In the late 1980’s, the National Park Service noticed that the Lincoln Memorial was slowly crumbling and deteriorating.
Everybody say, “Why?”
Glad you asked—part of the problem was from water—both rainwater and cleaning water. You see, according to the Associated Press Park Service crews were giving “the great marble statue of Abraham Lincoln and adjacent walls and floors a daily scrubbing.”
Everybody say, “Why?”
Well, Abe and his monument were scrubbed daily because of the huge mess left each day by sparrows and starlings.
Everybody say, “Why?”
All these sparrows and starlings were attracted to the memorial because of all the spiders that came.
Everybody say, “Why?”
Well, all these spiders make their home in the Lincoln memorial because of midges—small winged insects that breed in the muddy flats of the nearby Potomac River. Midges swarm into the air at dusk for mating, and when they do, they are drawn by the huge lights that illuminate the memorial. In their excitement the midges smash into the limestone walls, and their protein remains draw the spiders, which draw the sparrows and starlings, which causes the mess—which requires the Park Service crews to clean every day, which causes erosion on the statue of Honest Abe. So in answer to all your “whys” — the problem is a tiny midge. It is causing the Lincoln memorial to suffer erosion. Don’t ask me how they are going to get rid of the midges!
Well, sin can have the same “midge-like” effect on you and me. I mean, if we are not careful even “tiny” sins will draw us to bigger sins which will draw us to even bigger sins and in the process gradually erode our personhood—making us less like Jesus—less like the person God created us to be. Now—don’t misunderstand me. Sin is sin. But no one starts out with the deeper more heinous sins. It’s a gradual thing. Like the hymn text says, we are “SINKING deep in sin…far from the peaceful shore.” Because of this tendency we have toward sin it is vitally important that we learn to cleanse ourselves of our sin regularly through the discipline of confession—times we stop and ask for God’s forgiveness and the restoration that comes with it.
I bring this all up because—as part of the revival that began at the Water Gate—the wonderful spiritual renewal in Jerusalem that we studied last week—as part of that, the Hebrews discovered THEIR need for confession and cleansing. And—this should remind you and me that the main thing that helps us SEE our NEED for revival or spiritual renewal is an awareness of our sin. The first evidence of a true movement of the Spirit of God is an awakened conscience, leading to genuine SORROW for sin in God’s people. Only after that does revival come. Remember how we read last week that the people began to WEEP as they heard God’s Law read? They wept because they saw how far they had drifted from God. They realized how ERODED their relationship had become.
Now—I want you to note that Nehemiah was wise enough—mature enough spiritually—NOT to take advantage of the people’s first outburst of sorrow—the part we read about last Sunday. You see, many times emotions alone don’t lead to genuine commitments. Often when the tears dry up so do the commitments people made. So Nehemiah wisely delayed things for three weeks—to give people’s emotions time to die down—time for them to fast and pray and consider their situation—consider the things they had been taught from God’s Book. And as we read in this ninth chapter, the revival held—even after the emotions died down they were firm in their commitments to change—which shows their repentance was genuine.
I can’t help but think of the olden days when I worked with young people. I was not popular with some teens because I was such a stickler on the “lights out rule.” As I’m sure Kevin does, I spent many nights at camp and retreats sitting in the hallways of dorms watching the doors—making sure our guys stayed in their rooms. I only went to bed myself when I could hear steady breathing and was certain they were all in dreamland. I always came home from those trips very tired! I did this because I knew that the camp schedule was rigorous and when the invitation times rolled around at the worship services at the end of the day they needed to be awake and alert—not tired because that made them overly emotional and I wanted our kids to make real decisions—-sincere commitments.
