live in them, and withdrew the shoulder. They turned, as it were, a cold
shoulder to God, 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 would they not give ear,
therefore gavest thou into the hand of the people of the land. Nevertheless, for thy great mercy's
sake thou didst not utterly consume them nor forsake them, for thou
art a gracious and merciful God. Now therefore, so they've given
their history, haven't they? They've given our history. and now they come. Therefore,
O God, the great, the mighty, and the terrible God, who keepeth
covenant and mercy, let not all the troubles seem little before
Thee, that has come upon us, on our kings, on our princes,
on our priests, and on our prophets, and on our fathers, and all Thy
people since the time of the kings of Assyria unto this day. How be it thou art just in all
that is brought upon us, for thou hast done right, but we
have done wickedly. Neither have our kings, our princes,
our priests, nor our fathers kept thy law, nor hearken unto
thy commandments and thy testimonies, wherewith thou didst testify
against them. for they have not served Thee
in their kingdom, and in Thy great goodness Thou gavest them,
and in the large and fat land which Thou gavest before them,
neither turn they from their wicked works." So they have gone through their
history. They have laid out their situation and their plea before
God. And then in verse 36 they say, We are servants this day. We are slaves this day. And for
the land that Thou gavest unto our fathers, to eat the fruit
thereof and the good thereof, behold, we are servants in it. And it yieldeth much increase
unto the kings whom Thou hast set over us, because of our sins. Also they have dominion over
our bodies, and over our cattle at their pleasure, and we are
in great distress." What a remarkable prayer. What a remarkable prayer. It starts with the character
of God. What a great place to start.
A God who is blessed. What a great way to start. A
God who is absolutely sovereign. The character of God. But why? Why all this history? Why all
this history for them and why all this history for us? Why
did God persevere? And the question, personally
for us, is why does God persevere with me? Why does He persevere
with me? The answers are in our text and
the answers are in the rest of the scriptures, aren't they?
As we well know. There are many answers, aren't
there? I'll go through some this evening and no doubt the Lord
might lay more upon your hearts. that comes to mind is that here
we are reading the very words of God. And this is real history
and as Romans 15 says, it was written for our instruction,
written that we might have patience and that we might have hope and
that we might look around and see circumstances which remarkably
resemble some of what we've read and we might remember that our
God is a great promise-making God. And whenever He makes a
promise, His word is true. Don't you love what He says,
isn't it, in verse 8? He says, Thou hast performed
thy words. You have performed your words. Why? Because thou art righteous. You have performed your words
because you are righteous. It is God's word that we go to
as a sure word, as a light in a dark place and may make it
something that we turn to for light and turn to for wisdom
and turn to just to show us what is really happening in this world
around us. The second thing of course is
that we delight to know that salvation is by grace. Aren't you thrilled that salvation
is by grace and salvation is by gift. Salvation is by God
revealing himself and his character in the way he saves his people.
Isn't it wonderful that our salvation is not tied up with our activities? Isn't it wonderful that my security
and your security, brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus, is
in Him. It's in Him and what He's done. It's in Him and His person. It's
in Him and His work. In Him and His magnificent work
on the cross. What remarkable sins. What remarkably evil, horrible
sins were laid upon the Lord Jesus. How lightly we think of
sin. How lightly we think of rebellion. We're horrified by witchcraft. We're horrified by open And yet
as we read in 1 Samuel 15, 23, rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft,
and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. I have a rebellious
heart and a stubborn heart in Adam, my father, my earthly,
fleshly father, and so do you. What sins were laid on our Saviour. What remarkable dealings the
Lord has dealt with His people throughout history. Just as these
people have done, it is good at times, isn't it? We don't
look at what's behind, but we actually can see, as Paul does
often, we can actually see the hand of God. What providential
mercies have we received from God? What remarkable instances
where we would go this way and God in Providence has turned
the tide of history, has turned the wheels of this universe,
the thoughts of men, the wicked acts of men. The wicked acts
of me and he's turned that in providential care. I do love
what David said, what a great way to finish your time on this
earth. I look at my house, it's a mess. I look at my life as it were
and it's a mess. But the Lord has made with me
an everlasting covenant, ordered and secure in every detail. Can you chart some of those details? and look and see God's providential
dealings with His people. What a remarkable place. This
is the first worship service that the people of God had had
for so long. To bring them out of Babylon,
to bring them back to Himself, to place them in the temple,
to give them people like Nehemiah to lead them in God. And what
providential hand had God in moving the hearts of Cyrus to
build a temple and send the people back, moving the heart of Artaxerxes
to be mindful of Nehemiah's concern and then to answer that prayer
in the most remarkable way. not by giving Nehemiah things,
but by sending Nehemiah back as God's servant amongst God's
people. What providential dealings in
being able to go through that wilderness as Ezra did with all
of those precious things from the temple. and God's hand was
upon all the thieves on the way. All of those thieves, no one
touched them. These men wanted to see the hand
of God in Providence, and they did. And as I said earlier, one of
the other reasons for this tale, this history, is to show us what
we are in Adam's flesh. And the end result of it is,
of course, that no flesh should glory in his presence. No flesh, not mine, not yours. That's what we come to in 1 Corinthians
1, isn't it? God has chosen the foolish things
of the world to confound the wise. God has chosen the weak
things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.
