Nehemiah 9:1

Hey, I'm Pastor Jason. I'm one of the pastors at Cross Connection Church, and I am excited to share with you this week. We're going to be in Nehemiah chapter 9, so if you want to turn there, I'm going to pray, and then we will get started.

Heavenly Father, thank you so much for this day, Lord. I pray that you would be glorified in all that we say and all that we do. I pray, Lord, that this time in your Word would be fruitful, that it would help us to grow closer to you, and that it would bring you joy, Lord God, as you have done for us so many times. So, Lord, be glorified in your people, enlighten us to your Word, fill us with your Holy Spirit, and help us to glorify you. We pray these things, Jesus, in your name. Amen.

As I mentioned, we are going to be in Nehemiah chapter 9, but before we jump into what happens in that chapter, we need to go over a little background. The focus of Nehemiah is the rebuilding of the walls and the returning of the people to Jerusalem. The temple has been rebuilt, so the work had begun. God moved originally in the heart of the pagan king Cyrus to rebuild the temple, which is mentioned in the book of Ezra, all the way back in chapter 1.

They started by building the altar, which was completed in Ezra chapters 1, 2, and 3. In chapter 3, we see that they celebrate the first feast after their captivity, following the rebuilding of the temple. They rebuilt the altar, and it was during the Feast of Tabernacles in Ezra chapter 3. The Feast of Tabernacles commemorates God leading the people out of Egypt and providing for them as they fled.

The altar was the first thing built before anything else. This is significant because the altar is the place where sin is atoned for, a place where all could find forgiveness from God.

Now, the interesting thing here is that we often think of these events happening reasonably quickly, but it was actually 91 years from the completion of the altar until the walls were built in Nehemiah. Ninety-one years is a long time; it's a generation of people. The individuals who began the work were not likely the same people who saw it finished.

So, then we get into the book of Nehemiah. I believe Ezra transitions into Nehemiah.

The wall is in ruins in Nehemiah chapter 1. We see that the walls are in ruins, and people come and go without any security. This breaks Nehemiah's heart. In chapter 2, the king, Artaxerxes, notices this and sends Nehemiah, giving him both permission and provision to go out and fix the wall.

In chapter 3, we see the building start. However, in chapter 4, we encounter opposition from enemies who try to disrupt the work. I like to call this the sword and trowel brigade, where some are building the wall while others are defending it. Rather than everyone building, half are engaged in construction while the other half stands guard. They are in a state of constant vigilance, watching for the next attack and being ready, all while continuing the build.

In chapter 5, we witness the financial subjugation of Israelites by their own people. Those who were once united are now taking advantage of one another, putting their fellow Israelites into a form of dual slavery. They are not only subjugated by the ruling powers but also by their own kin because they cannot pay their bills. As a result, their children and property are taken as surety. This injustice prompts Nehemiah to declare that it will not stand. We see financial justice taking place, with the forgiving of debts and the children of Israel coming together as one people to accomplish something significant.

Then, in chapter 6, we observe psychological operations, or psyops, from neighboring countries aimed at the workers and management. We see rumors and threats designed to halt the construction of the wall. Yet, despite these challenges, the wall around Jerusalem is completed by the end of chapter 6. The protection is finally in place.

In chapter 7, there is a census of the people, and we see the recording of the contributions made by the community. Then, in chapter 8, which precedes chapter 9, we find that the law is read to the people. They discover how far they have strayed from what God desires, leading to a period of mourning among them. The Israelites go among the people, urging them not to be sad at this moment. They remind everyone that this is a holy day, a holiday, and it is the feast of...

Shelters or the Feast of Tabernacles commemorates the goodness of God. This is a time to rejoice, a time when we celebrate the fantasticness of God, not looking at the brokenness of His people. So rejoice, for the joy of the Lord, it says in Nehemiah chapter 8, is your strength. The thing that you are going to draw strength from is the joy of the Lord.

This brings us to Nehemiah chapter 9. On the 24th day of this month, the Israelites assembled. They were fasting, wearing sackcloth, and had put dust on their heads. Those of Israelite descent separated themselves from all foreigners, and they stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their ancestors. While they stood in their place, they read from the book of the law of the Lord their God for a fourth of the day and spent another fourth of the day in confession and worship of the Lord their God.

