back to index2016-01-24 Nehemiah's Prayer For The Nation PT2
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with me again to Nehemiah chapter 1. I'm going to just 00:00:05.540 |
be reading two verses, verses 6 and 7. Again those of you 00:00:09.680 |
who may not have been with us last week we are doing our 00:00:14.420 |
last part of the series on the need for prayer, it's a push 00:00:17.720 |
to kind of set the right foundation for the rest of the 00:00:20.120 |
year. And Nehemiah has heard report of what's going back in 00:00:24.460 |
Jerusalem. These people came back to Jerusalem to rebuild 00:00:27.340 |
the temple and they've kind of lost focus and got the report 00:00:30.740 |
that the wall, the Jerusalem wall and the gate has been 00:00:34.440 |
burned down and it seems like people are just kind of in 00:00:36.940 |
neglect. So, Nehemiah is grieved over this and as a 00:00:42.520 |
result of it he breaks out in prayer and then he ultimately 00:00:46.080 |
is going to challenge the nation of Israel to pray. And 00:00:48.780 |
then as a result of Nehemiah's ministry and preaching and 00:00:51.520 |
praying revival breaks out during this period. So, I'm 00:00:55.700 |
just going to be reading verse 6 and 7, Nehemiah's response 00:00:59.260 |
in prayer. "Let your ear be attentive and your eyes open 00:01:02.860 |
to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before 00:01:06.040 |
you day and night for the people of Israel your servants 00:01:08.900 |
confessing the sins of the people of Israel which we have 00:01:12.380 |
sinned against you. Even I and my father's house have sinned. 00:01:15.840 |
We have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept 00:01:19.220 |
the commandments, the statutes, and the rules that you 00:01:22.120 |
commanded your servant Moses." Let's pray. "Heavenly Father we 00:01:29.560 |
praise you and thank you for your goodness. We pray Father 00:01:33.360 |
God that all the things that we have brought into this room, 00:01:36.700 |
entanglement, busyness, distraction that we would lay 00:01:41.340 |
it all aside Lord God and be attentive to your word. Help us 00:01:45.240 |
Lord to be a people who are committed to prayer, committed 00:01:48.920 |
to know you, to follow you, to obey you. We pray Lord God that 00:01:52.980 |
in our generation, in our lives, in our families that you would 00:01:56.420 |
bring revival. That our affection for you may not simply 00:01:59.920 |
be words. That we would not live day to day just feeling guilty 00:02:03.900 |
and not ever pursuing what you challenge us to pursue. Help us 00:02:09.540 |
Lord God to live a life truly worthy of the calling you've 00:02:12.600 |
given us. So, we ask Lord this morning that you would bless us 00:02:16.440 |
that in our weakness as we come before you that your spirit would 00:02:20.080 |
be strong. That in our weakness you would be strong. That you 00:02:24.820 |
would show yourself. And so we pray for your grace this 00:02:28.020 |
morning Lord God as we seek you to worship you. In Jesus name we 00:02:31.560 |
pray, amen." You know I think the main reason why I've been 00:02:36.160 |
talking in the last couple of weeks about the need for prayer 00:02:39.020 |
is not simply because you know here we evaluate and here's a 00:02:43.200 |
bunch of things that we need to do as a church. And here's one 00:02:45.340 |
thing that we lack, we need to pray more. Which is true, but 00:02:48.740 |
that is not the main motivation behind why I've been preaching 00:02:53.080 |
this and why we feel the need for the emphasis on prayer. The 00:02:55.980 |
underlying reason why we need to pray is because we need 00:03:02.420 |
revival. Revival. We need revival in our generation. We 00:03:07.620 |
need revival in our homes. We need revival in our churches. 00:03:10.560 |
As I mentioned before you and I live in a very comfortable 00:03:15.560 |
Orange County Christianity where persecution we read in the 00:03:19.000 |
news but it's not real. You know we've created a comfortable 00:03:22.260 |
life. In and of itself that's not sin. You know being 00:03:26.500 |
comfortable, having a great family and raising great 00:03:28.740 |
children in a safe environment that's not--what parent wouldn't 00:03:32.140 |
want that? I want that. But there is a great danger that 00:03:36.080 |
comes along with wealth that we can easily forget who we are, 00:03:41.580 |
that this is not our home. You know and our hearts can become 00:03:45.380 |
easily hardened. And you know like with Christianity that we 00:03:48.620 |
have as long as we are not sinning, as long as we are not 00:03:51.260 |
going to strict clubs and paying our taxes that we are good 00:03:55.820 |
because God loves us unconditionally. There is no 00:03:59.460 |
striving. There is no pursuing. There is no brokenness. There 00:04:02.840 |
is no crying out to God for lost souls. There is no passion for 00:04:06.740 |
holiness. If we are not careful that can be enough. Because in 00:04:13.280 |
comparison, in comparison to the others, in comparison to those 00:04:17.380 |
who aren't studying the Bible, in comparison to those who 00:04:19.620 |
don't come to church regularly we don't feel so bad. But as the 00:04:24.620 |
book of Amos says when we put the plumb line of His Word 00:04:28.000 |
against our lives and our thoughts and our hearts the way 00:04:31.900 |
we spend our money, the way we spend our time, what grieves us, 00:04:34.300 |
what makes us happy, when we compare to the plumb line of the 00:04:38.000 |
Word of God we have to first and foremost confess that we have 00:04:42.340 |
drifted, that we are not where God wants us to be, that our 00:04:47.080 |
church is not what God desires us to be, that we ought to 00:04:52.080 |
strive, we ought to seek. The passage that we just looked at 00:04:55.720 |
this morning is about Nehemiah's prayer for revival. And he 00:05:00.700 |
primarily prays, he begins by praying and by confessing his 00:05:04.760 |
sins. Before he goes and says, "Those people, they need 00:05:08.940 |
revival." He includes himself and again he leads in 00:05:12.440 |
repentance. "It is me, it is my parents, it is my ancestors, we 00:05:17.080 |
