WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:08.240 Nehemiah 9, we will read verses 1 through 5 this morning. 00:00:09.519 --> 00:00:19.600 Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month, the people of Israel were assembled with fasting and in sackcloth and with earth on their heads. 00:00:19.920 --> 00:00:26.719 And the Israelites separated themselves from all the foreigners and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. 00:00:26.879 --> 00:00:33.920 And they stood up in their place and read from the book of the law of Yahweh their God for a quarter of the day. 00:00:34.719 --> 00:00:40.159 For another quarter of it, they made confession and worshipped Yahweh their God. 00:00:41.039 --> 00:00:50.000 On the stairs of the Levites stood Jeshua, Bani, Kidmael, Shabbaniah, Buni, Sherubiah, Bani, and Shaniah. 00:00:50.240 --> 00:01:07.439 They cried with a loud voice to Yahweh their God, and the Levites, Jeshua, Kidmael, Bani, Hashbroniah, Sherbaniah, Hodiah, Shabbaniah, and Pedaniah said, Stand up and bless Yahweh your God from everlasting to everlasting. 00:01:07.760 --> 00:01:15.519 Blessed be your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise. 00:01:16.000 --> 00:01:17.920 This is the word of the Lord. 00:01:18.239 --> 00:01:32.799 I want to encourage you this morning by reminding you that there is a middle ground between sinning and saying that you're not a Christian. 00:01:33.120 --> 00:01:37.359 And let me say it somewhat differently and hopefully in a more clear way. 00:01:37.519 --> 00:01:51.280 I have often encountered as a pastor people who are dealing with sin in their life, and so they conclude from the reality of sin in their life that they must therefore not be a Christian. 00:01:52.400 --> 00:01:57.439 They understand that when a person comes to Christ, they receive a new nature and they have their sins forgiven. 00:01:57.519 --> 00:02:06.640 They understand what John says, that those who walk in the light do deeds of the light, and those who walk in the darkness and say they're in the light are liars and the truth isn't in them. 00:02:07.359 --> 00:02:10.080 Which the Bible very clearly teaches. 00:02:10.960 --> 00:02:26.879 But they mistakenly reason from that to examining their own lives and seeing sin present in their life, and they deduce that because there is sin in their life that they haven't been able to have victory over, that they therefore must not be saved. 00:02:28.159 --> 00:02:29.759 And that's a wrong assumption. 00:02:29.919 --> 00:02:35.360 And before I work through that, let me say that I am thankful for those kind of people. 00:02:35.759 --> 00:02:38.960 I am thankful for those that are rightly dealing with sin in their life. 00:02:39.199 --> 00:02:48.800 I would take one of those, over 20 people who claim the name of Christ and are brazenly living in sin and it doesn't appear to be slowing them down one iota. 00:02:49.439 --> 00:02:54.560 They're just trucking along and they're like, hey, chosen and forgiven, no big deal, man. 00:02:55.120 --> 00:02:56.159 Only one life to live. 00:02:56.240 --> 00:03:00.319 I may as well send my way right through it, since I have faith, it's not going to matter anyway. 00:03:00.800 --> 00:03:03.599 Which is the opposite of what the Bible teaches. 00:03:05.039 --> 00:03:07.120 But I'm not talking about those people this morning. 00:03:07.199 --> 00:03:08.639 That's a different sermon. 00:03:09.520 --> 00:03:13.599 This morning I'm talking about the person who has a soft conscience. 00:03:14.159 --> 00:03:16.240 They are sensitive towards the word. 00:03:16.879 --> 00:03:19.039 And yet they're aware of their sin in their life. 00:03:19.199 --> 00:03:24.719 This is more of the Romans 7 kind of scenario, the person who hates the sin that they see in their life. 00:03:24.800 --> 00:03:26.960 And so they don't know how to make of that. 00:03:27.120 --> 00:03:31.360 They identify sin in their life, they don't like it, and yet they keep doing it. 00:03:31.439 --> 00:03:36.240 And so they want to know what how do I respond to finding sin in my life? 00:03:36.400 --> 00:03:40.639 And it's it's so easy for them to deduce, I must not be saved. 00:03:40.719 --> 00:03:42.639 That's the easiest explanation. 00:03:42.879 --> 00:03:48.319 I've even seen people get baptized, you know, three times. 00:03:48.719 --> 00:03:56.719 You know, they get baptized, you know, once and they get convicted of more sin in their life, and they're like, okay, I can't, but I finally have victory over that sin. 00:03:56.800 --> 00:03:59.439 I better get baptized again because that's my real conversion. 00:03:59.840 --> 00:04:07.680 And then a few years later, they're dealing with more sin in their life, and they, you know, confront that and are start growing in godliness there, and so they get baptized a third time. 00:04:08.879 --> 00:04:14.960 It's almost a cop-out, isn't it, to say, uh, I must not be saved, and that's why I'm sinning. 