and turn to the book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah chapter 8 and chapter 9 go hand in hand. And chapter 8 was where we last spoke from. I want to kind of go over again just a little bit as far as a time frame so you understand what is going on at this particular time and also from where Brother Josh is preaching from on Sunday nights. Ezra chapters 1-6. took place in the years of around 538 BC to 515 BC. Esther comes on the scene as far as that book around 483 to 473 BC. Ezra comes back in chapter 7 through 10 roughly around 457 BC. Nehemiah The time frame of him is around 444 BC to about 425 BC. So that gives you a little bit of perspective of understanding Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther. Ezra was also around when Nehemiah was in Jerusalem. As we saw him praying just a few chapters ago, I want you to notice in chapter 8, to kind of refresh your memory, in the Word of God, in Nehemiah, the people listened to the Word. In verse 3, the Word of God says, "...and he read therein before the street that was before the water gate from the morning until midday." That could be anywhere from four to six hours. That's a lot of reading. before the men and the women, and those that could understand, and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law. In verses 9 and 10, after they heard the word of God simply read and expounded, the word of God tells us, and Nehemiah, which is the Tershethah, and Ezra the priest, the scribe, and the Levites that taught the people, said unto all the people, This day is holy unto the Lord your God. nor weep, for all the people wept when they heard the words of the law." In other words, there was genuine repentance going on after hearing the word of God. Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared. For this day is holy unto our Lord. Neither be ye sorry, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. Here what we find, the people were exhorted not to be mourning or weeping because this was a feast time. It was the Feast of Booths at this particular time, so they're not to be grieving when they're supposed to be feasting. the people no doubt are grieving. So two days after the feast, after they were told to stop grieving, two days after that Feast of Booths, what we find in chapter 9 in the first three verses, the people turned back to weeping and repenting of their sins. Notice what it says in verses 1-3. Now in the twentieth and fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, and with sackcloths and earth upon them. And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers, and stood and confessed their sins in the iniquities of their fathers. They stood up in their place and read in the book of the law of the Lord their God one fourth part of the day, and another fourth part they confessed and worshiped the Lord their God. Now if you think about that, there's 24 hours in a day, a fourth of that would be six hours. Wow. How would y'all like to sit here for six hours while I preach? And then for six more hours you can repent. That's a lot of time as far as in the day. The people are definitely grieving. So what you find in the rest of the chapter, what remains of it as far as all the way through verse 38, it is a prayer of confession. Verse 4 is not part of that as far as the prayer of confession. I want you to notice what it says, of the Levites, Jeshua, Benai, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunai, Sherebiah, Benai, and Canaan, and cried with a loud voice unto the LORD their God. Then the Levites, Jeshua, Kadmiel, Benai, and Hashbaniah, Sherebiah, and Hodijah, Shebaniah, and Pathahiah said..." Now here is where the prayer begins. This is one of the prayers that's in the Word of God that's kind of a classic prayer, you might say. It is a prayer of confession. It is held in high esteem because it goes along with the prayer of Daniel when he confessed as far as the sins, not only of himself but also of the nation and of the people of Israel. What it talks about in this prayer, and we'll cover this whole prayer. I want the Word of God to speak to you more than Steve Wainwright to speak to you. But what this prayer does, it tells us who God is. It tells us who we are as God's children. And it tells us what God has done. When it comes to a prayer of confession, That very simply means we ought to repent. Repentance is something in a child of God's life that is ongoing. When we come to Christ, we turn from our sin, we come to Christ. But you know what? Throughout your life, there ought to be continual confession and repentance. There is a balance here as we look at chapters 8 and 9 where believers ought to have the joy of the Lord, but at the same time they ought to have repentance. The problem is in most circles in most Christians' lives, most are too lopsided. You ever notice that? You have some Christians that all they have is the joy of the Lord and they never have repentance. There's never a sorrow for their sins. Then you have some that are always sorry for their sins and they're kind of like the sad sack of Christianity and they never have a smile on their face. There is a balance here in