are in need of your forgiveness." Anybody who 00:05:20.380 |
reconnects or connects with God begins with repentance because 00:05:23.720 |
that is the only way that we can connect with the Holy God. The 00:05:27.320 |
only reason why you and I are able to be here is because at 00:05:29.960 |
one point somebody preached the Gospel and you responded in 00:05:34.100 |
repentance. You don't get saved by hearing the Gospel. You can 00:05:39.600 |
hear the Gospel and say, "Oh, I agree with that, that sounds 00:05:41.900 |
great." You don't get saved by hearing the Gospel. You get 00:05:45.540 |
saved when you hear the Gospel and you are convicted over your 00:05:48.340 |
sins and that caused you to come before God in prayer in 00:05:52.080 |
repentance. So, whether you were led in formal prayer 00:05:56.060 |
repentance, or whether you prayed in repentance by 00:05:59.860 |
yourself, or whether you just kind of didn't know what you 00:06:02.100 |
were doing and said, "God I want to receive you and I'm a 00:06:04.460 |
sinner." However you came to that point you got saved 00:06:07.940 |
because you responded in repentance. It is no different 00:06:12.700 |
in our sanctification. You don't grow because you came to 00:06:15.640 |
church and heard a message. It required you no work to come 00:06:18.980 |
here this morning. Well, some work, you had to get up, put 00:06:21.840 |
your pants on, right, and you had to grab your keys and you 00:06:24.320 |
drove here, right. I prepared the message and now I'm 00:06:27.220 |
presenting it to you. It doesn't cause you to grow, to 00:06:29.760 |
just come and listen. Spiritual growth happens when you hear 00:06:33.800 |
the Word of God and you respond to the Word of God. It causes 00:06:37.860 |
you to come to Him in prayer, in repentance, and in 00:06:41.000 |
obedience. Just hearing the Word of God doesn't cause you 00:06:44.400 |
to mature. So, you can be at church all your life, hear the 00:06:47.300 |
Word of God and never have a radical response to this. And 00:06:52.120 |
in the end it has done nothing but made you a better critique. 00:06:57.220 |
You know, you're a critic. It's just like somebody who is 00:07:00.720 |
watching movies and you're critical. You have a critical 00:07:04.560 |
eye over everything because you know everything about 00:07:06.600 |
movies, how to begin, camera angle, you know, who these 00:07:09.860 |
actors are, what genre. You know everything about it, but 00:07:12.740 |
you've known nothing of making movies. It's like sports fans, 00:07:17.400 |
you're an expert of what quarterback should be doing 00:07:21.040 |
what, who should be the point guard, and how it should be 00:07:23.680 |
run, who should be the coach. We've become experts at these 00:07:26.580 |
things and you've never played a game of basketball. See 00:07:31.180 |
that's what we can easily become, come to church and we 00:07:33.420 |
become hearers of the Word, and yet we don't actively 00:07:37.260 |
respond. See, Nehemiah prays. It's a challenge not only for 00:07:44.100 |
the people of Israel, but for all people, all of God's 00:07:47.560 |
people to hear His Word and recognize where we are, and 00:07:51.100 |
not just to recognize it and feel bad, but to bring us to 00:07:54.100 |
God. What was the primary sin of Israel that Nehemiah felt 00:07:59.540 |
the need to fast and to pray, and was crying and was 00:08:02.980 |
weeping? If you remember last week the report was they went 00:08:07.820 |
and they saw the wall was in disarray. No one was taking 00:08:12.520 |
care of it. They saw the gate and it was burned down and no 00:08:15.900 |
one was doing anything about it. The report that came back 00:08:19.560 |
wasn't, "You know what they've got Asherah poles at the 00:08:21.800 |
temple. They've got ball worship set up and they're 00:08:25.180 |
having human sacrifices." None of that. The report was 00:08:28.280 |
neglect of the wall. The gate is burned down and nobody is 00:08:33.640 |
doing anything about it. That's what grieved him. Now, we can 00:08:37.480 |
look at that and say, "Man, you know Nehemiah is kind of 00:08:39.960 |
drama. Just fix the fence. You know what I mean? Get some 00:08:45.360 |
carpenters. Get some contractors. You know what I 00:08:49.160 |
mean? Paint it. Problem solved." Well, there is all 00:08:52.060 |
this weeping and mourning because of a broken down wall. 00:08:55.000 |
See it wasn't just about the wall. It wasn't just about the 00:08:59.500 |
gate. It was because the wall and the gates of this 00:09:04.280 |
particular city of Jerusalem was at the core of God's 00:09:08.580 |
covenant with these people. And to be in neglect of the 00:09:12.660 |
temple, neglect of the gates, neglect of the wall basically 00:09:15.460 |
meant that the people were no longer paying attention to 00:09:18.800 |
what made God's people, God's people. They were just going 00:09:23.940 |
about their business being busy. It wasn't immorality. It 00:09:29.100 |
wasn't outright rebellion against God shaking in their 00:09:31.500 |
fists. It was just simply complacency. That's what he 00:09:36.840 |
was grieving over. It was important but it wasn't 00:09:40.320 |
important enough. Haggai was another prophet that came a 00:09:44.520 |
bit before him and ran into a similar problem that Nehemiah 00:09:48.220 |
ran into. And this is what he says in Haggai 1, 2-6, "These 00:09:52.200 |
people say, 'The time has not yet come to rebuild the house 00:09:56.040 |
of the Lord.' Then the word of the Lord came by the hand of 00:09:59.540 |
Haggai the prophet, 'Is it time for you yourselves to 00:10:02.440 |
dwell in your paneled houses while this house lies in 00:10:05.380 |
ruins?' Now therefore,' thus says the Lord of hosts, 00:10:08.220 |
'consider your ways. You have sown much and harvested 00:10:11.580 |
little. You eat but you never have enough. You drink but 00:10:14.520 |
you never have your fill. You clothe yourself but no one is 00:10:18.060 |
warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag 00:10:22.060 |
with holes.'" Does that sound very familiar to the judgment 00:10:26.500 |
that God gave Adam? He said, "You are going to be laboring 00:10:30.440 |