00:04:15.039 --> 00:04:18.879 You know, the truth is much more devastating than that. 00:04:19.680 --> 00:04:27.839 The truth is that we are sinners, and we're gonna lead a life that has sin in it because that's what it means to live in a fallen world. 00:04:27.920 --> 00:04:30.240 Now, obviously, we should be growing in our sanctification. 00:04:30.319 --> 00:04:33.040 You should be growing in godliness throughout your life. 00:04:34.160 --> 00:04:38.240 But the very idea that you're growing in godliness means that you have sin in your life. 00:04:38.319 --> 00:04:40.480 It's the the corollary. 00:04:40.720 --> 00:04:46.240 If you're growing in godliness, that means you're putting off sin, which means that you have sin. 00:04:47.279 --> 00:04:48.560 Let me say it differently. 00:04:48.800 --> 00:04:50.560 Do you have room to grow spiritually? 00:04:51.120 --> 00:04:52.000 Amen, right? 00:04:52.639 --> 00:04:56.079 Well, I mean, that means you have sin. 00:04:57.199 --> 00:04:58.480 Do you follow that logic? 00:04:58.879 --> 00:05:03.040 If you got room to grow, that means you've got sin in your life. 00:05:03.600 --> 00:05:06.319 And this is what we encounter in Nehemiah chapter 9. 00:05:06.720 --> 00:05:10.319 Nehemiah chapter 9, the Israelites are in the promised land. 00:05:10.720 --> 00:05:12.800 They are back in Jerusalem. 00:05:13.120 --> 00:05:16.800 They are, in a sense, trying here. 00:05:17.519 --> 00:05:21.120 God has called them, God has brought them back, they have followed Ezra's lead. 00:05:21.279 --> 00:05:29.600 Many of these families, it required immense sacrifice to leave the wealth that they had in Persia to come back to Israel for the poverty of Israel. 00:05:29.839 --> 00:05:38.399 They're living in a dilapidated city, it doesn't have a wall, the temple is still under construction, and when they finally see the temple, they weep, Ezra describes. 00:05:40.160 --> 00:05:43.360 These are people that are trying to be pleasing to the Lord. 00:05:43.600 --> 00:05:47.759 On the other hand, there are people with sin in their life, and in some cases, very serious sin in their life. 00:05:47.920 --> 00:05:52.879 You see at the end of the book of Ezra, they were intermarrying with the people around them. 00:05:52.959 --> 00:06:03.759 They had married some of the Samaritans, they had married some of the Arabs, they had married some of the Persians, even, perhaps some of them even brought their wives from Persia back to Jerusalem, and this was a sin. 00:06:03.920 --> 00:06:08.639 This was a sin that brought Israel into judgment before the exile. 00:06:08.800 --> 00:06:09.920 This was Solomon's sin. 00:06:10.000 --> 00:06:11.199 This is how sin got let. 00:06:11.439 --> 00:06:21.920 You know, this Israel under Solomon's day had the wall, but he opened the gate, so to speak, to all of the pagan women to come in who brought their idols, and that led ultimately to their captivity. 00:06:24.079 --> 00:06:25.600 And now they're back. 00:06:26.399 --> 00:06:28.240 The Israelites are back in the land. 00:06:28.399 --> 00:06:29.600 They have the wall completed. 00:06:29.680 --> 00:06:32.000 We looked at that a couple weeks ago. 00:06:32.560 --> 00:06:34.720 And now they take assessment of their life. 00:06:34.879 --> 00:06:36.639 They found the word of God. 00:06:37.360 --> 00:06:40.959 They found it last month or last week in our time. 00:06:41.360 --> 00:06:49.519 It was in Nehemiah chapter 8, but it was a month ago in their time, and they had read the Word of God, and they had got convicted by the Word of God. 00:06:49.600 --> 00:06:50.959 As they read it, they were weeping. 00:06:51.040 --> 00:06:52.560 Do you remember we looked at that passage last week? 00:06:52.639 --> 00:06:59.759 They were weeping so much, the Levites spread out in the camp of the meeting there, where they were all outside by the water gate and said, Stop weeping. 00:06:59.839 --> 00:07:01.360 This should be a happy occasion. 00:07:01.439 --> 00:07:03.040 You should be celebrating. 00:07:03.759 --> 00:07:16.160 And so they put away their weeping and they went to the week-long celebration, the feast of Sukkot, the tabernacles, the tents, the most joyous celebration, even to this day, it's the most joyous celebration in the Jewish calendar. 00:07:16.240 --> 00:07:20.959 I mean, it's the most festive Jewish holiday, and uh they celebrated it for the first time. 00:07:22.720 --> 00:07:28.480 We looked at that last Sunday evening, filled with joy and rejoicing. 00:07:28.720 --> 00:07:43.439 But now the tents are packed up, the Sukkot tents are put away, the Gentile visitors have gone home, and you're left there just with your family and the Word of God, and they are back to sorrow because they see their sin. 00:07:44.240 --> 00:07:45.279 They see their sin. 00:07:45.360 --> 00:07:47.759 And again, this could be your own life story. 