In verse 4, it says that Deshuabani, along with others whose names I will not pronounce, stood on the raised platform built for the Levites and cried out loudly to the Lord their God. Then the Levites, whose names we will also skip, said, "Stand up, blessed be the Lord your God from everlasting to everlasting. Blessed be your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise."

Let's examine those verses a little more closely. In verse 1, we see that on the 24th day of this month, the Israelites assembled. They were fasting, wearing sackcloth, and had put dust on their heads. They were preparing themselves internally for what God had for them as they read the Word. By fasting, they were focusing on God, depriving their flesh. They were sacrificing comfort for their body in exchange for clarity of their mind and spirit.

Wearing sackcloth forced physical discomfort, allowing them to focus. Do you ever notice that we tend to fall into sin when we are comfortable? We tend to be distracted when there are no pressing needs. Sackcloth serves as a constant, itchy, uncomfortable reminder that they are focusing on something significant. The dust on their heads symbolizes mourning. They were mourning their own brokenness, their sin, and their falling short of God, because that is what they see in the Word. They were mourning these things.

In verse 2, it says that those of Israelite descent separated themselves from all foreigners. God had called them not to intermarry with the...

Surrounding people were instructed not to intermarry with those who were not of the children of Israel. This was not a racist thing; rather, it was a protective measure against the customs and spiritual contagion of the surrounding peoples. As a result, those of Israelite descent withdrew from external influences. They separated themselves from temptation and contagion, standing and confessing their sins.

Personal repentance starts with me. The sin that should grieve us the most is our own. The issues that cause us the most concern and result in the most action should be our own, because those are the only ones we have control over. They had prepared themselves by removing other temptations and focusing on their own sin-sick souls. This resulted in a cry for help: "Lord, forgive me." It is that confession of sin that is crucial.

In the latter part of the verse, it mentions the iniquities of their ancestors, which reflects a collective repentance. As it says in Isaiah, "I come from an unclean people, unclean lips." We see the effects of our ancestors on our behaviors. Many parents can relate to the experience of suddenly hearing their own parents' words come out of their mouths, despite having vowed never to say such things to their children. It can be startling when you realize, "Whoa, that just came out of my mouth."

I see the way I was raised and how it influences how I raise my kids. I notice the behaviors of my parents and how they sometimes manifest in me. The choices made by my grandparents and earlier generations have had lasting effects. Recently, I participated in an ancestry test, where you send in a sample of saliva, and they tell you about your heritage. It is quite amazing.

Through this process, I saw the effects of choices made by my ancestors in the 1700s, 1600s, and 1800s, particularly their physical moves from one place to another. These decisions changed who I became. For instance, the fact that they left Holland and moved to the U.S. significantly altered my identity. It changed the language I would speak and much more.

The choices that were available to me were influenced by how they moved and what they did. We see that the past and the decisions made in it have effects on who we are today. The sins of the past echo in our own lives. We are not praying for the dead, nor are we hoping that those who have passed would repent. Instead, we acknowledge that those who went before us were sinful people who needed forgiveness. This is not about ancestor worship or the idea that life was better before; it was not better, as we are all sinners now. We recognize that those in the past also had iniquities. Our ancestors were broken people who needed a Savior from their sin as well.

Perhaps it was our ancestors who brought us closer to Christ through the decisions they made. Maybe they joined a church or left one tradition for another. We don't know all the details, but when we learn more about where we came from, we can gain a better understanding of where we might be going. We cannot revert to the notion that life was better before we were sinners, but we can acknowledge that those who came before us were sinful too.

In verse three, it goes on to say that while they stood in their places, they read from the book of the law. The Levites were there, reminding the people of the standard of the commandments and the goodness of God. If we don't know what we are supposed to do, we won't do it. It's like trying to play a game without knowing the rules. I'm sure we've all had that experience of sitting down to play a brand new game—whether it's a card game, a board game, or a video game—and feeling lost because we don't understand what's going on due to our ignorance of the rules.