at the sweat of your brow and at the end of the days all 00:10:33.080 |
that is going to produce is thorns and thistles." What he 00:10:36.600 |
was saying here was that the whole reversal of the curse of 00:10:40.040 |
mankind was because of this covenant that God made with 00:10:43.240 |
the nation of Israel. But the moment that they neglected 00:10:46.320 |
God and it was no longer important at the center of 00:10:49.680 |
their life, they began to see the judgment of mankind 00:10:53.420 |
manifest in their community. You are working hard but at 00:10:56.760 |
the end of the day very little fruit. It wasn't an 00:11:01.100 |
outright rebellion. It wasn't idolatry. It was simply 00:11:05.840 |
neglect. You know in our churches, Orange County 00:11:11.940 |
Christianity, our problem is not persecution. We don't have 00:11:16.220 |
ISIS knocking on the door. As much as we feel pressured from 00:11:21.060 |
the government that we can't say this, we can't pray in 00:11:23.620 |
public, and we can't do all of this stuff, compared to what 00:11:26.260 |
we see on television and news, I mean we are pretty weak 00:11:29.200 |
sauce. People are concerned that we are going to a certain 00:11:32.960 |
part of India that the missionaries are not going 00:11:35.000 |
into and they are afraid for our lives. We are pretty weak 00:11:37.400 |
sauce, you know what I mean? Because there aren't 00:11:40.340 |
foreigners there. And I'm part of it, because I'm raised and 00:11:45.380 |
I'm part of Orange County Christianity. But the danger 00:11:48.940 |
that you and I fall into isn't, "Ah, I didn't go to 00:11:53.380 |
strip club yesterday. I didn't get drunk yesterday." The 00:11:55.580 |
danger that you and I face every single day in our lives 00:11:59.460 |
is just apathy, complacency. What you and I struggle with 00:12:05.600 |
when we come into this building is the struggling to 00:12:10.000 |
matter, that these things actually matter. To be reminded 00:12:15.000 |
again that this is why we live over and over again. 00:12:20.180 |
Zephaniah 1, verse 12, the Prophet says, "At that time I 00:12:25.820 |
will search Jerusalem with the lambs, and I will punish the 00:12:28.020 |
men who are complacent. Those who say in their hearts, 'The 00:12:31.820 |
Lord will not do good, nor will He do ill.'" See he said the 00:12:36.660 |
complacent people are not in disbelief that God is going to 00:12:40.700 |
do this, or going to do that. He said, "No, God just doesn't 00:12:42.760 |
care." It's almost like every promise that God makes, "Ah, I 00:12:47.540 |
don't know. I don't know. He said He's coming, whether He 00:12:49.900 |
comes or doesn't come doesn't really matter. They don't 00:12:53.500 |
believe that He's going to do good or bad. It's just me." If 00:12:58.140 |
you look at the book of Revelation, the harshest 00:13:00.140 |
judgment, I mean of the seven churches came to the church of 00:13:05.680 |
Laodicea. And what was their primary guilt? They were 00:13:11.060 |
lukewarm. He said, "Because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor 00:13:14.120 |
cold, I will spit you out of my mouth." Have you had anything 00:13:17.560 |
come into your mouth that was so disgusting you actually 00:13:19.920 |
needed to spit it out? You know what I mean? You ever eat 00:13:23.460 |
something every once in a while? You eat something, and you 00:13:26.600 |
have got to be polite, right? We are civilized people, you 00:13:29.700 |
don't spit things out. You kind of, "Ugh!" And then you just 00:13:33.600 |
kind of put it away, right? That's rude. But every once in 00:13:37.880 |
a while something comes into your mouth that is so 00:13:39.580 |
disgusting that the only thing you could do is, "Bsh!" I can't 00:13:44.720 |
have it in my mouth even a second. That's the imagery that 00:13:46.960 |
we see of a lukewarm church. God is so disgusted with it. I 00:13:51.200 |
mean consider all the other sins. Consider the sexual 00:13:55.200 |
immorality in the churches. Consider people questioning 00:13:59.740 |
the deity of Jesus. Consider the Gospel being perverted, 00:14:05.180 |
the Judaizers, the Gnostics. Of all the problems in the 00:14:09.820 |
church, the church that got the harshest criticism from 00:14:13.420 |
God was a lukewarm church. See, you and I don't have that 00:14:19.060 |
perspective, you know, because we tend to compare. Like as 00:14:22.520 |
long as we are not, you know, we didn't come into the room 00:14:24.820 |
drunk, we didn't steal from anybody, you know, we are 00:14:27.760 |
trying to do a good job taking care of our kids, and we have 00:14:31.360 |
a good marriage, and we feel safe. We have a Bible, we try 00:14:34.400 |
to do quiet time, you know. How often do we see 00:14:39.000 |
complacency from God's point of view? This apathy. How much 00:14:45.140 |
God detests that, and how wrong that is, and how dangerous 00:14:47.380 |
that is. You don't have to commit to destroy a home for 00:14:53.340 |
the home to be destroyed. You know, years back when the 00:14:56.420 |
housing market popped and these homes were being in 00:15:02.120 |
neglect. So, some of these homes, you know, people were 00:15:04.420 |
underwater with their mortgage. And so, basically what they 00:15:07.660 |
did was they just packed up their stuff and left. So, 00:15:09.660 |
there were some neighbors that you can go to that you could 00:15:12.700 |
tell no one is living there. The grass is, you know, two, 00:15:15.300 |
three feet high. You know, there are broken windows. The 00:15:18.300 |
fence is broken. The garage door maybe not completely 00:15:21.080 |
closed. And you walk in, the house is a mess. So, when 00:15:24.380 |
these people, the houses were up for sale, you walk in and 00:15:27.640 |
the house was just a mess. There is molding everywhere. 00:15:30.680 |
There are pipes leaking. The bathrooms don't work 00:15:34.020 |
properly. And it wasn't because somebody went in with a 00:15:37.460 |
hammer and saying, "I'm going to destroy this house." Now, 00:15:39.920 |
some of those houses were like that. But most of these homes 00:15:42.400 |