00:07:47.920 --> 00:07:54.639 In fact, let me give you an outline this morning how believers should respond to sin in their own lives. 00:07:54.720 --> 00:07:59.519 And what I mean by your own life story, this could be your own story, couldn't it? 00:07:59.680 --> 00:08:09.519 That you are living in the world, living in sin, living for yourself, and then you have an encounter with Jesus Christ through the Word. 00:08:09.680 --> 00:08:14.160 Perhaps uh neighbors shared the gospel with you, or friends invited you to church. 00:08:14.240 --> 00:08:16.399 Or I've heard so many incredible testimonies. 00:08:16.480 --> 00:08:18.160 This has been a great week for me to hear testimonies. 00:08:18.240 --> 00:08:20.079 I've just heard incredible testimonies from people. 00:08:20.240 --> 00:08:24.800 Uh I heard a testimony from some guy who was stationed here by a foreign military. 00:08:24.879 --> 00:08:28.639 He was an attaché here in the Washington, D.C. 00:08:28.720 --> 00:08:33.759 area, moved into Alexandria, and his neighbor kids became friends with his kids and invited him to church. 00:08:34.000 --> 00:08:36.480 And says, Whole family gets saved and they petition their government. 00:08:36.639 --> 00:08:39.679 Their government lets them stay here permanently because they're believers now. 00:08:40.960 --> 00:08:41.840 It's incredible. 00:08:41.919 --> 00:08:44.320 It's like reverse missionary work right there. 00:08:46.000 --> 00:08:52.000 Heard a story this week about two people who knocked on someone's door, family's door, and asked, could they bring their little kids to VBS? 00:08:52.159 --> 00:08:53.360 And the family said yes. 00:08:53.440 --> 00:08:56.480 Instead of calling the police, they said yes, take my little kids to VBS. 00:08:57.600 --> 00:08:59.759 And the non-parents are like, How would you do that? 00:08:59.840 --> 00:09:02.720 And the parents are like, Listen, I needed a few hours, okay? 00:09:03.600 --> 00:09:07.919 And the kids go to VBS, and the ultimately the family comes to faith in Christ. 00:09:08.080 --> 00:09:09.840 I mean, just a crazy story like that. 00:09:10.000 --> 00:09:11.600 Maybe this is your story. 00:09:11.919 --> 00:09:13.360 And you come to faith in Christ. 00:09:13.440 --> 00:09:24.559 You hear that Jesus dies on the cross for your sin, and that God is angry with your sin and you get convicted of your sin, and then you hear that Jesus bore the penalty for your sin and then rose from the grave on the third day, and you believe that. 00:09:24.799 --> 00:09:25.919 And your life has changed. 00:09:26.000 --> 00:09:29.679 And 2 Corinthians 5 says, when you believe that, you become a new creation. 00:09:30.000 --> 00:09:31.440 The old has passed away. 00:09:31.600 --> 00:09:33.120 Behold, the new has come. 00:09:34.080 --> 00:09:41.120 And now you're growing in godliness, but then years later, you find yourself dealing with sin in your life. 00:09:41.759 --> 00:09:42.960 And you think, what's wrong? 00:09:43.039 --> 00:09:44.559 Did the conversion not take? 00:09:45.759 --> 00:09:47.039 Is it like the vaccine? 00:09:47.120 --> 00:09:48.879 You need to get a booster again later? 00:09:50.399 --> 00:09:53.519 Do you need a brand new conversion? 00:09:53.759 --> 00:09:55.200 And the answer is no. 00:09:56.159 --> 00:09:57.039 Conversion took. 00:09:57.200 --> 00:09:59.679 This is a normal Christian life. 00:10:00.080 --> 00:10:02.960 So what do you do when you find sin in your life? 00:10:03.120 --> 00:10:05.440 That's certainly what is happening here. 00:10:06.240 --> 00:10:09.200 Of course, there's periods of spiritual dryness in your life. 00:10:09.279 --> 00:10:11.039 There are seasons of spiritual dryness. 00:10:12.000 --> 00:10:13.519 Your new creation in Christ. 00:10:14.159 --> 00:10:16.240 Except when you aren't, because sometimes you won't. 00:10:16.480 --> 00:10:17.120 To quote Dr. 00:10:17.279 --> 00:10:17.759 Seuss. 00:10:18.879 --> 00:10:23.120 Your new creation in Christ, but sometimes you are weighed down with sin. 00:10:23.919 --> 00:10:27.200 And when that happens, this is what you should do first. 00:10:27.840 --> 00:10:29.200 You turn to the Word. 00:10:29.519 --> 00:10:30.320 You turn to the Word. 00:10:30.399 --> 00:10:32.320 And that's what happens in chapter 9, verse 1 here. 00:10:32.399 --> 00:10:38.159 On the 24th day of this month, so this is after the feast of Sukkot, everything is wrapped up. 00:10:38.480 --> 00:10:45.440 The Israelites are assembled, and now they're back with the fasting and the sackcloth and the earth on their heads. 00:10:45.519 --> 00:10:49.840 And they would often put ashes in their heads, but there's a lot of people here, not enough ash to go around. 00:10:49.919 --> 00:10:51.440 Apparently, they're rubbing dirt on their head. 00:10:51.519 --> 00:10:53.279 And the ESV translates it dirt here. 00:10:53.519 --> 00:10:55.200 You've seen this before in mourning. 00:10:55.279 --> 00:10:58.879 It's just other passages usually translates it dust, but it's the same principle. 