the Word of God in having the joy of the Lord and also experiencing repentance because of our sins before the Lord. Repentance is not something that's put on. It's something that's deeply felt. It's a heartfelt you realize that you have sinned against a holy and righteous God. It is one thing for a sinner, a lost sinner to sin, but it's quite another for a child of God to sin. Because when a sinner, a lost person sins, Their conscience might get them a little bit and convict them a little bit. But for the child of God to sin, what it means is that we're sinning against light and truth and knowing what the Lord God desires out of our life. We're sinning against His love toward us and we're rebelling in the light of that knowledge. I want you to notice. in verse 21. We'll come back and I just want you to notice this verse. It talks about the history of Israel as far as this whole prayer, but in verse 21 he highlights something. I find it interesting. As the children of Israel went through the wilderness 40 years, it says Yea, forty years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing, their clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled not. Can you hear them ladies back in that day and time? I can't find nothing to wear. Well you gotta wear what you wore yesterday. But it's worn, no it's not worn out. It didn't wear out. For 40 years they wore the same clothes. Can you imagine that? Wow. It's quite amazing how God preserved them as far as with clothing. as well as with their feet. They never swollen and yet they walked for 40 years. Some of you grown because you walked the sidewalk at church. Let's not get sidetracked here. I want you to notice God's watch care for his children. He watches over us and he provides for us. And yet what we find with the children of Israel, notice what it says back in verse 17. And they refused to obey, neither were mindful of thy wonders, that thou didst among them, but they hardened their necks in their rebellion, appointed the captain to return to their bondage, but thou art a God ready to pardon. You hear they were not thankful for what God had done for them. He had delivered them from slavery, from bondage, And He had provided for them faithfully over those 40 years. Now as we read of their ungratefulness and their unthankfulness, let us relate this to our lives. How often are we unthankful and ungrateful? As you ponder that thought, I don't want you to think how often so-and-so is unthankful and ungrateful, but how ungrateful and unthankful I am at times. Here is what God's Word is. God's Word is a mirror. And as we look into the mirror of God's Word, what we need to do is we need to see ourselves individually coming to God's Word and letting God's Word point out our shortcomings and our flaws. I'm not holding the Bible up to somebody else. How often I've heard, well, so and so sure needed that message. Well, you must not have been listening to hear it in your heart. God's words, he has a purpose in sending it to each and every one of us. We need to be looking in the mirror of God's word. Because this we know, one of the songs we sing, I think it was written by Robert Robinson way back, probably 1700s. He was a professed Christian, yet he would often drift away in his life, away from the Lord. He wrote these words, prone to wander, Lord I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. Modern-day hymn writers have added a verse to that, which I am very thankful for. Oh, that day when freed from sinning, I shall see his lovely face, full of raid and blood-washed linen, how I'll sing his sovereign grace. Thank God for what he's done for us. Truly, we are all prone to wonder. That's why Peter, as we looked at this morning in the Word of God, He exhorted us to abstain from fleshly lust because every one of us are prone to wander after the things of this world to appease our flesh. May we, as we look at this prayer of confession, this prayer of repentance, may we see ourself in it. as we look at the history of Israel. What we see is a chapter that actually is broadened if you look in the book of Judges. You remember in the book of Judges how the children of Israel, they served the Lord and then they went into slavery as far as to their enemies. They cried out to God. God delivered them. They served the Lord for a little time. They fell right back into sin. and God sold them into slavery again. Then what did they do? They cried out to God. And you know what, isn't that a lot like our lives? We get in trouble and we call upon the Lord. The Lord delivers us and what do we do? Turn around, shoot ourself in the foot again, do the same stupid things. We're so prone to wander at times. Here is a pattern that's shown forth in God's Word. I want you to notice in Nehemiah 9 and verse 24. It kind of shows forth that pattern. 