were simply from neglect. All you have to do is just leave 00:15:46.660 |
it alone. Right? When there is a plumbing problem and nobody 00:15:50.900 |
deals with it and after a while that little leak, if 00:15:53.580 |
somebody lived in that house, all they have to do is just 00:15:56.140 |
get some plumbing tape and/or call a plumber if you're not 00:15:59.380 |
good with it and they'll just fix it and problem solved. 00:16:02.080 |
But a house that is in neglect, even a little problem can 00:16:06.480 |
ruin the house. A little leak in the house that just dripped. 00:16:09.260 |
You leave that for a year, two years, the house can get 00:16:13.220 |
ruined. It's just out of neglect. A little molding that 00:16:18.060 |
you're going to be easily just taken care of and replaced. 00:16:22.500 |
You don't have to commit to ruin a house. All you have to 00:16:24.900 |
do is just leave it alone. See, apathy and complacency is 00:16:32.240 |
spiritual neglect. That we just kind of let it on. We just 00:16:34.880 |
don't see it as a big deal until disaster happens. Apathy 00:16:39.680 |
ruins worship. Because God clearly said, "I'm looking for 00:16:46.160 |
people who are going to worship me in spirit and in truth." 00:16:50.160 |
You may have all the right things, come to church and do 00:16:52.860 |
all the right things, but your heart is dead. Your love is not 00:16:57.040 |
for God. You're just doing the right thing like a 00:16:59.240 |
superstition. Just like any other religion if you go to the 00:17:02.200 |
temple and do the right thing and burn the right incense that 00:17:05.180 |
some being is going to bless you. If our worship is nothing 00:17:09.780 |
more than rituals, it is nothing no different than any 00:17:13.520 |
other religion. God desires more than that. So, apathy 00:17:17.760 |
absolutely ruins our worship. If worship is at the core of 00:17:21.600 |
our faith and our relationship with God, apathy absolutely 00:17:25.840 |
destroys worship. Apathy affects our spiritual growth 00:17:31.300 |
in Christ. As I mentioned you can come to church and hear 00:17:34.580 |
the Word of God preached every single Sunday and it makes you 00:17:37.780 |
more of a hypocrite every single Sunday. The more you 00:17:41.380 |
hear the greater hypocrite you become every single Sunday 00:17:45.360 |
because you have more things that you are neglecting. 00:17:47.820 |
Apathy affects our spiritual growth. It absolutely destroys 00:17:53.420 |
the Great Commission. The greatest problem of the Great 00:17:58.200 |
Commission is not that we have people doing it wrong. It is 00:18:03.540 |
not that we have all this desire and then we are doing it 00:18:06.480 |
the wrong way. We have the wrong system. We have the wrong 00:18:08.580 |
discipleship. The greatest challenge to the Great 00:18:11.940 |
Commission is apathy. We don't have enough people who are 00:18:19.480 |
committed enough. So, that's why it always bothers me when 00:18:24.000 |
people are like, "Oh, they are doing it wrong. You are 00:18:25.860 |
supposed to do it this way. You are supposed to do it that 00:18:27.400 |
way." While they are sitting there in their comfort zone 00:18:30.400 |
doing nothing. At least they are doing something. The 00:18:33.840 |
greatest hindrance to the advancement of the Gospel is 00:18:36.640 |
apathy. Apathy ultimately leads to spiritual ruin. It's not it 00:18:46.020 |
might, it does. Spiritual ruin. You know what the most 00:18:52.680 |
detestable thing to a non-believer is hypocrites. 00:18:58.760 |
Religious people who talk, but they are not any better than 00:19:04.660 |
you. And I know we are not saved by our works. I know it's 00:19:08.260 |
by grace alone. But if you've ever been a non-Christian, 00:19:11.800 |
looked into the Church, you know what I'm talking about. 00:19:14.400 |
The greatest hindrance to the advancement of the Gospel is 00:19:17.700 |
the people. It's apathy, complacency. See, no one will 00:19:25.040 |
say, "I don't believe in God." At least not in this room. No 00:19:28.180 |
one is going to say, "I don't want to follow Christ." It's 00:19:30.420 |
all words though. We don't love Him enough. We don't worship 00:19:37.420 |
Him enough. We don't obey Him enough. See, it's complacency. 00:19:42.420 |
So, even though complacency, at least from our eyes, doesn't 00:19:47.100 |
seem like a detestable sin before God. God sees beyond 00:19:50.200 |
all of that. He knows what complacency leads to. Idolatry, 00:19:54.700 |
a Christian doesn't all of a sudden get up and say, "You 00:19:57.780 |
know what I'm going to go worship idols." That's not how 00:20:00.080 |
it happened with the Jews. It was a greater sin than you and 00:20:05.580 |
I recognize because of what it leads to. Nehemiah 9, if you 00:20:11.520 |
can turn your Bibles with me to Nehemiah 9.16, and we are 00:20:15.520 |
going to read a few passages in that verse. And it gives us an 00:20:19.300 |
extended insight into the sin of the nation of Israel. Why 00:20:23.540 |
Nehemiah was compelled to weep and cry over their sins. 00:20:27.100 |
Nehemiah 9.16 it says, "But they and our fathers acted 00:20:33.780 |
presumptuously," in some of your Bibles it says arrogantly, 00:20:36.720 |
"and stiffened their neck and did not obey your 00:20:40.580 |
commandments." You notice here that being stubborn and 00:20:45.160 |
proud and disobedience kind of go hand in hand, right? And 00:20:48.960 |
the picture is that if you own a dog, I don't know if you walk 00:20:54.760 |
cats or not. If you walk cats, you don't walk cats. Cats do 00:20:57.500 |
whatever they want, right? You walk the dogs. And you walk the 00:21:00.800 |
dogs and the dog just doesn't want to go where you want to 00:21:03.100 |
go. So, you are kind of dragging, and it kind of 00:21:04.940 |
stiffens its neck, right? You got a leash and it's just like, 00:21:08.080 |
"No, I'm not going." And it's just miserable because you have 00:21:11.080 |
to walk this dog because you don't want it peeing in your 00:21:12.920 |
house, right? That's the picture that he draws of the 00:21:16.580 |
sin of Israel, just stiff neck. You are unwilling to listen, 00:21:20.360 |
despite. And you are just stubbornly doing your own 00:21:24.320 |