00:10:59.039 --> 00:11:00.320 You're putting, you know, dirt. 00:11:00.480 --> 00:11:02.799 The difference between dirt and dust in your head is inconsequential, really. 00:11:02.879 --> 00:11:09.279 You're wearing sackcloth, which is made out of goat's hair or camel hair, and it's designed to be abrasive to your skin. 00:11:09.360 --> 00:11:11.919 They'd sometimes wear it as loincloths when they were fasting. 00:11:12.000 --> 00:11:14.960 It was supposed to not be comfortable. 00:11:15.200 --> 00:11:19.759 It was supposed to disfigure your face even, and then you put dirt or ash on your head. 00:11:19.919 --> 00:11:22.240 I mean, it's obvious that you're fasting. 00:11:22.480 --> 00:11:24.080 It's obvious that you're mourning. 00:11:24.240 --> 00:11:27.840 It's obvious that you're grieving, and that's what they're doing. 00:11:28.399 --> 00:11:31.519 And they're doing this because they've discovered the Word of God. 00:11:31.679 --> 00:11:35.039 Do you remember that during the Feast of Sukkot, they're reading the Torah. 00:11:35.120 --> 00:11:36.799 They read the whole Torah. 00:11:37.759 --> 00:11:41.679 The first five books of the Bible, the books of Moses, these people knew the book of Jeremiah. 00:11:41.759 --> 00:11:43.200 They're living out as prophecy. 00:11:43.360 --> 00:11:46.000 They're familiar with the book of Daniel for sure. 00:11:46.399 --> 00:11:52.960 Jeremiah is calling them to repent for various sins, but discovering the Torah had a profound effect on them. 00:11:54.000 --> 00:12:00.399 They'd wept and they'd been told to put away their weeping and to celebrate, but now they're back to the Word of God. 00:12:01.200 --> 00:12:02.879 They can't take themselves away from it. 00:12:03.039 --> 00:12:04.399 And they know it produces sorrow. 00:12:04.480 --> 00:12:06.559 They know, I mean, the last time they read it, they wept. 00:12:06.799 --> 00:12:08.159 They know it will have that effect. 00:12:08.320 --> 00:12:12.159 But this is what the new nature in a person looks like you need the word. 00:12:12.399 --> 00:12:13.360 And that's where you go. 00:12:13.440 --> 00:12:15.200 When you have sin in your life, you go back to the word. 00:12:15.360 --> 00:12:17.360 The order here that we're going to see this morning is critical. 00:12:17.440 --> 00:12:19.039 It starts with the word of God. 00:12:19.919 --> 00:12:23.360 If you want to deal with sin in your life, repentance is the way you do it. 00:12:23.519 --> 00:12:26.559 But the first step towards that is to be confronted with the word of God. 00:12:26.639 --> 00:12:27.919 You need to go to the word. 00:12:29.120 --> 00:12:32.720 If you're led by the Spirit, you will put to death the deeds of the flesh. 00:12:32.879 --> 00:12:35.440 You can't be led by the Spirit unless you're in the Word of God. 00:12:35.519 --> 00:12:40.799 The most effective way, the most immediate way for the Spirit of God to lead you is through the Word of God. 00:12:42.879 --> 00:13:01.919 Often we think of being spirit-led as being more mystical than that, being internal to yourself, being, you know, I had this desire or this unction, and certainly I have room for that in my spirituality, but I think predominantly the way the Spirit leads people is he leads us through the Word, the Spirit-inspired word. 00:13:02.240 --> 00:13:05.440 As the Word resonates in our heart, God convicts us of sin through a word. 00:13:05.679 --> 00:13:10.240 He exposes us to new desires through his word, and his word is what guides us. 00:13:10.320 --> 00:13:12.240 This is why the Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of truth. 00:13:12.320 --> 00:13:14.240 He applies the word to our hearts. 00:13:14.799 --> 00:13:16.240 And that's what they see here. 00:13:16.399 --> 00:13:19.440 They go back in chapter 9 to the Word of God. 00:13:19.840 --> 00:13:23.200 Verse 2, the Israelites separated themselves from all foreigners. 00:13:23.840 --> 00:13:27.679 They stood and confessed their sins and their iniquities of their fathers. 00:13:27.759 --> 00:13:29.360 And this is what their confession looked like. 00:13:29.440 --> 00:13:34.480 They stood up in verse 3 in their place and they read from the book of the law of Yahweh. 00:13:34.720 --> 00:13:36.559 For a quarter of the day. 00:13:37.519 --> 00:13:38.320 They read. 00:13:38.559 --> 00:13:39.120 For hours. 00:13:39.360 --> 00:13:41.759 In other words, this is the same thing they did in chapter 8. 00:13:41.840 --> 00:13:43.519 They're going back to reading the Torah. 