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 they took strong cities, and a fat land, and possessed houses full of all goods, wells, digs, vineyards, and olive yards, and fruit trees in abundance. In other words, everything was laid out for them. So they did eat, and were filled, and became fat, and delighted themselves in thy great goodness. nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against thee, and cast thy law behind their backs, and slew thy prophets, which testified against them, to turn them to thee. and they wrought great provocations. Notice this is basically what it said back in verse 17. Therefore thou deliverest them into the hand of their enemies, who vexed them. And in the time of their trouble, when they cried unto thee, thou hurtest them from heaven. And according to thy manifold mercies, thou gavest them saviors, who saved them out of the hand of their enemies. But after they had rest, they did evil again before thee. Therefore thou leftest them in the hand of their enemies, so that they had the dominion over them. Yet when they returned and cried unto thee, thou heardest them from heaven, and many times didst thou deliver them according to thy mercies. and testifies against them, that thou mightest bring them again unto thy law. Yet they dealt proudly, and hearkened not unto thy commandments, but sinned against thy judgments, which if a man do, he shall live in them, and withdrew the shoulder, and hardened their neck, and would not hear. Yet many years didst thou forbear them, and testifiest against them by thy spirit and thy prophets, yet would they not give ear. Therefore gavest thou them into the hands of the people of the lands. Nevertheless, for thy great mercy's sake, thou didst not utterly consume them, nor forsake them, for thou art a gracious and merciful God." We see here the pattern. They desired the things of this world. And as they saw what the world had, they wanted what the world had, much like we tried to preach on this morning, they were not satisfied in the Lord God. It's John Piper that coined the saying, God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him. The problem is, is a lot of times we start seeking our satisfaction and what we want. And God is not glorified in that. Another thing that you will experience in life if you're a child of God, as you grow in holiness, as you grow in your walk with the Lord, as you're walking with the Lord, you're growing in Him, what you see and realize is your own sinfulness more. The closer you get to the light, the more it exposes your own sinfulness. It's kind of a paradox that goes on there. And yet we grow in holiness. We grow in His likeness. And then we see more of our sinfulness. Here is all the reason for the need of continual repentance. I want you to notice back in verse 5, the beginning of this prayer. In the middle part of that verse, I want to read all the way down through verse 15, and I want you to notice who these verses are about. Who is the subject of the verses? Who is the initiator of everything through verse 5 all the way through verse 15? Notice they said, Stand up and bless the Lord your God forever and ever, and blessed be thy glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise. Thou, even thou art Lord alone. Thou hast made the heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their hosts, the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein. And thou preservest them all, and the host of heaven worships you. Thou art the Lord God, who didst choose Abraham, and broughtest him forth out of the earth of the Chaldees, and gavest him the name of Abraham. and found his heart faithful before thee, and made a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, and the Girgashites, to give it, I say, to his seed, and hast performed thy words, for thou art righteous, and to see the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and heardest their cry by the Red Sea." You see who the subject is of each one of these verses of scriptures? It is the Lord God. You showed signs and wonders upon Pharaoh, and on all his servants, and on all the people of his land. For thou knewest that they dealt proudly against them. So didst thou get thee a name as it is this day. And thou didst divide the sea before them, so that they went through the midst of the sea on the dry land. And their persecutors thou threwest into the deeps. as a stone into the mighty waters. Moreover, thou leadest them in the day by a cloudy pillar, and in the night by a pillar of fire, to give them light in the way wherein they should go. Thou camest down also upon Mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and true laws, and good statutes, and commandments, and madest known unto them thy holy Sabbath, and commandest them precepts, statutes, and laws by the hand of Moses thy servant. and gave us them bread from heaven for their hunger, and brought us forth water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and promised them that they should go in to possess the land which thou hast sworn to give them." I want you to notice the goodness of God, and it is God who consistently takes the initiative. It is God who is at work. As He shone mercy toward His people, Israel, in the Old Testament, even so He shows mercy today. Notice what it says in verse 16. In verse 16, But they and our fathers dealt proudly, hardened their necks, and hearkened not to thy commandments. They refused to obey, neither were mindful of thy wonders that thou didst among