The same thing happened to the people of Israel; they didn't know the rules. When the law was read, when they read from the Word, they began to understand more about what they were supposed to do. They stood in their place and read from the book of the law of the Lord, their God, for a fourth of the day. They structured their time, dedicating a quarter of the day to reading from the book of the law. This structure prevents slacking off or cheating. Many times, I have set goals without structuring a way to achieve them, and a goal without a plan is often unfulfilled.

A plan is just a wish and a dream. You have to set these structures if these things are going to make sense. They read from the Book of the Law for a quarter of the day. They are focused and regimented. If you don't make time for it, guess what? It's not going to get done. So they set time. They decided they were going to read from the Book of the Law for a quarter of the day.

They spent another fourth of the day in confession and worship of the Lord, their God. Confession and worship are linked. As we spend time in the Word, we see the goodness of God and the depravity of man. We see that God is good and that we are not. This results in worship, and then it leads to confession. "God, I worship you because you are so awesome. You're so loving, so wonderful, and so powerful. Yet at the same time, I see where I'm not. Lord, forgive me, for I am falling short continually."

We see that confession and worship are linked, and our brokenness reveals God's perfection. His grace leads us to love and worship. We see God's perfection because we recognize our poor reflection of it. We see how broken we are.

Point number one in your outlines, if you're planning on taking notes: planning and preparing for time with God in His Word will provide proper perspective and prevent penalties. I gave you one, two, three, four, five, six, seven P words to help you remember. Planning and preparing for time with God in His Word will provide proper perspective and prevent penalties.

When we plan and prepare ourselves as we get into the Word, it provides perspective for us. It gives us the things we need to focus on. It helps us understand, guide, and direct our lives, and it prevents us from making poor choices. When God says, "You know what? Gossip is wrong," we start to remember that reminder from the Spirit. We think, "Oh, I'm not going to gossip. I'm going to pull back from that. I'm going to avoid it." This helps us avoid the penalty.

So we see that planning and preparing for time with God will provide proper perspective and prevent penalties. As we go forward in this passage, we will see a prayer and praise walk throughout the history of the children of Israel. Notice they have an unflinching look at the betrayal and the failures as they are recounted. They don't shy away from it.

Historical blemishes exist in our tendency to celebrate successes while trying to hide failures. This is akin to social media's gold standard, where we showcase the good things and often conceal the bad unless it might garner more clicks and attention. Most of the time, what we see is a highlight reel, devoid of failures.

In this context, the Israelites do not give the Levites that option. They are going to explain everything. In verse four, all those names are mentioned as they stand on a raised platform built for the Levites, crying loudly to the Lord, their God. This platform was not constructed because the Levites are superior; rather, it serves a practical purpose. It is difficult to communicate with a large crowd if everyone is at the same height. Thus, the elevation is not about position but about effective communication.

The Levites stand up and proclaim, "Stand up, people! Blessed be the Lord, your God, from everlasting to everlasting. Blessed be your glorious name, and may it be exalted among all blessing and praise." They then recount the story of creation in verse six: "You, O Lord God, are the only God. You created the heavens, the highest heavens with all their stars, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to all of them, and all the stars of heaven worship you."

In verse seven, they move on to the calling of the nation of Israel and the covenant. They declare, "You, the Lord, are the God who chose Abram. You brought him out of the land of the Chaldeans. You changed his name to Abraham. You found his heart faithful in your sight and made a covenant with him to give him the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, and the Girgashites. You gave it to his descendants. You have fulfilled your promise, for you are righteous." They recount the righteousness of God as He made a covenant with His people.

It is important to remember that they have just celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles, which commemorates how God led them out of captivity in Egypt and sustained them in the desert. In verse nine, it states, "You saw the oppression of our ancestors in Egypt. You heard their cry at the Red Sea. You performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh and his officials, all the people of his land, for you knew how arrogantly they treated our ancestors. You made a name for yourself that endures to this day. You divided the sea before them, and they crossed through on dry ground. You hurled their pursuers into the depths like a stone."

Raging water. You led them with a pillar of cloud by day and with a pillar of fire by night to illuminate the way that they should go. You came down on Mount Sinai and spoke to them from heaven. You gave them impartial ordinances, reliable instructions, and good statutes and commands. Look at that! I love that part of verse 13. You gave them impartial ordinances, reliable instructions, and good statutes and commands. How we need that! Impartial ordinances, reliable instructions, good statutes, and commands.