thing. See, pride and disobedience go hand in hand. 00:21:30.140 |
Proverbs 16.18 it says, "Pride goes before the destruction, a 00:21:33.400 |
haughty spirit before a fall." When you see a proud man, or a 00:21:38.400 |
woman, you know that God's judgment isn't too far behind. 00:21:41.880 |
But understand this, disobedience isn't simply not 00:21:46.120 |
obeying God's commandment. Disobedience isn't simply not 00:21:50.680 |
obeying God's commandment. Disobedience is just doing what 00:21:54.120 |
you think is right in your eyes. You don't pursue what you know 00:22:00.000 |
to be wrong. Very few non-Christians actually say, "I 00:22:03.860 |
know it's wrong, but I'm going to do it anyway." Very few 00:22:06.300 |
non-Christians live their life that way. And it's no different 00:22:11.300 |
with Christians. I don't know any Christians who deliberately 00:22:14.080 |
say, "This is wrong, it's against God, but I'm going to 00:22:16.280 |
do it anyway." Disobedience isn't simply not obeying His 00:22:19.940 |
command. Disobedience is just doing whatever you think is 00:22:23.220 |
right in your eyes. In the book of Judges, is a period of 00:22:28.320 |
Israel's history. And the whole period is described in Judges 00:22:31.260 |
17.6. And this is how their sin is described, "In those days 00:22:35.120 |
Israel had no king. Everyone did as he saw fit." Everyone 00:22:41.260 |
pursued what they wanted. Everyone made their own values. 00:22:45.200 |
You know, "I'm glad you're about missions. I'm about 00:22:48.600 |
family. I'm about Sunday school. I'm about missions." 00:22:51.480 |
And everybody just kind of did whatever they thought was right 00:22:53.580 |
in their own eyes. And as a result of that they kept on 00:22:58.520 |
rebelling against God. What was the cause of their stiff 00:23:02.520 |
neckness? What was their rebellion? In Nehemiah 9.17 it 00:23:05.960 |
says, "They refused to obey and were not mindful of the 00:23:09.500 |
wonders that you performed among them. But they stiffened 00:23:13.460 |
their neck and appointed a leader to return to slavery in 00:23:16.840 |
Egypt." Did you notice that? Why did they become so proud? 00:23:21.440 |
Why were they disobedient? The answer, He says in verse 17, 00:23:27.280 |
"You weren't mindful." That was it. That was the beginning of 00:23:33.580 |
the rebellion. They just weren't mindful. They forgot. 00:23:37.620 |
That's why the Bible keeps telling us, "Remember." Isn't 00:23:41.920 |
that what we're doing every Sunday? We're doing, "Remember." 00:23:44.260 |
Because we have such a short memory. No matter how much God 00:23:49.860 |
is gracious to us one week, next week we come back we get 00:23:52.900 |
distracted with movies, entertainment, with relational 00:23:56.000 |
issues, and all of a sudden it's no longer at the forefront. 00:23:58.540 |
We believe Him, but it's not real. This is the beginning of 00:24:03.940 |
this rebellion. See the neglect of the law and the gate wasn't 00:24:07.280 |
a decision. It was just, "Ah, I've got other things. I've got 00:24:13.020 |
things that I need to be worried about." Hosea 13.6 00:24:17.960 |
describes not only that period but all of history. You know 00:24:22.500 |
Hosea, the book of Hosea basically is a large picture of 00:24:26.140 |
how God saw the nation of Israel. Repeatedly over and over 00:24:31.780 |
again it says, Hosea 13.6, "When I fed them they were 00:24:35.220 |
satisfied, and when they were satisfied they became proud. 00:24:38.080 |
Then they forgot me." I look at that and say, "That was a great 00:24:43.760 |
rebellion. They forgot Him." When was the last time you got 00:24:48.720 |
rebuked because you just forgot? Right? Because you just, 00:24:53.560 |
"Yeah, you know God is good, but I just forgot." It's like, 00:24:56.660 |
"How dare you?" That was a great sin. This is what caused 00:25:00.900 |
Nehemiah to cry out, pleading for mercy. Neglect. It was just 00:25:08.840 |
neglect. It was just apathy. Like they cared, but they didn't 00:25:15.260 |
care enough. God was important, but it just wasn't important 00:25:18.820 |
enough. And they just went along in life. They didn't 00:25:22.900 |
worship Asherah. I mean it's not that period. They were just 00:25:27.400 |
kind of busy with life. See the reason why that was such a 00:25:34.280 |
grievous sin before God was because God is a covenant God. 00:25:38.140 |
It's not purposeless. It's not aimless. God didn't create us 00:25:42.380 |
and say, "Just go and enjoy until you die." He made a 00:25:46.280 |
covenant with the people of God. And He said, "I'm going to 00:25:49.120 |
send the seed of the woman to crush the head of the serpent." 00:25:52.860 |
And it was to save mankind. It is not in the context of here, 00:25:58.460 |
you know I made this nice island and then some of you 00:26:00.900 |
guys can just get on and just live there. That was not what 00:26:03.600 |
He's doing. It's in the context of a holy God who sacrifices 00:26:08.780 |
everything to pursue sinners and to be in the midst of this 00:26:13.580 |
history, this awesome news, the Gospel. And then to say, 00:26:19.420 |
"Oh, ok, that's good. I'm thankful, but I've got stuff to 00:26:25.160 |
do." In Psalm 10 verse 4 it says, "In His pride the wicked 00:26:31.400 |
does not seek Him. In all His thoughts there is no room for 00:26:36.080 |
God." It's not that they hated God. It's not that they 00:26:41.680 |
despised Him. It's not that they wanted to reject Him. It's 00:26:45.920 |
just there's no room for God. I'm busy. I'm caught up in 00:26:50.360 |
life. I've got things that I need to take care of. That's 00:26:54.920 |
what it was. And He says, "The pride of the wicked is that He 00:26:59.440 |
does not seek Him because there is no room for Him." If we 00:27:08.240 |
ended the sermon here, I mean it's ok, bad people. It's all 00:27:13.580 |
bad people. The end. Enjoy your lunch. But obviously the 00:27:21.920 |
purpose of Nehemiah is not to simply point out this is where 00:27:24.620 |
Israel is. The point of the book of Nehemiah and Nehemiah's 00:27:28.500 |
prayer and pleading before God is to bring them back to the 00:27:31.800 |