In any case, toward the end of that seventh month when the Hebrews celebrated the Feast of the Tabernacles the people gathered wearing sackcloth with dust sprinkled on their heads—a sign of repentance and mourning over sin in that culture. They were in deep sadness—genuinely ready to repent and recommit their lives to God. When they all gathered the Levites led them in the prayer that we find here in chapter 9—and by the way it’s the LONGEST prayer in the Bible—outside the Psalms. It is also a BEAUTIFUL prayer—a kind of “mosaic” of Biblical quotations, recollections, images and phrases. I mean, these Levites who led the people in this prayer of confession obviously knew the Scripture by heart—because they relied on the language of the patriarchs, prophets, priests and psalmists.
This confession accurately expressed both the people’s disappointment with themselves and their confidence in God. In other words, this declaration of guilt had two elements: they confessed Who God was and they confessed who they were—sinners. Verses 4 and 5 explain exactly how they conducted this service of confession. The Levites divided themselves into two groups. Some were standing on the stairs on one side of the assembly and the other group stood across from them. These two groups called back and forth to the congregation that stood between them—one group of Levites confessing the sins of the people—the other praising God for His greatness and love. It was kind of an antiphonal chorus. The first group “CALLED with loud voices.” The second group focused on God’s character as they SANG. Cries of GUILT—were followed by songs of PRAISE for God’s greatness, goodness, and graciousness. Tears of GRIEF formed their words of lament—while tears of JOY formed the responding anthem of adoration. I wish we could hear this prayer as it was said and sung that day—maybe in Heaven we can see the replay. I’m sure it was very powerful.
But—since we can’t do that YET—this morning we’ll read through and study this prayer in the hopes that God will use our study to help each of us see our own sin and need for confession. Now—as I inferred it’s too long for me to read in the time we have—so I’ll read a few excerpts and then you keep your Bible’s open as we go through it all together. Okay—open your Bibles to Nehemiah 9 and follow along as I read.
1 – On the twenty-fourth day of the same month, the Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth and putting dust on their heads.
2 – Those of Israelite descent had separated themselves from all foreigners. They stood in their places and confessed their sins and the sins of their ancestors.
3 – They stood where they were and read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for a quarter of the day—and spent another quarter in confession and in worshiping the Lord their God.
32 – “Now therefore, our God, the great God, mighty and awesome,Who keeps His covenant of love,do not let all this hardship seem trifling in your eyes—the hardship that has come on us, on our kings and leaders, on our priests and prophets, on our ancestors and all your people, from the days of the kings of Assyria until today.
33 – In all that has happened to us, You have remained righteous;You have acted faithfully, while we acted wickedly.
34 – Our kings,our leaders, our priests and our ancestors did not follow Your law; they did not pay attention to Your commands or the statutes You warned them to keep.(`(
35 – Even while they were in their kingdom, enjoying Your great goodness to them in the spacious and fertile land You gave them, they did not serve You or turn from their evil ways.
36 – “But see, we are slaves today, slaves in the land You gave our ancestors so they could eat its fruit and the other good things it produces.
37 – Because of our sins, its abundant harvest goes to the kings You have placed over us. They rule over our bodies and our cattle as they please. We are in great distress.
Now—borrowing from Warren Wiersbe’s outline, we see three things in this prayer—things that are a part of an individual—or a group of people—who come to God to confess their sins.
(1) This prayer starts with a confession of God’s GREATNESS.
Verse 3 tells us that they spent three hours reading the Bible and then three hours in confession and worshipping God for His greatness and power. Weirsbe writes, “Worship involves the Word of God for the Word of God reveals the God of the Word.”
And it is important to begin here—by using God’s Word to help us worship Him for Who He is—because as Tozer puts it, “The essence of idolatry is the entertainment of thoughts about God that are unworthy of Him.” In fact, if your faith is weak right now—if your walk with the Lord is a bit eroded—could the source of that problem be due to the fact that your understanding of God is flawed? Could it be that you’ve lost your understanding of how GREAT God is? Or to use J. B. Philips’ words, “Is your “God is too small?” Remember, “What comes to mind when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” (Tozer)
In that light we need to see that this order of worship—worshiping God for His greatness FIRST—this is significant because when we read about GOD in His Word—we are able to see how far we have come short. I mean, when we read what it tells us about God’s perfection and greatness—well, then we see our sin and depravity. We see our need for confession. This is why the Hebrews were instructed to BEGIN by standing up and praising the Lord their God. Before they came to a time of confession, first they had to praise the only One Who could hear, pardon and change them.