00:13:43.679 --> 00:13:46.000 The last time they did this in chapter 8, they wept. 00:13:46.080 --> 00:13:49.919 Now they're doing it again because they want to be convicted by the Word of God. 00:13:50.480 --> 00:13:56.879 They understand the easiest way for the Spirit to lead a person is by reading the Bible and doing what it says. 00:13:57.440 --> 00:13:59.360 So let me challenge you this morning with that. 00:13:59.440 --> 00:14:05.120 If you want to be led by the Holy Spirit in your life, pick this book up, read it, and obey it. 00:14:05.600 --> 00:14:07.519 That's the most direct way. 00:14:07.840 --> 00:14:11.120 Now, obviously, you need some understanding of hermeneutics to do that. 00:14:11.360 --> 00:14:12.399 You know, you can't. 00:14:12.720 --> 00:14:19.600 What if you are dating somebody and you open the Bible and you come across the verse where Jesus says, What you do do quickly. 00:14:21.679 --> 00:14:23.600 I gotta propose right now. 00:14:25.759 --> 00:14:28.559 No, that was Jesus talking to Judas. 00:14:29.440 --> 00:14:34.320 And uh to betray him quickly, and yeah, it's don't interpret it that way. 00:14:34.799 --> 00:14:39.679 You need to understand what the Bible is saying and who it's saying it to and how you apply that. 00:14:39.919 --> 00:14:41.919 And we get a little window into that this morning. 00:14:42.000 --> 00:14:47.519 You read this passage, the wrong takeaway from it is that you need to wear sackcloth and ashes until you put your sin to death. 00:14:47.679 --> 00:14:54.000 The right takeaway from it is the importance of confession, the importance of repentance, the importance of going to the word and reading it. 00:14:54.720 --> 00:14:56.159 And that's the model here. 00:14:56.320 --> 00:14:59.919 You go to the Bible, you read it, you seek to understand it, and you apply it to your life. 00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:01.679 That's you understand, that's what these people are doing. 00:15:01.759 --> 00:15:07.200 They didn't go to Bible college, they didn't go to seminary here, they're reading the Torah and they're the Jewish people. 00:15:07.279 --> 00:15:11.679 They're under the commands of the law, and they're reading it, and they're saying, we want to do this, and we're not doing it. 00:15:11.759 --> 00:15:15.600 They look around, we're not keeping this law, and they've been convicted by it. 00:15:17.200 --> 00:15:23.759 Well, if you want to put sin to death in your life, if you want to have growth in godliness, step one, read the word of God. 00:15:24.080 --> 00:15:24.960 Read the word of God. 00:15:25.039 --> 00:15:29.120 I can't think of anyone I've ever talked to who said, I'm having such a difficult time spiritually. 00:15:29.759 --> 00:15:31.360 So difficult dealing with all these sins. 00:15:31.440 --> 00:15:31.919 But you know what? 00:15:32.000 --> 00:15:34.000 My Bible reading's incredible right now. 00:15:34.559 --> 00:15:36.559 It's not normally how the conversation goes. 00:15:36.799 --> 00:15:40.159 So you want to grow spiritually, you want to respond to sin in your life. 00:15:40.320 --> 00:15:41.600 First step is read the word of God. 00:15:41.759 --> 00:15:45.440 Second, don't just turn to the word, but second, now confess your sin to God. 00:15:45.679 --> 00:15:49.840 You pick this up again down in chapter 9, verse 3. 00:15:50.000 --> 00:15:55.039 After they read for a quarter of the day, they followed it with another quarter of the day, making confession. 00:15:55.759 --> 00:15:58.559 They begin confessing their sins to God. 00:15:58.879 --> 00:16:03.519 What confessing looks like is calling your sin what God calls it. 00:16:04.000 --> 00:16:13.919 It means reading the word, seeing your lack of conformity to the word, identifying that lack of conformity, articulating that lack of conformity, and specifically articulating it to God. 00:16:14.080 --> 00:16:17.919 Confession does not look like saying, Well, I've messed up. 00:16:18.159 --> 00:16:19.120 That's not confession. 00:16:19.200 --> 00:16:20.879 That's just a statement of fact. 00:16:21.200 --> 00:16:28.720 Confession does not look like downplaying your sin and using different language to mitigate against your sin, like, hey, mistakes were made, kind of language, you know. 00:16:28.960 --> 00:16:30.080 Politicians are famous for that. 00:16:30.159 --> 00:16:34.240 They get caught in some horrible scandal and they're like, hey, mistakes were made. 00:16:34.720 --> 00:16:36.559 That's not confession. 00:16:37.039 --> 00:16:43.360 Confession is using the words the Bible uses to describe your lack of conformity to God. 00:16:43.600 --> 00:16:45.039 Not mistakes were made. 00:16:45.120 --> 00:16:46.000 How about anger? 00:16:46.159 --> 00:16:46.960 How about greed? 00:16:47.039 --> 00:16:48.559 How about covetousness? 00:16:48.799 --> 00:16:50.240 How about idolatry? 00:16:50.480 --> 00:16:52.480 Adultery, those kind of words. 00:16:52.720 --> 00:16:56.879 Call your sin what the Bible calls it and use that language back to God. 00:16:57.279 --> 00:17:02.480 As you read the word of God, you discover blind spots in your life, you discover new sin in your life. 00:17:02.799 --> 00:17:05.519 And what's first a blind spot can't remain there. 