Lord. And that's what happens in Nehemiah chapter 9. If you 00:27:37.840 |
can turn your Bibles to Nehemiah chapter 9, and I'm 00:27:40.640 |
going to stay here for a little bit. Nehemiah is 00:27:44.020 |
calling the nation of Israel to repent. And he says in 00:27:46.580 |
verse 17, "The primary problem is you just forgot. You would 00:27:51.180 |
think that if God fed them and they were satisfied that it 00:27:54.300 |
would lead to praise and thanksgiving. Instead they 00:27:56.620 |
become proud." Isn't that us? Let's confess, isn't that us? 00:28:02.560 |
When we are desperate we cry out to God, and God answers 00:28:05.900 |
our prayers. And for that moment it's like God is so 00:28:08.240 |
good. God is so good. And as soon as our needs are taken 00:28:10.440 |
care of we are no longer passionately pursuing Him. And 00:28:14.040 |
then we feel like we can live our life without Him. There is 00:28:17.680 |
no sense of urgency. And once we become proud then we forget. 00:28:20.820 |
You know we just kind of live our lives. Until some other 00:28:23.320 |
emergency comes. And then we cry out to God, and God 00:28:27.160 |
answers our prayers. And then we are thankful for a bit. 00:28:29.560 |
And then we become proud, and then we forget. Right? Well, 00:28:34.900 |
he says it's because you weren't mindful. So, what he 00:28:37.200 |
does in Nehemiah chapter 9, verse 6 he reminds them who 00:28:40.740 |
it is that they have been neglecting. "You are the Lord, 00:28:45.680 |
You alone. You have made Heaven, Heaven of Heavens, 00:28:49.380 |
with all their hosts, the earth and all that is on it. 00:28:52.260 |
The seas and all that is in them. And you preserve all of 00:28:55.660 |
them. And the host of Heaven worships you. You are the 00:28:58.560 |
Lord, the God who chose Abram and brought him out of the 00:29:01.400 |
Ur of the Chaldeans and gave him the name Abraham. You 00:29:04.200 |
found his heart faithful before you and made with him 00:29:06.840 |
the covenant to give to his offspring, the land, the 00:29:10.140 |
Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, 00:29:14.980 |
kept your promise for you are righteous." In other words 00:29:18.340 |
this is the God that you have been neglecting. And you 00:29:22.240 |
saw the afflictions of our fathers in Egypt and heard 00:29:24.780 |
their cry at the Red Sea. And performed signs and wonders 00:29:28.180 |
against Pharaoh and all his servants and all the people 00:29:30.560 |
of his land. For you knew they acted arrogantly against our 00:29:33.960 |
fathers. And you made a name for yourself as it is to this 00:29:36.760 |
day. And you divided the sea before them so that they went 00:29:41.640 |
through the midst of the sea on dry land. And you cast 00:29:43.900 |
their pursuers into the depths as a stone into mighty 00:29:46.780 |
waters. By pillar of cloud you led them in the day, and by 00:29:49.980 |
the pillar of fire in the night to light for them the 00:29:52.380 |
way in which they should go. You came down on Mount Sinai 00:29:55.620 |
and spoke with them from Heaven and gave them right 00:29:57.920 |
rules and true laws, good statutes and commandments. And 00:30:01.220 |
you made known to them your holy Sabbath and commanded 00:30:03.760 |
them commandments and statutes and laws by Moses your 00:30:06.960 |
servant. You gave them bread from Heaven for their hunger 00:30:09.560 |
and brought water for them out of the rock for their 00:30:12.100 |
thirst. And you told them to go in to possess the land 00:30:15.740 |
that you had sworn to give them. He's just basically 00:30:18.400 |
outlining the grace of God. I mean he could have wrote the 00:30:23.540 |
whole Old Testament just about the mercy and grace of God. 00:30:27.180 |
He said, "This is the God you've been neglecting." But 00:30:32.220 |
despite all that, starting from verse 16, I want you to 00:30:35.320 |
recognize how many "buts" from here point on, ok? Despite 00:30:40.860 |
all of that, verse 16, "But they," our fathers, "became 00:30:45.660 |
arrogant and stiff-necked, and did not obey your 00:30:48.260 |
commands. They refused to listen and failed to 00:30:50.600 |
remember the miracles you performed among them." You 00:30:54.500 |
know the people that we tend to invest the most in, you 00:30:58.540 |
know those are the people that tend to hurt you the 00:31:02.080 |
most, because you expect that, you don't expect that, 00:31:04.820 |
you pour it. Sometimes it could be from your children. 00:31:07.360 |
You know those of you who have small children, you 00:31:11.360 |
haven't been hurt yet. The more time you spend, the more 00:31:17.660 |
sacrifice you make, and the hormones are going to come 00:31:20.640 |
and get them, you know what I mean? And during that 00:31:23.240 |
period they are going to say and do some stuff that are 00:31:25.500 |
very insensitive and hurtful, despite everything 00:31:28.340 |
you've done. And it is very painful when that happens, 00:31:31.520 |
because so much grace and mercy and sacrifice went into 00:31:35.780 |
raising them. And you are being patient hoping that 00:31:39.320 |
they'll grow and they'll realize one day that they'll 00:31:42.020 |
be mature enough to see the sacrifice that you've made. 00:31:44.920 |
See when he says, "Despite all of that, despite all of 00:31:49.560 |
what God has done," their response was they forgot Him, 00:31:54.540 |
they just went their own way. But in verse 17, 25 he says, 00:32:00.300 |
"But there is a bigger but than the first but." But you 00:32:05.340 |
are a forgiving God, gracious in compassion, slow to anger 00:32:08.720 |
and abounding in love, therefore you did not desert 00:32:11.180 |
them. Even when you cast for themselves an image of calf 00:32:14.660 |
instead, this is your God who brought you up out of Egypt, 00:32:18.120 |
or when they committed awful blasphemies. Even when they 00:32:21.700 |
committed idolatry. Even when they perverted the worship of 00:32:28.100 |
God right after He delivered them from Egypt, because of 00:32:32.300 |
their groaning and crying out when God responds to them. 00:32:35.240 |
Even though, even though they did that, he says, "God was 00:32:39.540 |