So the Levites started by leading the people to reflect on God’s nature and character—His creative power—His mighty works in history. Look at verse 6 where they confess, “You alone are the Lord.You made the heavens,even the highest heavens, and all their starry host,the earth and all that is on it—the seas and all that is in them.You give life to everything, and the multitudes of Heaven worship You.” An understanding of how flawed and sinful we are always begins with this awareness—this confession of God’s GREATNESS and power.
President Theodore Roosevelt’s love of the outdoors is well documented. He was responsible for the creation of several national parks and monuments. In his first inaugural address, Roosevelt spoke freely of the blessings of God upon our nation, saying, “I reverently invoke for my guidance the direction and favor of Almighty God.” It is said that when President Roosevelt entertained diplomatic guests at the White House he was fond of taking them out to the back lawn at the end of the day. As the president stood gazing at the night sky, all eyes would eventually be cast heavenward, as his were. Of course in his day, the vast array of stars was not dimmed by the lights of D.C., and the magnificent display of God’s brilliant creation would overcome the people gathered there. After a long moment, Mr. Roosevelt would say, “Gentlemen, I believe we are small enough now. Time to go to bed.”
A realization of God’s BIGNESS—reveals our SMALLNESS. When we see God for Who He is we cry out like Isaiah, “Woe to me—for I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips!”
(2) The second part of this prayer is a confession of God’s GOODNESS.
As you read through chapter 9 you’ll see that this part is the bulk of this prayer. It covers verses 7-30. And—in this lengthy section God’s goodness is highlighted very simply—but powerfully.
GOD is very clearly the focal point—because the word, “You” is used over fifty times. In verses 7-15 God is the subject of every sentence and the word, “give” is used in one form or another at least sixteen times. In other words it talks about how in His goodness God gave over and over again. We read about God’s goodness in forming the nation of Israel and in leading them and providing for them and about His patience in lovingly correcting them when they sinned. As you read through this portion of the prayer please note how God’s goodness absolutely pervades His personality. The statements get stronger and stronger. In fact, I agree with Brian Bill and picture the “praise choir” singing the LAST stanza of verse 27 loudly—in fortissimo mode: “But when they were oppressed they cried out to You. From Heaven You heard them, and in your great compassion You gave them deliverers, who rescued them from the hand of their enemies.”
Then as they hold their final “note,” the “confession choir” rises to its feet and sings what sounds like a REQUIEM in verse 28: “But as soon as they were at rest, they again did what was evil in Your sight. Then You abandoned them to the hand of their enemies so that they ruled over them.”
These Levites were reminding the Hebrews standing there that God had corrected their forefathers by sending successive world powers to both punish and correct them—Assyria, then Babylon and Persia. All of this was done because God is good. He demonstrated that fact clearly through His forming of the nation, by leading them, by providing for them and even by CORRECTING them—as any GOOD parent does if they truly love their children.
Corrie Ten Boom writes, “Deep in our hearts we believe in a good God. Yet how shallow is our understanding of His goodness. How often I have heard people say, ‘How good God is! We prayed that it would not rain for our church picnic, and look at the lovely weather!’ Yes, God is good when He sends good weather. But God was also good when He allowed my sister Betsie to starve to death before my eyes in a German concentration camp.”
Corrie is correct. God is ALWAYS good even in the bad He allows to come our way. He works in ALL things for our good. One His greatest acts of GOODNESS is when He disciplines us. As it says in Psalm 94, “Blessed is the man You discipline O Lord, the man You teach from Your law.”