00:17:05.839 --> 00:17:08.799 Confession does not look like saying, God, I'm sorry I have blind spots in my life. 00:17:08.880 --> 00:17:10.240 Again, that's a statement of fact. 00:17:10.480 --> 00:17:11.920 You do have blind spots in your life. 00:17:12.000 --> 00:17:14.400 So you read the Bible to discover them. 00:17:15.200 --> 00:17:16.880 The Bible's like adjusting your mirror. 00:17:16.960 --> 00:17:20.079 You see them more clearly, and you're able to identify them. 00:17:20.240 --> 00:17:22.400 And then you call them what they are. 00:17:23.279 --> 00:17:27.759 When you call them what they are, that leads to an attitude of repentance. 00:17:28.319 --> 00:17:31.440 Like sackcloth and ashes and dirt on the head. 00:17:31.519 --> 00:17:35.920 That was the culturally appropriate attitude of repentance they had back in Nehemiah's day. 00:17:36.079 --> 00:17:42.720 I would say our day has a different form of repentance, but certainly it looks like sorrow in your heart over your sins. 00:17:42.880 --> 00:17:46.000 Certainly it looks like a confessing it to God. 00:17:47.359 --> 00:17:51.680 Three times in this book, by the way, we see the Israelites gather together and confess their sins. 00:17:51.839 --> 00:17:53.839 I want you to notice something before we go on here. 00:17:54.079 --> 00:17:56.880 They're not only confessing their own sins here. 00:17:57.839 --> 00:18:04.559 Look at down in verse back, go back up to uh verse two again. 00:18:04.640 --> 00:18:09.680 They separated themselves from foreigners, they stood and confessed their sins in the iniquities of their fathers. 00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:14.960 It wasn't simply their own sins they were confessing, they were confessing their fathers' sins as well. 00:18:15.119 --> 00:18:16.720 Three times in this book it says that. 00:18:16.880 --> 00:18:19.680 Here, we'll see it again later on in Nehemiah chapter 9. 00:18:19.839 --> 00:18:27.599 And we saw it earlier in the book of Ezra, which is the same book as Nehemiah, as Ezra fell down and confessed the sins of his fathers as well. 00:18:28.079 --> 00:18:31.359 Now, what does that mean to confess the sins of your fathers? 00:18:31.839 --> 00:18:34.880 Let me tell you a story I saw in the uh the news this week. 00:18:35.039 --> 00:18:38.319 I'm gonna actually just read you the news story from the local CBS station. 00:18:38.480 --> 00:18:43.359 A VHS movie rented more than 20 years ago has come back to haunt a woman in Texas. 00:18:43.759 --> 00:18:48.319 The problem, she never returned the tape she rented in Norman, Oklahoma. 00:18:48.640 --> 00:18:54.559 Twenty years later, she applied for a wedding license in the state of Texas, which denied her application for a wedding license. 00:18:54.720 --> 00:18:55.839 Can you believe that? 00:18:56.240 --> 00:19:01.680 Telling her she needed to contact the district attorney's office in Cleveland County, Oklahoma. 00:19:02.160 --> 00:19:10.880 She contacts them and finds out she has a felony warrant out for her arrest for embezzlement 21 years ago. 00:19:11.359 --> 00:19:20.160 She rented Sabrina the Teenage Witch on VHS and never returned it. 00:19:20.400 --> 00:19:25.839 Through a little bit of investigation, they discover she in fact did not rent Sabrina the Teenage Witch. 00:19:26.079 --> 00:19:35.119 Uh her, um I think it's her younger sister rented it in her name and never returned it. 00:19:35.359 --> 00:19:38.640 She swears she'd never seen the movie. 00:19:38.880 --> 00:19:41.599 Well, you know how remember Blockbuster back in the day? 00:19:41.839 --> 00:19:45.680 I mean, those there's exponents and then there's Blockbuster late fees. 00:19:45.759 --> 00:19:46.559 Do you remember that? 00:19:47.200 --> 00:19:50.640 Three days late, they just they just repossess your car and call it even. 00:19:52.000 --> 00:19:59.920 Well, in this case, the late fees that had accumulated had been turned over to collections agency, which added their own fee on top of it, turned it over to the district attorney's office, when it costs a thousand bucks. 00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:03.519 She's had a felony warrant for 21 years. 00:20:05.279 --> 00:20:08.240 Now, I hope you find that story amusing. 00:20:08.319 --> 00:20:18.640 It'd be less amusing if she got stopped for speeding and had to spend a night in the clink for it, but the question is, is she responsible for that movie rental? 00:20:18.960 --> 00:20:20.799 And we would say, no. 00:20:21.039 --> 00:20:22.480 It was her sister that rented it. 00:20:22.559 --> 00:20:24.559 She probably had no knowledge of her sister renting it. 00:20:24.720 --> 00:20:27.759 I mean, and it comes down down to really like, should she have known? 00:20:27.920 --> 00:20:29.680 Was she having oversight of her sister? 