In verse 14, it says you revealed your holy Sabbath to them. You gave them commands, statutes, and instructions through your servant Moses. You provided bread from heaven for their hunger. You brought them water from the rock for their thirst. You told them to go in and possess the land that you had sworn to give them. If you're familiar with the history of Israel, you know what's going to happen next.

Now we see the reminder of their ancestors' betrayal of that same covenant that they were just celebrating. Our ancestors acted arrogantly. They became stiff-necked and did not listen to your commands. They refused to listen and did not remember your wonders that you performed among them. They became stiff-necked and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. They wouldn't listen. They refused to bend. It didn't matter that God had provided guidance, protection, and provisions; all of that was forgotten in the desert.

If you're familiar with the story, you'll remember that Moses went up on the mountain to commune with God, to get the law, to get the Ten Commandments, to get the tablets. But he was up there for a little bit of time, and it didn't take long for the children of Israel to forget all about it. The end result was that they selected themselves a new leader who would do what they wanted, which was to return to slavery in Egypt.

Safe slavery was more attractive than faith that called them out past what they could see. The same thing is true for us. We often feel safer when we are not called out to step out. But God continually calls us to step past what we understand. He calls us to have faith. The only reason they followed Moses out of Egypt was that the alternate option was slavery and death.

Isn't there a reminder to the people that God is watching us? God is with us. They decide, "We are going to make our own God. We're going to make our own leader, and we are going to get what we want by building our own God." We'll see how effective that is. Their chosen leader led them in the way that they wanted and straight into idolatry.

It continues on in verse 17: "But you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in faithful love, and you did not abandon them." Even after they had cast an image of a calf for themselves and said, "This is your God who brought you out of Egypt," they had committed terrible blasphemies. God still led and provided for them, even though they built their own God and selected their own leader with the express purpose of going in the opposite direction of what God wanted from them.

Verse 19 says, "You did not abandon them in the wilderness because of your great compassion." During the day, the pillar of cloud never turned away from them, guiding them on their journey. During the night, the pillar of fire illuminated the way that they should go. God sent His good spirit to instruct them. He did not withhold His manna from their mouths, and He gave them water for their thirst. He provided for them in the wilderness for 40 years, and they lacked nothing.

Notice, even though they were a rebellious people, continually turning away from God, and we say "they," but we know that we're not any different. He still provided for them. He still guided them, directed them, and met their needs. They lacked nothing. Verse 21 says, "Their clothes did not wear out. Their feet did not swell." God gave them the kingdom and peoples for which He established boundaries. They took possession of the land of King Sihon of Heshbon and the land of King Og of Bashan. They were blessed in many ways, both in obvious ways and obscure ways.

So He provided for them. They had food, they had drink, and they had all these things. But notice in the middle of verse 21, at the end of verse 21, "Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell." My wife and I were just having a conversation the other day about how different it is now compared to when we were a little bit younger with respect to clothes and brands. We were recounting a certain brand that makes clothing, and it doesn't seem to last.

I am not going to impugn them here, but there is a certain brand that used to seem like it lasted a long time, and now it just seems to wear out. I was laughing with my wife, talking about how I used to have shirts from Eddie Bauer at the mall. I would buy a shirt there, and that shirt would last like a decade. I would wear that same shirt for ten years, which tells you about how much fashion sense I have.

Anyway, I would wear that shirt for like a decade, and it wouldn't wear out. I gave credit to Eddie Bauer when, for sure, the credit should have gone to God. At that same time, money was very tight, and God provided clothes that did not wear out and shoes that fit because my feet did not swell. Sometimes the blessing of God is in the needs that we don't have instead of meeting needs that we know we have.

Sometimes God provides for us by preventing us from needing things, like giving us shirts from Eddie Bauer that last a decade. Sometimes it's obvious, like providing food, water, guidance, and direction. Other times, it is through needs that never arise. We are blessed in many ways, both obvious and obscure.