them, but hardened their necks, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage. But thou art a God, ready to pardon." Gracious, merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness and forsookest them not. No matter how bad Israel did sin, What we find is His mercy is more. In your life, though you have gone wayward and gone sidetracked and gone every which direction but the direction you should go, His mercy is more. Notice what they did in verse 18. Yea, when they had made them a molten calf, and said, This is thy God that brought thee up out of Egypt, and had wrought great provocations. And then notice what God does. Yet thou, in thy manifold mercies, forsookest them not in the wilderness. The pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day to lead them in the way, neither the pillar of fire by night to show them light in the way wherein they should go. In verses 20-25 what we see is the blessings of God poured out upon them. God gave them also his good spirit to instruct them, and withheld not thy manna from their mouth, and gave them water for their thirst. Yea, forty years did you sustain them in the wilderness. So they lacked nothing. Their clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled not. Moreover, thou gavest them kingdoms and nations, and didst divide them into corners. So they possessed the land of Sion, the land of the king of Heshbon, and the land of Og, king of Bashan. Their children also multiplies thou as the stars of heaven, and broughtest them into the land concerning which thou hast promised to their fathers that they should go in to possess it. So the children went in and possessed the land. And you subdued before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gave them into their hands with their kings and the people of the land, that they might do with them as they would. They took the strong cities, fat land, possessed houses. Notice, here's what God did for them. God consistently blessed them. And their response in verse 26, which we read, they rebelled. They were disobedient. And notice God's response in verse 27. Therefore you delivered them into the hand of their enemies who vexed them. And in the time of their trouble, when they cried unto thee, thou hurtest them from heaven. According to their manifold mercies, thou gavest them saviors who saved them out of the hands of the enemy. His mercy is more. What did they do? After they had rest, they did evil again before thee. Therefore leftest thou them in the hand of their enemy, so that they had the dominion over them. Yet when they returned and cried unto thee, thou hurtest them from heaven, and many times didst thou deliver them according to thy mercies. His mercy is greater than our sins. against them, that thou mightest bring them again unto thy law. Yet they dealt proudly and hearkened not unto your commandments, but sinned against your judgments, which if a man do he shall live in them, and withdrew the shoulder, hardened their neck, and would not hear." Yet many years didst thou forbear them, and testified against them by the spirit of the prophets, yet would they not give ear. Therefore gavest thou them into the hand of the people of the lands, and nevertheless, for thy great mercy's sake, thou didst not utterly consume them, nor forsake them, for thou art a gracious and merciful God. No matter how great your sins, His mercy is more. It's what we consistently read in the pilgrimage of Israel. God is consistently in this prayer magnifying His mercy. His mercy is magnified. That's because God desires to glorify Himself. His glory He will not give to another. God desires glory to come to Himself. It would be idolatry for God to give His glory to another. Listen to what it says. We read about how God's working over in Romans 9. Notice what it says, how God works. In verse 15, he said to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that shows mercy. It is God that initiates, it is God that shows mercy to the sinner. For the Scripture says unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised you up, that I may show my power in you, that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardens. Thou wilt say then unto me, Why does he yet find fault? For who has resisted his will? Nay, but O man, who art thou that replies against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? hath not the potter, the power over the clay of the same lump, to make one vessel one to honor and another to dishonor? What if God, willing to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath, fitted for destruction, that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy which He hath aforeprepared unto glory? Even us, whom He hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles, I want you to see here, God has mercy upon whom He chooses to have mercy. God did not save you to glorify you. God saved you to glorify Himself and to magnify His name. What we see in this prayer is a lifting up of God. You don't see Israel as they have been redeemed from Egypt. being exalted and glorified. No, it is God that is being exalted and glorified. And you, because you are a child of God, you