Do you have confidence that God will save you?
Can you remember a time when life and death flashed before your eyes? A moment so severe, so dire, so dreadful, that time itself stopped? And your adrenaline was surging, and your heart was racing, and every neuron in your brain was firing, and your senses were hyper-engaged, and you were desperately looking to God to save you, because there was nothing you or anyone else could do for you.But then didyou find yourself not having any confidence that God would save you?
This is the picture in Psalm 69:1-3 (NIV) where David speaks of the terror of drowning in swirling flood waters."Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in the miry depths, where there is no foothold. I have come into the deep waters; the floods engulf me. I am worn out calling for help; my throat is parched. My eyes fail, looking for my God."
Too bad Psalm 69 isn’t really about drowning. It’s about being saved from our guilt. In Psalm 69:5-6 (NIV) David continues, "You know my folly, O God; my guilt is not hidden from you. May those who hope in you not be disgraced because of me, O Lord, the Lord Almighty; may those who seek you not be put to shame because of me, O God of Israel."
We have lost the sense of needing to be saved from our guilt.
One thing that seems absent today is any sense of needing to be saved from our guilt. Saved from purposeless, yes! Saved from loneliness, depression, or low-self esteem, yes! Saved from poverty, hunger, sickness, climate change, cancer, divorce, being single, or childless, yes! But guilt? No! Instead, we say things like, "It’s not my fault. I’m not responsible. This is somebody else’s doing. My parents did this to me. My teachers, peer pressure, the government, the devil are all at fault here."I was born this way, don’t you know this is who I am?"
And so we come to Nehemiah 9:1 (NIV) which says, "On the twenty-fourth day of the same month, the Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth and having dust on their heads." Doesn’t sound very seeker-friendly does it?
You don’t hear much about fasting outside of the Bible. But the act of fasting was quite prominent among God’s people in ancient times. Fasting was a time for confessing one’s dire need for God’s intervention. "Something is broken here that I cannot fix." Fasting was also associated with feelings of deep sadness and mourning. But sadness about what? Mourning about what? What could be so deeply troubling that a person would forgo food?
Notice that the Israelites were wearing sackcloth. Sackcloth was a coarse fabric that ancients used to make sacks for holding grain or other commodities. When you bought something at the market you put it into a rugged sack, loaded it on your camel, and off you went. The heavy-grade sackcloth was weaved of black goat hair.
In conjunction with fasting, the ancients would tie sackcloth around their waists with a rope or cord. The sackcloth and ropes were a symbol that the people considered themselves bound, bought, purchased, and owned by another. The ropes meant that they wereheld captive, held prisoner.But held captive by what?Owned and bound by what, and to whom?
And finally, they would have dust on their heads. Stay with me now! Dust has always been a sign of mortality. When Goddisciplined Adam in Genesis 3:19(NIV) he said, "...for dust you are and to dust you will return." Dust on one's head was an acknowledgement of one’s mortality. "My life is in God’s hands. Each man is appointed to die once, and after death,they face judgment."
The Israelites were mourning their guilt.
There is no riddle here. The Israelites were mourning their guilt. They had bound themselves with sackcloth and rope because they were held captive by sin, and they were prisoners of their fleshly desires. They had dust on their heads because they were being swallowed up by death itself. They were dying in their sins, every bit as desperate as a drowning man, and they were desperate for God’s salvation. But would God save them?
Nehemiah 9:1-3 (NIV) says, "On the twenty-fourth day of the same month, the Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth and having dust on their heads. Those of Israelite descent had separated themselves from all foreigners. They stood in their places and confessed their sins and the wickedness of their fathers. They stood where they were and read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for a quarter of the day, and spent another quarter in confession and in worshiping the Lord their God."
Friends, the message of salvation isn’t that you can get out of debt, have a better marriage, have the perfect family, the perfect job, build wealth, and live happily ever after. The message of salvation is that God’s word nourishes our dead souls just like it nourished the Israelites' souls. It's that God can tear through the sackcloth and ropes that held us captive to sin, and truly set us free to do his will. It's that God can breathe his life and Holy Spirit on us, and grant us everlasting life!
Nehemiah 9:4-5 (NIV) continues,"Standing on the stairs were the Levites— Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani and Kenani— who called with loud voices to the Lord their God. And the Levites— Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah and Pethahiah— said: 'Stand up and praise the Lord your God, who is from everlasting to everlasting.' "
Stand up and praise God? Why? Because he is mighty to save, that’s why. Because God has been stubbornly loyal to his people even as they have been stiff-necked and rebellious. Because no matter how high the flood waters rise, or how unsteady our feet, or how dark the mire, or how deep our guilt,God always hears the cry of his people and redeems them for his glory.
Nehemiah's prayer for the Israelites.
In Nehemiah 9:6-37 (NIV) Nehemiah prays, "You alone are the LORD. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you. You are the LORD God, who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and named him Abraham. You found his heart faithful to you, and you made a covenant with him to give to his descendants the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Jebusites and Girgashites. You have kept your promise because you are righteous."
"You saw the suffering of our forefathers in Egypt; you heard their cry at the Red Sea. You sent miraculous signs and wonders against Pharaoh, against all his officials and all the people of his land, for you knew how arrogantly the Egyptians treated them. You made a name for yourself, which remains to this day. You divided the sea before them, so that they passed through it on dry ground, but you hurled their pursuers into the depths, like a stone into mighty waters. By day you led them with a pillar of cloud, and by night with a pillar of fire to give them light on the way they were to take."