At this point I want you to note that the confession of sin was CORPORATE as well as INDIVIDUALISTIC. I mean, that day the people not only recognized their own individual sin and confessed it—they also understood that they were part of a people or nation and were therefore also COLLECTIVELY guilty. Way back in chapter 1 Nehemiah prayed, “Let Your ear be attentive and Your eyes open to hear the prayer Your servant is praying before You day and night for Your servants—the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father’s house, have committed against You. We have acted very wickedly toward You. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees, and laws You gave Your servant Moses.” In verse 2 of this 9th chapter, it says the people “…stood in their places and confessed their sins and the sins of their ancestors.” The prophet Daniel did this kind of confession as well. In Daniel 9:5-6 we read: “We have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled—we have turned away from Your commands and laws. We have not listened to Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings, our princes and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.”
Now Daniel was a great guy. Remember, I told you a couple weeks back, he is one of the only guys in the Bible about which there is no sin mentioned. He’s never criticized in the Bible. But even DANIEL confessed the sins of His forefathers.
This corporate confession is hard for us as Americans to understand because we have such an individualistic culture. We tend to BLAME our parents for our sins saying things like, “I have a bad temper—I inherited it from my dad. I can’t do anything about it.” But that’s not what we see here. And I believe the fact that we see this kind of confession in Daniel and Nehemiah means the Lord wants us to confess the past sins of our nation as well. Perhaps this is because the Lord knows that sins from the past often continue to impact the present until the process of repentance is begun. Both Daniel and Nehemiah knew that Israel was suffering because of past sins. Today, in our society, we are suffering the consequences of sins that were committed in the past. And I think then that it is incumbent on us to recognize the impact of the sin of our ancestors and acknowledge it.
In his book, Healing America’s Wounds John Dawson tells the story of a Kiowa Indian named Spencer. Spencer had taken the brunt of racial prejudice all of his life. His father had left the reservation to attend college. He earned his degree in accounting but when he returned home no one would hire him because he was an Indian. He went to the church on the reservation to worship God every Sunday—even though he was the only person there because no white preachers wanted to pastor an Indian church. This Godly man who had a college degree worked in a kitchen washing dishes until the day he died simply because his skin was not white. Spencer saw his father humiliated by store clerks who refused to wait on him. Throughout his childhood both he and his siblings were beaten by other children and taunted with all manner of racial slurs.
As he grew older he internalized these wounds deep in his heart and bitterness festered there. All this led him to a lifestyle of violence and drug abuse. He ended up in a drug rehabilitation program called “The Gates of Life” run by a devout Christian man named Sonny Jaynes. One day as Spencer was working on the fence line of the center a fellow worker made a racial taunt and he responded by beating the man mercilessly. He was taken to the office of the program director. Spencer admitted that he was still so angry that he was ready to beat him to a pulp as well. And as they sat there, Sonny asked Spencer why he had done this—and then Spencer poured out his soul to Sonny sharing with him all the wounds racism had inflicted on his life. He said, “Waves of pain washed over me as I poured out memories of my past. I could not hold back. I just sat there and cried. I cried for my mother, my brothers and my sisters. I cried for my father and I cried for myself. Then I heard something that I had never heard before. I looked up and Sonny was crying too. He was crying and praying. ‘Lord, forgive us for how we have treated the Indian people. Lord, please forgive us.’ His head went down and his shoulders were shaking as he wept. My heart began to break as I realized that he was weeping for my people.”
Sonny looked up at Spencer with tears streaming down his face and said, “Spencer, I can’t speak for every white man, but I can speak on behalf of myself and my family. I am sorry for what’s been done to the Indian people. Will you forgive me?” Spencer then said, “I knew then, deep in my spirit that Jesus was real. Nobody but a God of love could fill a man with the kind of love and acceptance that was emanating from Sonny at that very moment. Looking up at him I knew that I would follow Jesus too.” “For Jesus’ sake,” he said, “I do forgive you.”
You know, if we want the racial reconciliation our nation so desperately needs to become a reality—if we want the evils of racism to end—part of that is for ALL Christians to confess not only our sins in this area—but the sins committed by our forefathers. You and I must go to our brothers and sisters of color and say, “I am sorry for what my ancestors did. Their actions WERE evil. Your people HAVE been treated unfairly.”