In verse 23, it goes on to say, "You multiplied their descendants like the stars of the sky. You brought them to the land that you told their ancestors to go in and possess." Their descendants went in and possessed the land. You subdued the Canaanites who inhabited the land before them and handed their kings and the surrounding peoples over to them to do as they pleased. They captured fortified cities and fertile lands. They took possession of well-supplied houses, cisterns cut from rock, vineyards, olive groves, and fruit trees in abundance.

They ate and were filled, became prosperous, and delighted in your great goodness. That's the end of verse 25. They ate and were filled. They became prosperous and delighted in the great goodness of God. God gave them the land. They were not hungry; they had their needs met. They had wealth and were delighting themselves in the goodness of God. They were being blessed beyond measure, protected in love.

And guess what happens next? The good old days turn into a great turning away. How often is it that we manage to screw up when things are going well? Verse 26 says,

They were disobedient and rebelled against God. They flung His law behind their backs and killed the prophets who warned them in order to turn them back to Him. They committed terrible blasphemies. They were fat, happy, and enjoying life. Then, they were disobedient and rebelled against God again. I love the word picture of them flinging the law behind their backs. The prophets came, and the people killed them, committing terrible blasphemies. They were fat, happy, and bored. The people forgot their need for God.

Now remember, Satan found Eve in the garden where there was no sin, no death, and no strife. That's where sin first entered. Point two, if you're taking notes: the temptation to turn from God is effective when most of our needs are met. When things are happy, when life seems to be sailing along, it's easy to forget God when we don't have an immediate need that only He can provide. Instead, we build our own golden calves and turn to them—golden calves of distraction.

I can distract myself with TV, movies, video games, or hobbies. I can forget God and instead look to food, drink, drugs, or all those kinds of things. Or I can rely on my Discover card. Distraction, dissipation, and the Discover card end up operating as our functional saviors because it's easy and convenient to worship them over Jesus.

When something comes up and we have the money to pay for it or the credit to cover it, we think, "Oh, that's a bummer. Slap the Discover on that, and we'll take care of it." And with two percent cash back—hey! Or one percent, whatever the percent is. It doesn't really matter, but I'm going to get cash back on it, which makes it even better. I don't have to worry about asking God about it because I have my functional savior in my wallet, or I have my functional savior in a bottle, or I have my functional savior in the garage. I can polish it with a diaper and drive it around like Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

Who do you love? You love a car. All these things operate as golden calves in our lives so that we don't have to worship Jesus. We don't have to turn to Him.

Because we have these other things to meet the needs, the children of Israel were fat and happy, and they turned from God. They embraced sin, and God allowed them to eat the cake that they made.

Look at verse 27: "So you handed them over to their enemies who oppressed them. In their time of distress, they cried out to you, and you heard from heaven. In your abundant compassion, you gave them deliverers who rescued them from the powers of their enemies." They went to their enemies, and then they realized, "This is terrible. We need you, Lord. We're in circumstances where we need you." They cried out, and God delivered them.

In verse 28, it says, "But as soon as they had relief, they again did what was evil in your sight. So you abandoned them to the power of their enemies who dominated them." When they cried out to you again, you heard from heaven and rescued them many times in your compassion.

We see in verse 29 that you warned them to turn back to your law, but they acted arrogantly and would not obey your commands. They sinned against your ordinances, which a person will live by if he does them. They stubbornly resisted, stiffening their necks, and would not obey. You were patient with them for many years, and your Spirit warned them through your prophets, but they would not listen.

Therefore, you handed them over to the surrounding peoples. This sums up what happened over and over again: you warned them, they acted arrogantly, they would not obey your commands, and they stubbornly resisted. You were patient with them.

Through these examples, we see that the best thing God could do for the well-being of the children of Israel was to allow them to be subjugated by the people around them. The thing that drew them back to God, the thing that would get them to focus back to where they should have been, was being subjugated by the people around them.

Yet, in verse 31, it says, "However, in your abundant compassion, you did not destroy them or abandon them, for you are a gracious and compassionate God." Notice that their captivity was not abandonment; it was not destruction. It was a tool to bring them to repentance, a tool to bring them back to a right relationship with God.

God calls them to turn from their sin and come back to Him. However, God understands that very often His people are not going to turn back to Him just because they feel like it. There need to be circumstances that point out to them that their functional saviors are not enough. Their Discover card is not enough. Their hobbies are not going to be distracting enough.