The base things of the world and the things which are despised
hath God chosen, yea, the things which are not. to bring to naught
the things which are." There over in Babylon is a mighty powerful
empire, big empire. Here in Jerusalem is a hastily
built wall, a temple that doesn't look as fancy as Solomon's temple. But who was there? The world
might look on it and scoff like Sam Ballat and the others, but
there was someone there, wasn't there? The Lord himself was there
amongst his people to bring to things to naught, to bring to
naught the things that are, that no flesh should glory in his
presence. but of Him, of God's electing
sovereign grace, i.e. in Christ Jesus, who of God is
made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption,
that the result of all of this, according as it is written, he
that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. to show us what we are. We are
no better than these people. Their activities are our activities. God's people are saved by grace
through faith. that the difference, and here
we have in this remarkable passage, that difference is made, a separation
made. God's people on the inside worshipping
the Lord and the others on the outside separated by God. As Isaiah 26 says, These people
inside, we have a strong city. Salvation will appoint for walls
and bulwarks. That city, that salvation is
a person. Verse 4, trust ye in the Lord
forever, for in the Lord is everlasting strength. Let him take hold of
my strength. One of the other reasons for
this history is that the Church of God and we as Christians never
attain some sort of plateau of establishment in this world.
Every generation needs to be converted again. Every generation
will have its witnesses. God will raise up witnesses for
himself. God will raise up churches that
powerfully witness to the Lord Jesus and God in his providence
will take them away and God will build them again in another place
to show that He will do it by His works, and whose glory will
be achieved in the doing. It won't be the work of men. The name of that city, as Ezekiel
finishes that wonderful vision, the name of that city from that
day shall be, the Lord is there, Jehovah Shammai. Isaiah finishes
in a similar way, doesn't he? Thou shalt call thy walls salvation
and thy gates praise. God makes the difference amongst
his people, and eternally there will be a difference. The walls
in eternity will be called salvation, the gates will be called praise,
and the city will be called, the Lord is there. It's also to show us, isn't it,
that sin leads to slavery, as Romans 6 so clearly says, isn't
it? Sin leads to enslavement. And sin leads to deceit. It's remarkable, isn't it, when
the Lord Jesus confronted those people in John Chapter 8, people
who had in some sense professed some sort of belief in Him. And
then He talks about Himself as sovereign and electing God and
His special place in His Father's love and purposes. and he says
to them just let me read some of these verses in verse 29 Then said Jesus unto them, When
you have lifted up the Son of Man, then shall you know that
I am He, that I do nothing of myself. But as my Father has
taught me, I speak these things, and He that sent me is with me. The Father has not left me alone,
for I always do the things that please Him. Only one person has
ever done the things that please the Father in this world. And
as he spoke these words, many believed on him. Then said Jesus
to those Jews which believed on him, If you continue in my
word, then you are my disciples indeed, and you shall know the
truth, and the truth shall make you free. Listen to what these
people said. They answered him, We be Abraham's
seed. Look at my heritage. I'm Abraham's
seed. Look at my boasting in the flesh.
And we were never in bondage to any man. They've just been
in bondage for almost all of their lives. And in their lie
about their bondage, they didn't realize that they had a much
greater bondage, a bondage to Satan and a bondage to sin. And when those things are present,
there is just deceit. How different is their statement
from the statement of these men here? All of these things are to show
us ultimately the Gospel of the Lord Jesus. The passage is about
us. The recipients of grace just
chart out history. Why has God preserved this earth
with all of its wickedness and all of its rebellion until such
time as now? Why is He still preserving it?
Because He has an elect remnant. He has a bride out there. And this world will continue.