still gracious." But the buts get bigger. Israel's history 00:32:45.380 |
does not stop there. Nehemiah 9, 26, "But despite His grace, 00:32:51.280 |
but they were disobedient and rebelled against you. They 00:32:54.120 |
put your law behind their backs. They killed your 00:32:57.320 |
prophets who had admonished them. In order to turn them 00:32:59.960 |
back to you they committed awful blasphemy." Despite 00:33:03.740 |
His grace, and despite your sin, despite His being 00:33:08.900 |
gracious, again they turned against you. But the but that 00:33:12.980 |
comes after that gets even bigger. Nehemiah 9, 27, "But 00:33:17.740 |
when they were oppressed they cried out to you from heaven 00:33:20.820 |
and you heard them. And in your great compassion you gave 00:33:23.920 |
them deliverers who rescued them from the hand of the 00:33:27.720 |
enemies." You would think at some point God would say, 00:33:33.620 |
"Enough, enough." You would think that the buts would stop 00:33:38.840 |
there and that would be enough. They would have learned 00:33:41.540 |
their lesson. But the buts keep going. Nehemiah 9, 28, 00:33:46.580 |
"But as soon as they were at rest they again did what was 00:33:51.680 |
evil in your sight. Then you abandoned them to the hand of 00:33:54.920 |
their enemies so that they ruled over them." But is not 00:34:01.560 |
mentioned in the next passage, but is assumed. Nehemiah 9, 00:34:05.360 |
28, "And when they cried out to you again you heard from 00:34:09.900 |
heaven and in your compassion you delivered them time after 00:34:13.200 |
time." By this time you should know what is coming. 00:34:17.940 |
There's more buts. Nehemiah 9, 29, "You warned them to 00:34:22.380 |
return to your law, but they became arrogant and disobeyed 00:34:26.980 |
your commands. They sinned against your ordinances by 00:34:30.080 |
which a man will live if he obeys them. Stubbornly they 00:34:34.260 |
turned their backs on you, became stiff-necked and 00:34:36.720 |
refused to listen." Oh my gosh, again. All of God's 00:34:44.140 |
mercy, all of His mercy, all of His forgiveness, all the 00:34:48.340 |
buts, it doesn't stop. They keep turning. But here is the 00:34:55.780 |
biggest but of them all. In Nehemiah 9, 31, "But, after 00:35:03.220 |
all that, but in your great mercy you did not put an end 00:35:09.100 |
to them or abandon them, for you are a gracious and 00:35:12.900 |
merciful God." The only reason why you and I are here today 00:35:18.340 |
is because of the buts. Despite your rebellion, despite 00:35:24.720 |
our stiff-neckedness, despite our tendency to be entangled 00:35:28.440 |
and forget, despite the fact that apathy has become a part 00:35:31.280 |
of our lives, God calls us, and calls us, and calls us. 00:35:36.520 |
So, when Nehemiah comes and he's calling Israel to 00:35:40.100 |
repentance, this was not the first time, second time, 00:35:42.900 |
third time, fourth time, fifth time, or sixth time. When 00:35:47.000 |
Peter asked Jesus, "If a brother sins against me, 00:35:50.740 |
should I forgive him seven times?" When Jesus says, 00:35:53.640 |
"Seven times seventy." Do you think possibly that Jesus was 00:35:58.080 |
thinking about the nation of Israel? And how many times He 00:36:02.020 |
forgave them? And how many times He restored them? And 00:36:06.820 |
how many times they rebelled against Him? And how many 00:36:09.760 |
times He responded in grace and mercy when they cried 00:36:12.020 |
out? Turn your Bibles back with me to Nehemiah 1, verse 00:36:17.220 |
9. Nehemiah 1, verse 9, God responds to their prayers and 00:36:27.600 |
He says this, again with a "but." "Despite all of that, 00:36:33.600 |
despite all that you have done, despite all that you have 00:36:37.940 |
said," verse 9, "but if you return to Me and keep My 00:36:43.240 |
commandments and do them, though you are dispersed, be 00:36:50.220 |
under the farthest skies, I will gather them from there 00:36:53.520 |
and bring them to the place that I have chosen to make My 00:36:56.720 |
name dwell there." Some of your translations I think the 00:37:01.260 |
NIV says, "the farthest horizon." In the ESV it says, 00:37:05.640 |
"the farthest skies." And what He means by that is no matter 00:37:09.840 |
how far you have fallen, no matter how long it's been, no 00:37:14.240 |
matter how far you've run from God, no matter how deep, how 00:37:17.180 |
dark your life may have become, that if you confess, if 00:37:23.460 |
you return, I will receive you. And the question that we 00:37:28.920 |
have is why? Why would He put up with stiff-necked people 00:37:34.140 |
like Israel? And why does He still call us today? You 00:37:42.880 |
know there are certain things that need to get done in the 00:37:45.040 |
Church, and we have to tap into the right people. You 00:37:48.680 |
know some of you are not good with children. Ok? I'm not 00:37:52.860 |
going to point you out, but some of you are not good when 00:37:55.420 |
you are around the kids cry. Right? And there are some of 00:37:57.920 |
you who love children. You are good with children. So, if 00:38:01.260 |
we need babysitting, you know who we are going to tap into, 00:38:04.560 |
because I don't have to twist your arm. So, you know usually 00:38:07.900 |
in nursery we have a big volunteer because there are so 00:38:10.540 |
many people who love children. And they actually feel 00:38:12.700 |
rewarded. The kids are cute, and they come back, and we 00:38:15.340 |
are thankful, and they are thankful, and the kids are 00:38:17.380 |
happy. Great. You know. But some of you, you know, like we 00:38:21.640 |
need, we have exhausted all these people, and now we have 00:38:25.280 |
to tap into some of these people who are reluctant. And 00:38:28.280 |
we are going to twist your arm. You know, and you've got 00:38:31.080 |
some guilt. You know what I mean? To not harden your heart. 00:38:34.220 |
You know. Right? And we have to twist your arm to get 00:38:40.560 |
something done. And it is very difficult and strange. Right? 00:38:43.660 |
At the core of the heart of God is compassion. When we 00:38:51.680 |
confess our sins and asking for forgiveness, we are not 00:38:56.780 |