You will run into financial needs that your discovery can't meet. You will encounter things that you cannot dull with alcohol, drugs, food, or whatever else. You will reach a point where you find that you need God. The captivity was not an abandonment; it was not a destruction. It was a tool to bring them back to repentance.

What if the circumstances we face, which seem so horrible and overwhelming, are not God abandoning us or destroying us, but instead are designed by God to bring us to repentance? There’s a thought. Maybe the things that we’re going through, that I go through, that you’re going through—maybe it’s something you’re experiencing right now. Perhaps the whole point of that is God saying, "Come to me. I will give you rest." There is no circumstance that we face that He can't deal with. Go to Him.

At this point, though, in Nehemiah chapter nine, we see in verse 32 that the focus shifts. They are no longer looking at their terrible ancestors, those degenerates. Sometimes we can look at the people in the past or at the children of Israel and think, "Oh my goodness, these people continually screw up. They mess up all the time. I would never screw up like that." Then you hear echoes of Simon Peter saying, "I will never betray you," until the rooster crows. Suddenly, you are faced with the fact that you said that, and then you screwed up.

The focus shifts from their ancestors to themselves. Verse 32 says, "So now, our God, the great and mighty and awe-inspiring God who keeps His gracious covenant, do not view lightly all the hardships that afflicted us—our kings, our leaders, our priests, our prophets, our ancestors, and all your people from the days of the Assyrian kings until today. You are righteous concerning all that has happened to us because you have acted faithfully, and we have acted wickedly."

In verse 33, they again affirm, "You are righteous concerning all that has happened to us because you have acted faithfully while we have acted wickedly."

Point three in your outline: when we are punished or fall into the consequences of our sin, it is righteous and faithful for God to allow us to marinate in the consequences of our transgressions.

Allow us to marinate in the consequences of our transgression. What are those consequences? Look at verse 34. Our kings, leaders, priests, and ancestors did not obey Your law or listen to Your commands and warnings. While they were in their kingdom, with the abundant goodness that You gave them and in the spacious and fertile land You set before them, they would not serve You or turn from their wicked ways.

If we ignore the laws, the commands, and the warnings in the Bible, we will find ourselves in captivity to sin. The kings, the leaders, the priests, and the ancestors did not obey the law or listen to the commandments or the warnings that You gave. If we ignore the laws, the commandments, and the warnings that we see in the Bible, we will find ourselves in the same kind of captivity. The Assyrians may not show up at your door and drag you off, but you will find yourself captive to sin. The weight and the misery will be the same.

In verse 36, it says, "Here we are today, slaves in the land that You gave our ancestors so that they could enjoy its fruit and its goodness." Here we are, slaves in it. Here we are today. You and I are in a country, a state, a county, a city, a neighborhood, a house, a family, a marriage. Here we are in the land that God has given to us, and yet very often we live as slaves.

Look at verses 34 and 35 again. Let's substitute our own names and see how it fits. Verse 34: "I, Jason, did not obey the law or listen to Your commands and warnings that You gave to me. When Jason was in his kingdom with Your abundant goodness that You gave me and in the spacious land that You set before me, I would not serve You or turn from my wicked ways."

Do that again with your own name and see how it hurts because it fits so well. Here I am today, a slave in the land that You have given to me, a slave to sin that is present in all of us. What are the effects that we see? Verse 37 states, "Its abundant harvest goes to the kings that You have set over us because of our sins. They rule over our bodies and our livestock as they please. We are in great distress."

The effects, the effects—everything that seems to be good gets taken away and goes to somebody else.

Somebody that has been set over us, whether that's taxes or the good things that we seek to enjoy being taken away from us, whether it's our health, they rule over our bodies and our livestock. They do as they please, and we find ourselves in great distress.

Our natural tendency when faced with these challenges is to look outward. We want to blame society, the government, millennials, boomers, and all these other things. We want to go to war with various targets to obscure the real issue. We obscure it with indignation or anger. We want to blame a spouse, a governor, a president, a boss, or whatever else it could possibly be, as we dance around our chosen calf and avoid the one thing that can make a positive change for us.