That's why, in a sense, we're the salt. Why is this world being
preserved in its rebellion right now? Why is Australia allowed
to go on in its open, publicly funded blasphemy against the
Lord Jesus? There's only one reason, ultimately,
isn't there? God has a bride out there. a recipient of grace from everlasting,
about at the time of God's love to receive this superabounding
mercy and grace. A sinner like us who falls constantly
and continually, but never, ever irretrievably. Because it's not
from within ourselves, our only plea before God is a person. A person who is faithful to his
promises. God will reveal his faithfulness
in these providences revealed and throughout all that rebellion,
throughout all the rebellion of our time, outside of that
camp, outside of that fold, all through that rebellion, God
had acted in providential mercy. great mercies, manifold mercies,
abundant mercies. He had a purpose. He has a way. It's a just way. of getting in
this world and in the next, glory for himself. All things in grace,
providence and mercy are but signposts to our Lord Jesus on
the cross. Sins put away, but sins first
exposed for what they are and to be seen for what they really
are. That chosen remnant, saved, redeemed,
reconciled, restored, protected, separated. You see, one of the
other reasons for rebellion being exposed is that he who has been
forgiven much loves much. We have been forgiven and are
being forgiven so much. What a mercy it is that God doesn't
show us all of our sins. What despair and distress it
would be. What a remarkable God to see
all that we are and then see us wrapped up in the Lord Jesus
and love us despite what we are. And recipients of mercy are people
who, in the mercy of God, might learn to be merciful with each
other. It is so easy to find fault with each other. It is
our natural Adam's flesh for us to look around at each other
and say, well, you could have done better there. I wish they
wouldn't do that. May God cause us, who have been
recipients of great grace and manifold mercies, to be merciful
to those who have seen something of their sins displayed in the
Lord Jesus on the cross. It's easy to count ourselves
the chief of sinners and to esteem others better than ourselves. And finally, all of this sin
is to remind us that God, as these verses say so often, God
is just. There are people who are not
the recipients of God's grace. And in that great day of judgment,
when all things are revealed, God will be seen to be perfectly
just. And one of the reasons why he'll
be so clearly seen to be so perfectly just is that he has been such
a gracious and such a merciful and such a long-suffering God,
a creator and a provider. And on that day, when Romans
1 says they will have no excuse, part of the reason for the fact
that they will have no excuse is that they will see and they
will know more clearly than ever before that God has been remarkably
merciful. He sends his rain on the righteous
and the unrighteous. We will see God as perfectly,
perfectly just. As Romans 3 says, that he will
be just. Let God be true. and every man
a liar, as it is written, that thou might be justified in thy
sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged. Blessed, he says, are those whose
iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is
the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. You see, God
is faithful. And I just love what it says
in Romans 4, isn't it? But it's not of him that worketh.
What have their works achieved? But him that worketh not, but
believeth on him that justify, what are we? The ungodly. His faith is counted for righteousness. I love verse 16 of Romans 4,
it's remarkable, isn't it? Therefore it is of faith that
it might be by grace to the end, with the result. It's by faith,
it is of faith, by grace to the end, the result that the promise
might be sure to all the seed. I want promises from God that
are sure. Don't you want a promise that
you can hang on to? Isn't it wonderful when we think
of the promises that God makes to the likes of our friend Isabel
in Canberra? What a remarkable future she
has. What a remarkable future. So these people were led by God
back into His presence to own what they are, what they are
even now. And I just love what they say
in verse 33, Howbeit thou art just in all that's brought upon
us, You are just in all that you've brought upon us, all of
this history, all of this sadness. You are just, for you have done
right that we have done wickedly. It reminds me of another man
who made some remarkable statements, didn't he? Remember that thief
on the cross? What a remarkable statement he
said, isn't it? He rebuked the other, saying,
Thus thou not fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation. He has done right. Don't you
love the story of the Pharisee and the publican? Let's finish
there. with some people who trusted
in themselves. They trusted in themselves that
they were righteous and despised others. You see these men in
this place, in Nehemiah, have been brought to a place where
they could no longer trust in themselves. What had they done? What had they done that earned
any merit from God? This is how the Lord Jesus answered
these people, isn't it? He said, they trusted in themselves
that they were righteous. The end result of everyone who
trusts in himself that he's righteous is in those next three words,
and despised others. Trusted in themselves and despised
others. What a great story. What a great
history. Two men went up into the temple
to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a publican. The Pharisee
stood and prayed thus with himself, God I thank thee that I'm not
as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as
this publican. I fast twice in the week. I give
tithes of all that I possess. And the publican. Standing afar
off. I love that word, that he's still
afar off. Someone commented that what he
was doing was leaving a huge space between him and God for
grace to fill. Standing afar off, would not
so much as lift up his eyes under heaven, but smote upon his breast
and saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. I tell you, says the Lord Jesus,
this man went down to his house justified rather than the other.
For everyone that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that
humbles himself shall be exalted. What a great place to be brought
to. The presence of God in the city of God, gathered together
by God amongst his people, and humbled before him. Let's pray.