00:20:29.759 --> 00:20:33.759 You know, you can ask all those other kinds of questions to figure out how responsible she really was. 00:20:33.920 --> 00:20:35.359 It gets, of course, exaggerated by time. 00:20:35.440 --> 00:20:38.319 I think Blockbuster is closed even to begin with now. 00:20:38.880 --> 00:20:41.680 So, really, what are you even gonna do? 00:20:41.920 --> 00:20:49.119 So understand, when you're making confession here, it says for your father's sins, there's gotta be some way that you're connected to the sin. 00:20:49.519 --> 00:20:53.680 What you're seeing here in the Bible is there's what I'm gonna call a covenantal connection. 00:20:53.920 --> 00:21:00.079 The Israelites here are connected by covenant, by God's covenant, to the Israelites that went before them. 00:21:00.160 --> 00:21:06.160 Remember, they had received the covenant back out in the plains of the wilderness plains. 00:21:06.240 --> 00:21:15.119 This is the first time they received the covenant, they cross the Jordan River, they ratify the covenant again at the end of the book of Joshua, where there are blessings for keeping it, curses for failing it. 00:21:15.279 --> 00:21:22.559 Circumcision marks their entrance into the covenant, and when they're circumcised, they are receiving the blessings and the cursings of the covenant. 00:21:22.880 --> 00:21:26.880 If they fail to walk in the covenant, they receive the curses for that. 00:21:26.960 --> 00:21:29.759 And those curses, by the way, were exile. 00:21:29.920 --> 00:21:34.079 And so they are exiled from their land because they never kept the year of Jubilee. 00:21:34.160 --> 00:21:36.480 They never gave the land its Sabbath rest. 00:21:36.559 --> 00:21:40.720 And so God tallied up all of those transgressions and threw them out of the land. 00:21:40.880 --> 00:21:46.240 Now, obviously, the people he exiled were not the ones who defaulted on all of the Sabbath years. 00:21:46.400 --> 00:21:50.880 And their great great great great grandparents defaulted in the Sabbath years, but they all got exiled. 00:21:51.039 --> 00:21:53.599 Everybody alive got exiled for that sin. 00:21:54.079 --> 00:21:57.279 Daniel at the end of his life is sending the Israelites back to the land. 00:21:57.440 --> 00:21:58.640 Seventy years was the exile. 00:21:58.720 --> 00:21:59.839 They hit the 70 year mark. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:01.680 They're supposed to go back to the land. 00:22:01.759 --> 00:22:08.720 And Daniel, who had never sinned in that way, of course, you know, Daniel was a teenager when he went off to Babylon. 00:22:08.880 --> 00:22:10.559 He never owned farming land. 00:22:10.640 --> 00:22:12.799 He was in the government in Babylon. 00:22:12.960 --> 00:22:19.440 He goes out at the end of his life, some of his last recorded words are confessing the sins of the Israelites that went before him. 00:22:19.920 --> 00:22:23.440 And when Daniel's confessing it, he's saying that their judgment was just. 00:22:23.680 --> 00:22:28.079 He's trying to persuade the Israelites it was right for you to be exiled for 70 years. 00:22:28.240 --> 00:22:32.880 You deserved it because of our grandparents' sin, our ancestors' sin. 00:22:33.119 --> 00:22:34.880 That's why we're exiled. 00:22:35.519 --> 00:22:38.799 And so don't be angry at God for the exile. 00:22:39.519 --> 00:22:43.200 Receive it as a just punishment for our sins. 00:22:43.519 --> 00:22:44.799 So that's Daniel's prayer. 00:22:44.960 --> 00:22:46.160 They go back into the land. 00:22:46.319 --> 00:22:48.079 They're rebuilding the temple. 00:22:48.400 --> 00:22:52.799 Ezra, as the temple gets built, looks around, and guess what he sees? 00:22:52.960 --> 00:22:55.279 They're remarrying foreign women. 00:22:55.599 --> 00:23:02.000 The same sin that Solomon did that led to the exile, that led to them neglecting the Sabbath years, the same sin. 00:23:02.079 --> 00:23:02.880 They're repeating it. 00:23:03.039 --> 00:23:04.319 Do you remember what Ezra does? 00:23:04.559 --> 00:23:11.759 Falls down at the temple, weeps, and fasts, and makes confession for their sins. 00:23:12.000 --> 00:23:14.559 Because it's the same sin that's happening again. 00:23:14.640 --> 00:23:16.400 Now, did Ezra marry foreign women? 00:23:16.720 --> 00:23:17.039 No. 00:23:17.920 --> 00:23:22.160 But as their leader, he was taking on responsibility for them. 00:23:22.319 --> 00:23:24.559 And he's saying, This is happening on my watch. 00:23:24.799 --> 00:23:27.119 Ezra's saying this, this is my responsibility. 00:23:27.279 --> 00:23:28.880 Maybe I should have taught more about this. 00:23:29.039 --> 00:23:30.720 Maybe I shouldn't have been so naive. 00:23:30.799 --> 00:23:32.720 Maybe I should have asked more questions. 00:23:33.599 --> 00:23:35.519 And Ezra's broken over their sin. 00:23:35.680 --> 00:23:38.000 So broken, remember, he spends days out there by the wall. 00:23:38.079 --> 00:23:41.519 The town is gathering around trying to figure out what's eating Ezra. 00:23:43.119 --> 00:23:51.119 It's bad news when you when the Israelites see their leader fasting at the temple wall. 00:23:52.400 --> 00:23:53.680 Ezra's confessing their sins. 00:23:53.759 --> 00:23:56.559 Now you jump to the Nehemiah and you see all of the people. 