have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, it is God that has been glorified because of that, not you. The purpose in God saving you is to make a name for Himself and to glorify His name. I want you to notice what it says down in verse 31. Nevertheless, for thy great mercy's sake, thou didst not utterly consume them nor forsake them, for thou art a gracious and merciful God. Salvation is of the Lord. You didn't save yourself, you didn't birth yourself, you didn't resurrect yourself, you didn't born again yourself. You're born of the Spirit with life from above because God has shown mercy toward you. He has given us life. As I look on my life, the best thing I can do is sin. And all I can do is cry out to God to be merciful unto me. It's like the children of Israel. They're going on their pilgrimage, and as they go through life, they stumble and fall. What does God do? God is a gracious and merciful God, and He continues to show mercy. You, in your life, you know what? You stumble and you fall. You come short of the glory of God, and we cry out to God, and what does He do? He shows that His mercy is more than our sins. This shows the need for ongoing repentance in our lives. As we read this prayer, I want you to notice it says in verse 32, Now therefore our God, the great, the mighty, and the terrible God, who keeps covenant and mercy, let not all the troubles seem little before you, that hath come upon us, on our kings, on our princes, on our priests, and on our prophets, and on our fathers, and on all the people, since the time of the kings of Assyria unto this day. Howbeit thou art just in all that is brought upon us, for thou hast done right, but we have done wickedly." You see they're confessing their sin and pretty much what they're saying in an Old Testament term, we've all sinned and come short of the glory of God. And God is righteous in His judgment upon us. And you know what? We in our nation today, we as individuals today, we need repentance such as this. Here is a cry out to God that God is holy and righteous and we deserve His wrath. We have offended a holy God. Why is our nation in such a turmoil? Why are we not under attack? Because His mercy is more. We need to repent. How do we hear? How do we repent? We've got to hear the word. You gotta know what sin is and why sin is so exceedingly sinful. Notice what it says in verse 34. Neither have our kings, our princes, our priests, nor our fathers kept your law, nor hearkened unto your commandments or your testimony, wherewith thou didst testify against them. For they have not served thee in their kingdom, and in their great goodness that thou gavest them, and in the large and fattened land which thou gavest before them, neither turned they from their wicked works. the cry of this prayer, Behold, we are servants 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 yields much increase unto the kings whom Thou hast set over us because of our sins. Also they have dominion over our bodies, over our cattle, at their pleasure and we're in great distress. I want you to notice. Sin brings great distress. As it was in the Old Testament, even so is it in our day and time. This we know as God has revealed Himself through this prayer. that His mercy is more. Here is why we must continually have repentance in our lives. Because we all sin and come short of the glory of God. You know what? I still stand in need of the Savior. Every day I live, I need Him. How's that song go? I need Thee every hour. You need Him too. You need the Savior. This I can say upon the authority of the Word of God, you're a sinner. And no matter how great sin you have sinned and how selfish and self-centered you are in your sin, His mercy is more. Would you simply come to Him by faith, trust in Him, He will save you. He will forgive you. As we repent and put our faith and trust in Him, let's stand and go to the Lord in prayer. We'll give a hymn of invitation. And if the Lord's dealing in your heart, would you simply repent of your rebellion against God? Almighty God and our Heavenly Father, we come to you once again. And Lord, we hear and read this prayer in the Old Testament, and we see that you're a great God, that you did wonders through your people in Israel. Lord, we can attest to the fact that you have done wonders in our lives. You continually show mercy for your namesake. And Lord, often we forget to give you thanks. Lord, there are so many things that we need to bring to you to confess, to make things right. As a nation, Lord, we have not been faithful. There is much sin abounding. And Lord, we just ask that your grace much more abound. We ask that you draw first your people unto yourself. And Lord, may there be a great stirring, a reviving of your people. Lord, for those who know you not, whose life is full of sin and self, we ask that you give them a change of heart. You are the great physician. We pray that you do a divine surgery and give life to those dead in sin, that they might turn from sin and put faith in Christ. Lord, we desire to see the spiritually dead raised to life. We ask that you do a mighty work within our midst to bring glory to your name for Christ's sake. Amen.