twisting His arm. We are trying to get Him to do 00:39:01.780 |
something that He is reluctant to do. We are not 00:39:05.320 |
coming before Him and trying to find techniques to kind of 00:39:08.120 |
get Him to turn. The Scripture says this is who He is. He 00:39:13.600 |
does not delight in the destruction of the wicked. He 00:39:18.640 |
delights to see His people in repentance and come in 00:39:21.040 |
returning. So, we don't need to come and try to bend His 00:39:27.040 |
arms and bend His will. It is His nature. It is His desire 00:39:31.120 |
to forgive. Despite all the rebellion, despite all the 00:39:36.620 |
arrogance and the pride that every single one of us is 00:39:40.160 |
guilty of, He calls us to Himself. "Come to Me. Come to 00:39:46.820 |
Me all who have become heavy laden and burdened, who have 00:39:52.360 |
been distracted, who have been living in apathy, who have 00:39:56.840 |
been envying the world, coveting the things that God 00:39:59.500 |
said He came to deliver us from, an empty way of life. 00:40:02.000 |
All who are distracted, all who have been making excuses, 00:40:05.580 |
all who have been burdened by life because you didn't put 00:40:09.880 |
Christ at the center, come to Me all who are weary and 00:40:12.460 |
heavy laden. I will give you rest." Why? Why does He give 00:40:19.600 |
us rest? Are you deserving of that? Am I deserving of that? 00:40:24.940 |
Is that why I respond? It's unfathomable. Why would a God 00:40:30.940 |
who has everything be so gracious to us? 1 John 1:8, 00:40:37.620 |
"If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves. And 00:40:41.860 |
the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is 00:40:45.520 |
faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and 00:40:48.400 |
purify us from all unrighteousness." Maybe some of 00:40:52.560 |
you guys have been a Christian for a while and this is 00:40:59.180 |
rededication, it's nothing new. Maybe some of you guys 00:41:01.240 |
are sitting here saying, "Seen it and done it." Right? 00:41:04.520 |
Especially our church has been around almost 20 years now. 00:41:07.820 |
You know, small groups, seen it, done it. Discipleship, 00:41:13.260 |
seen it, done it. Mission, seen it, done it. Right? And 00:41:18.560 |
you kind of have this like, "Well, I've been through so 00:41:20.360 |
many cycles, I just don't believe in anything anymore." 00:41:22.160 |
Good. If that's you, good. Because it was never about the 00:41:29.540 |
small group. It was never about the one-to-ones. It was 00:41:33.740 |
whatever system that you've lost hope in, good. Because 00:41:38.540 |
it was never about that. All of it was to get you to come 00:41:43.480 |
to Christ. And if you've been disappointed with people, 00:41:47.320 |
if you've been disappointed with programs, if you've been 00:41:49.620 |
disappointed with systems, good. Because until we 00:41:54.420 |
recognize that Christ is, everything else is going to 00:42:00.100 |
disappoint you. He calls us to Himself. Because rebellion 00:42:05.100 |
begins with pride, revival begins with humility. Let me 00:42:10.740 |
say that again. Because rebellion begins with pride, 00:42:13.640 |
revival begins with humility. And there is nothing more 00:42:17.580 |
tangible that we can do as human beings than to humble 00:42:21.260 |
ourselves and seek His face in prayer. And that's why we 00:42:26.020 |
need to pray. So, we do not neglect our salvation. That's 00:42:30.060 |
what it says in Hebrews 2, 1-3. "Therefore, we must pay 00:42:34.020 |
much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift 00:42:37.500 |
away from it." Drift away. "For since the message 00:42:42.060 |
declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every 00:42:46.440 |
transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, 00:42:49.240 |
how shall we escape if we neglect such a great 00:42:55.180 |
salvation?" I pray that along with me and the leaders and 00:43:02.320 |
the rest of the brothers and sisters in Christ, that we 00:43:05.920 |
would pray earnestly from the bottom of our hearts that we 00:43:09.920 |
would desire Him above everything. Above friendship, 00:43:13.060 |
above great marriage, above great business, above even 00:43:16.360 |
bearing fruit. That God would bring a revival in our hearts. 00:43:20.200 |
And that the joy that we have in our lives would be because 00:43:23.800 |
we have Him. In comparison to the surpassing knowledge of 00:43:29.040 |
knowing Jesus Christ, that all will become rubbish. And that 00:43:33.080 |
we would pray, and pray earnestly, and cry out to Him 00:43:36.080 |
until God hears and He forgives. Would you take a few 00:43:40.960 |
minutes to pray with me? Again, everything that I've been 00:43:43.660 |
preaching about in the last few weeks, it is not simply so 00:43:48.560 |
that we can know why prayer is important. So, ultimately so 00:43:52.260 |
that you can respond, that each one of us would 00:43:55.000 |
collectively, privately, publicly, corporately, to 00:44:02.780 |
sense our desperation before God. Yes, some of you are 00:44:07.440 |
going to go home and be excited, but not have the 00:44:10.680 |
discipline to carry it out. Seek accountability. Some of 00:44:15.960 |
you are going to struggle and you are entangled with things 00:44:18.620 |
that you are not going to easily break away from. But to 00:44:21.520 |
recognize our desperateness and confess it to our brothers and 00:44:24.500 |
sisters, that we may ultimately, even if it is 00:44:28.700 |
incrementally, that we would begin to head toward a revival. 00:44:33.840 |
That until He is worshipped in spirit and in truth, that 00:44:38.340 |
everything in my life isn't as important. So, would you come 00:44:41.480 |
before me as a worship team leads us? Take some time to 00:44:43.920 |
confess before the Lord. "Lord, I've sensed apathy in my heart 00:44:49.280 |
and I desire a revival that would remember again why I 00:44:53.760 |
became a Christian. What caused me to love you and to 00:44:58.500 |
remember that again?" So, again, let's take some time as 00:45:00.760 |
we pray before God, confessing and asking the Lord for