And you know in a very real sense, this is following Jesus’ example. Jesus was innocent, but He identified with the sins of all humanity beginning with Adam and going to the end of time. We are called to willingly do the same thing and follow His model as we identify with the wrongs done by the people who lived before us. So in this prayer we see a confession of God’s greatness—and God’s goodness—and then finally we see a confession of…
(3) God’s GRACE.
As I already inferred, they confessed that God was good to them even when they were not good to Him. God sent prophets to teach them and to warn them, but the Hebrews refused to listen.
He was merciful to forgive them when they cried out for help and He was long-suffering with them even as they repeatedly rebelled against His Word. He could have destroyed the nation and started over again but He graciously spared them. He didn’t give up on the Hebrews. Let me put it this way. In His MERCY God did not give the Hebrews what they deserved; and in His GRACE He GAVE them what they didn’t deserve. And now on the basis of His greatness and goodness and grace in their prayer the Hebrews ask God for a new beginning for the nation.
Aren’t you glad God doesn’t give up on us? Aren’t you thankful He doesn’t give us what we deserve? Aren’t you thankful that as Romans 5:20 puts it, “Where sin increased grace increased even more?” When we understand God’s grace—it drives us to confession and compels us to live obediently. It also makes us graceful people—people who reflect God’s grace on others.
This week I read about a high school basketball team in Gainesville, Texas—the Gainesville Tornadoes. As you can see in this picture the Tornadoes usually have a fan base of practically ZERO. One Gainesville player said, “My parents came to one game but they didn’t come to the other ones because they didn’t have time.” Gainesville is a juvenile correction facility for felony offenders so the other students don’t come to the games either, because they can’t get out of their cells to do so. I mean, one of the few perks at the facility—for very good behavior—is a chance to leave the prison a few times a year to play basketball. The Tornadoes play against private schools like Vanguard College Prep in Waco. And it was before that recent match-up that two Vanguard players—Hudson Bradley and Ben Martinson—said it didn’t seem right to play a team with no fans. So before their home game against Gainesville, Bradley and Martinson asked some Vanguard fans for a favor: To cheer for the Gainesville Tornadoes instead. And that’s what they did. The shocked Gainesville players walked onto the court to find their own signs of support, their own fan section—even their own cheerleaders with uniforms emblazoned with the Tornadoes logo. It was kind of like that “antiphonal choir” deal in Jerusalem that day. Half the crowd was assigned to cheer for Gainesville and the other half for Vanguard. But this all fell apart as the game went on because everybody started to cheer for Gainesville. Hudson Bradley said, “Every time they scored the gym was just lit up with cheering and clapping and everyone was on their feet. It showed me the real impact that encouragement and support for anybody can make.” One Gainesville player said, “When I’m an old man I’ll still be thinking about this.” Here’s how journalist Steve Hartman summarized this story: “We all need someone to believe in us. We all need someone who knows our mistakes and loves us anyway. And for that, the Gainesville players can’t thank those boys enough.”
The behavior of these people from Vanguard mirrors God’s love for us. God believes in you and me. He knows our mistakes—knows of our sin and rebellion—but loves us anyway. He cheers us on in life. He wants us to experience the abundant living that comes from KNOWING Him.
Well, as the Hebrews were led to review their history with the help of that “antiphonal choir” they realized that over the centuries God had believed in them. In spite of their sin and rebellion God had not given up on them—had not stopped cheering them on. With that understanding of God’s grace they repented. They made a lasting commitment to God and His Word. From this point on the Hebrew people REVERED God’s written Word.
As we enter our time of decision let me ask, “Do you personally see God as great, as good, and as gracious?” If not, determine to lock into these theological truths and to never doubt them again. Based on our study of these three attributes of God, what is the Holy Spirit prompting you to do right now? What practical step does He want you to implement? Is there sin YOU need to confess? Is there a decision—a commitment YOU need to make?