00:23:56.960 --> 00:23:59.920 This is the same period of time here as what you saw in Ezra. 00:24:00.319 --> 00:24:02.079 The repentance is contagious. 00:24:02.319 --> 00:24:05.519 Ezra's repentance is being amplified here by the whole people. 00:24:05.599 --> 00:24:07.599 The people are seeing their sins. 00:24:08.160 --> 00:24:10.079 This is the same sin of their fathers. 00:24:10.240 --> 00:24:13.680 So there's a connection to their fathers as they're confessing this. 00:24:13.839 --> 00:24:17.039 What they're doing is the same thing their fathers did. 00:24:17.200 --> 00:24:19.359 And we're going to see this as the book of Nehemiah goes on. 00:24:19.440 --> 00:24:24.319 These people who are confessing them, they're going to repent when you get down to the end of chapter 9. 00:24:24.400 --> 00:24:25.359 We'll look at this next week. 00:24:25.519 --> 00:24:27.039 They had also married foreign women. 00:24:27.119 --> 00:24:28.559 This wasn't just their father's sin. 00:24:28.640 --> 00:24:29.680 This was their sin too. 00:24:29.759 --> 00:24:30.880 They had done this. 00:24:31.119 --> 00:24:34.079 You see this even hinted at in chapter 9, verse 2. 00:24:34.240 --> 00:24:36.559 They had had to separate themselves from the foreigners. 00:24:36.640 --> 00:24:39.119 In some of the cases, that was their wives. 00:24:39.839 --> 00:24:41.599 That was their wives. 00:24:41.839 --> 00:24:58.000 And I pulled the car over to talk about this for a second because I think this is a hermeneutic that is very popular today, to say that, you know, every member of a race or of an ethnicity or a culture has to bear corporate responsibility for previous sins of that race or that ethnic group or that culture. 00:24:58.160 --> 00:25:01.759 And it's this is a verse that's often used to teach that. 00:25:01.839 --> 00:25:06.640 And I want to say to you that you bear responsibility for sins that you commit. 00:25:06.880 --> 00:25:10.960 And sins that your ancestors committed very well can affect you. 00:25:11.200 --> 00:25:21.279 You very well can bear the natural consequences of that, and even the divine consequences of that as God meets out justice and judgment on the world for sin. 00:25:21.440 --> 00:25:24.720 But you bear the moral responsibility for sins that you commit. 00:25:24.880 --> 00:25:27.279 Now, when you recognize sin in the world, you confess it. 00:25:27.359 --> 00:25:35.119 And when you recognize sin that your parents or your ancestors committed, it is good to confess that too and say, I'm aware of that sin and that sin is wrong. 00:25:35.440 --> 00:25:38.480 But you can't repent for somebody else's sin. 00:25:38.960 --> 00:25:46.559 And there's a huge difference between your sin against a neighbor or your parents' sins against their neighbors and your sins against God. 00:25:47.039 --> 00:25:50.960 You absolutely can repent of your sins against God. 00:25:51.279 --> 00:25:57.440 It doesn't make no sense to repent of somebody else's sin against somebody else. 00:25:58.240 --> 00:26:00.400 At least it doesn't make sense to me. 00:26:00.799 --> 00:26:03.759 To repent of sin, it has to be sin that you've committed. 00:26:04.000 --> 00:26:05.440 That's what repentance means. 00:26:05.680 --> 00:26:08.000 You have to call it what God calls it. 00:26:08.319 --> 00:26:18.880 And I want to give you just this biblical perspective on it because I hope that you see, because sometimes we're very quick to say, hey, there's no examples in the Bible of people repenting for their ancestors' sins. 00:26:19.039 --> 00:26:21.920 Well, here's a huge one staring at you in Nehemiah 9, right here. 00:26:22.079 --> 00:26:25.200 And they're huddled together confessing the sins of their fathers. 00:26:25.359 --> 00:26:27.279 So you better file that away in your minds. 00:26:27.359 --> 00:26:31.839 I mean, there is sins in the Bible that people confess that their fathers committed. 00:26:32.079 --> 00:26:38.960 I see a covenantal connection with the people who committed the sins and those who are confessing it, and that is a connection to judgment as well. 00:26:39.119 --> 00:26:45.039 And part of that is confessing it, which means calling it like God calls it, and that's what they're doing here. 00:26:45.680 --> 00:26:46.480 Understand this. 00:26:46.720 --> 00:26:50.559 Christians are called to be confessing people. 00:26:51.200 --> 00:26:53.680 Confession should mark your life. 00:26:55.359 --> 00:27:01.279 John, 1 John 1, verse 8 says, if you say you have no sin, you're a liar. 00:27:02.000 --> 00:27:03.519 So go ahead and try that sometime. 00:27:03.680 --> 00:27:07.359 Say, God, I can't think of any sin I have in my life right now. 00:27:08.240 --> 00:27:09.359 You're a liar. 00:27:09.920 --> 00:27:11.839 Do you think your parents had sin in their life? 00:27:12.640 --> 00:27:12.880 Yes. 00:27:13.039 --> 00:27:14.880 Are you gonna deny they had sin in their life? 00:27:15.440 --> 00:27:15.680