"You came down on Mount Sinai; you spoke to them from heaven. You gave them regulations and laws that are just and right, and decrees and commands that are good. You made known to them your holy Sabbath and gave them commands, decrees and laws through your servant Moses. In their hunger you gave them bread from heaven and in their thirst you brought them water from the rock; you told them to go in and take possession of the land you had sworn with uplifted hand to give them."
"But they, our forefathers, became arrogant and stiff-necked, and did not obey your commands. They refused to listen and failed to remember the miracles you performed among them. They became stiff-necked and in their rebellion appointed a leader in order to return to their slavery. But you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. Therefore you did not desert them,even when they cast for themselves an image of a calf and said, 'This is your god, who brought you up out of Egypt,' or when they committed awful blasphemies."
"Because of your great compassion you did not abandon them in the desert. By day the pillar of cloud did not cease to guide them on their path, nor the pillar of fire by night to shine on the way they were to take. You gave your good Spirit to instruct them. You did not withhold your manna from their mouths, and you gave them water for their thirst. For forty years you sustained them in the desert; they lacked nothing, their clothes did not wear out nor did their feet become swollen. You gave them kingdoms and nations, allotting to them even the remotest frontiers. They took over the country of Sihonking of Heshbon and the country of Og king of Bashan. You made their sons as numerous as the stars in the sky, and you brought them into the land that you told their fathers to enter and possess. Their sons went in and took possession of the land. You subdued before them the Canaanites, who lived in the land; you handed the Canaanites over to them, along with their kings and the peoples of the land, to deal with them as they pleased. They captured fortified cities and fertile land; they took possession of houses filled with all kinds of good things, wells already dug, vineyards, olive groves and fruit trees in abundance. They ate to the full and were well-nourished; they reveled in your great goodness."
"But they were disobedient and rebelled against you; they put your law behind their backs. They killed your prophets, who had admonished them in order to turn them back to you; they committed awful blasphemies. So you handed them over to their enemies, who oppressed them. But when they were oppressed they cried out to you. From heaven you heard them, and in your great compassion you gave them deliverers, who rescued them from the hand of their enemies."
"But as soon as they were at rest, they again did what was evil in your sight. Then you abandoned them to the hand of their enemies so that they ruled over them. And when they cried out to you again, you heard from heaven, and in your compassion you delivered them time after time."
"You warned them to return to your law, but they became arrogant and disobeyed your commands. They sinned against your ordinances, by which a man will live if he obeys them. Stubbornly they turned their backs on you, became stiff-necked and refused to listen. For many years you were patient with them. By your Spirit you admonished them through your prophets. Yet they paid no attention, so you handed them over to the neighboring peoples. But in your great mercy you did not put an end to them or abandon them, for you are a gracious and merciful God."
"Now therefore, O our God, the great, mighty and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love, do not let all this hardship seem trifling in your eyes— the hardship that has come upon us, upon our kings and leaders, upon our priests and prophets, upon our fathers and all your people, from the days of the kings of Assyria until today. In all that has happened to us, you have been just; you have acted faithfully, while we did wrong. Our kings, our leaders, our priests and our fathers did not follow your law; they did not pay attention to your commands or the warnings you gave them. Even while they were in their kingdom, enjoying your great goodness to them in the spacious and fertile land you gave them, they did not serve you or turn from their evil ways."
"But see, we are slaves today, slaves in the land you gave our forefathers so they could eat its fruit and the other good things it produces. Because of our sins, its abundant harvest goes to the kings you have placed over us. They rule over our bodies and our cattle as they please. We are in great distress."
The Israelites make an agreement before God.
Like the Israelits, we are stubbornly rebellious.God is stubbornly loyal. In Nehemiah 9:38 (NIV) it’s the people who recognize their guilt and say in response to Nehemiah's prayer, "In view of all this, we are making a binding agreement, putting it in writing, and our leaders, our Levites and our priests are affixing their seals to it."
What happens next is remarkable. The people make specific, tangible, binding, God-honoring commitments. They agree not to forsake the law any longer (Nehemiah 10:28-29). The men agree to honor God in Christian marriage (Nehemiah 10:30). No more fornicating, adultery, divorce, impurity, prostitution, or foreign women. They agree to honor the Sabbath and not let their worship ever grow lax again (Nehemiah 10:31).
They agree to rid their community of debt and financial exploitation (Nehemiah 10:31). They pledge to give sacrificially to the work of God (Nehemiah 10:32-39), to volunteer for the work and be available to serve (Nehemiah 11:1-19), to take personal responsibility (Nehemiah 11:20-36), worship properly (Nehemiah 12:1-24), and to always be on guard against evil (Nehemiah 12:25-26). They celebrate with heartfelt thanksgiving and rock the countryside for God (Nehemiah 12:27-47). They grow in obedience to the word (Nehemiah 13:1-5). And they persevere and rededicate themselves time and again, despite hardships (Nehemiah 13:6-31).
A new life was possible, not because of what they did for themselves, but because God is faithful to save all who call upon him in their day of trouble!
With God, you can have a new life.
Listen, God knows your foolishness. He knows your secrets, your guilt. He knows your shame and disgrace. He knows how rebellious, stubborn, and stiff-necked you have been. He sees the trouble you are in. He sees the water rising, he sees the dark mire, he sees how you’ve lost your footing, and he knows you're worn out and ready to give in.
Romans 10:8-13 (NIV) gives us God's promise."The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart, that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, 'Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.' For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile— the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him,for, 'Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.' "
Anyone means anyone! Everyone means everyone! Justsuppose that can mean you and me!