If we continue to ignore our past failures and refuse to learn from them, we will only repeat them over and over again. Some Christians may say, "My past is forgiven. If God has forgotten it, then why should I remember it?" Yes, Christian, you are forgiven. Your sins are forgiven. If you have laid them at the feet of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven—past, present, and future. Those things are forgiven as far as the east is from the west.

However, if you fall into the same patch of quicksand four times in a row, you're forgiven, but you're still making a foolish choice. If you walk into the same quicksand, it doesn't matter how forgiven you are; you're still stuck in the quicksand. There are still consequences. When you're rescued from that and you turn around and run right back into the same patch of quicksand, that's just unwise. Don't do that.

We don't live under guilt, but we can learn from the past—only if we remember it. When we finally tire out and get done running into the same quicksand, we come to our senses. We see that the only true response that the situation demands is repentance. The crazy thing is that life is designed to lead us to God, not through our good behavior.

Some religions teach that if you're good enough, then God will be like, "Hey, high five, come with me." Our good behavior may help us and make our lives easier, but that's not what saves us. It's the repentance found at the foot of the cross of Jesus Christ where salvation is truly found.

The thing that's clear from the examples in this chapter and in our own lives is that we will continue to screw up. Romans chapter seven, starting in verse 21, says, "I find then a law that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good." Paul speaks of delighting in the law of God according to his inward man, but he also sees another law in his members, or in his flesh, warring against the law of his mind and bringing him into captivity to the law of sin, which is in his members.

"Oh, wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?" Paul asks. Who is going to deliver him from the fact that he wants to glorify God with all that he is, yet continually fails? In verse 25, he says, "I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. So then, with the mind, I myself serve the law of God, but with my flesh, the law of sin." Our flesh is present with us always, and its desires for sin are ever-present. Indeed, if we're honest, it is often victorious in the short term.

Paul states in verse 15 of the same chapter, "For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, or what I want to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that is what I do." When we see this and realize that we don't want to live this way, that we don't want to do these things, and that we want to glorify God, the way forward is through repentance.

The best thing we can learn from the example of the children of Israel is to repent quickly and continually. If we continue to look at the goodness of God, it highlights our frailty. If you want a sneak peek on how this works, read Nehemiah chapter 13 when we get done here; it will be eye-opening.

Remember, though, our frailty and failure lead us to Jesus, and that's where joy is found—in the act of repentance. Joy, because we have a Savior; joy, because He is.

Faithful and merciful joy comes from the understanding that God's love is not dependent on my performance; rather, it is directed by His nature. All of this serves to guide and direct us to God, not out of our shame, but because He loves us. He knows us, and He loves us anyway.

Even though we can tend to feel ashamed or embarrassed by our sin, we need to remember that it has been overcome by the love of a God who is faithful, merciful, and loves us with an everlasting love. This love is not because we deserve it, but because it is who He is. It is a love that is not hindered by our brokenness, but a love that makes us whole through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we know our brokenness. We know our failures. We know how often we fall short of what You have for us, and yet You love us anyway. Thank You, Father. Thank You for loving me, for forgiving me, and for continually setting my feet on solid ground, guiding and directing me closer to You.

Lord, I pray for all those who see this, all those who watch this, and all those who hear this. I pray that their hearts would be directed towards You. For those who may be broken and ashamed of themselves, I pray that they would find Your love—a love that heals our brokenness, a love that covers our shame, and a love that brings us to a right relationship with You.

Father, for those who may be in a place of being stiff-necked and arrogant, I pray that You would bring to them the circumstances that force them to cry out to You. Just like we saw with the children of Israel, the best thing that God could do for them was to bring them into captivity so that they would reach out to Him.

So, Father God, guide us and direct us. Thank You for Your love. Thank You for Your forgiveness. Thank You for the blessings that You have continually poured out to us, Lord. Help us to not turn away. But when we do, help us to repent quickly. Lord, help us to repent and get our feet right, moving in the right direction.

Lord Jesus, we pray these things in Your name. Amen.

All right, so we're going to finish the rest of this chapter.

Next week, it's only one verse, but we'll finish it then. I hope to see you all. God bless you guys. Bye-bye.