A CALL TO REMEMBER

TEXT: NEHEMIAH 9

INTRO:
Isa na sa pinakamasakit na nangyare sa buong buhay ko ay
kinalimutan ako ng taong hindi ko kayang makalimutan.

Hindi kita kinalimutan, sinanay mo lang talaga ako nang wala ka.

Mahirap pag nakalimutan ang dapat tandaan, pero mas mahirap

pag lagi mong natatandaan ang dapat mo nang kalimutan.

Sino sa inyo ang makakalimutin?

-papasok ka na…. nalimutan ang ID, umuwi sa bahay, malayo ang

bahay, wala ang ID sa bahay, nasa bag pala.

-susi… nasa bulsa pala.

I have been guilty of all of them. Pinakamalala sa akin,

makakalimutin ako sa pangalan. Sa mukha matandain ako pero sa
pangalan, madali ko malimutan. But I think there is a severe
memory loss that often happens to God’s people. It’s called
spiritual amnesia. For example, the people of Israel saw miracle
after miracle with the plagues in Egypt and even saw the Red Sea
parted right before their eyes. But what happens as soon as they
get to Mt. Sinai? Moses goes up to talk with God and being gone
six weeks, the people immediately start building their own god and
rebelling. Parang tayo, maraming beses mo nang nakita si God na
gumalaw sa buhay mo, naranasan ang pagkilos niya sa pamilya
mo, sa pag aaral mo, sa finances mo, pero napakadali mo ring
manlamig.
Minsan masarap balikan ang nakaraan, ikumpara mo sa kung ano
ka ngayon, para makita mo kung gaano kalaki ang ginawang
pagbabago ng Diyos sa buhay mo. Tapos manlalamig ka? Tapos
tatamarin ka?

When you get to Numbers, you find the people really irritating. Why
were they always doubting?! the cycle of God’s people forgetting
the Lord, sinning, crying for deliverance and forgetting the Lord all
over again. But it doesn’t take long before we start to see that they
are actually reflective of us.

The disciples in the New Testament are the same way. Soon after
Jesus multiplies the loaves and fish, they would find themselves in
a similar predicament again and they are still questioning how to
feed the people! How many times did Jesus have to calm the winds
and the waves for them? Yes, we know it all too well. We are
forgetful people. We need to pray for better memories. We have
always been forgetful and so if you ever noticed in the Old
Testament, they have psalms and books repeating the stories over
and over again. Why did they do that? They knew the importance
of remembering, because we all easily forget.

Samuel Johnson said it best that, “People need to be reminded

more often than they need to be instructed.”Sinabihan ka
naman na eh, kinalimutan mo lang. kaya dapat paalalahanan ka.
Kung makakalimutin ka, guwag kang magalit kung mdalas kang
paalalahanan. Mabuti nga may nagpapaalala sayo. Naranasan
niyo na iyon? Makakalimutin tayo. Yung sinaktan ka, binigyan ka
lang ng palamig, nakalimutan mo, hindi lang yung sakit kundi pati
iyong aral.

NEHEMIAH 9
Today we are going to look at Nehemiah 9, where the people of
God remember. Their remembrance is going to be in a form of
confession of sin. They are going to serve as an example to us,
especially when we have spiritual amnesia.

Feast of Booths. It was a week-long festival where the Jews would

live in tents for a week, remembering their ancestors who also lived
in tents between Egypt and the Promised Land. It was celebrated
on the 15th day of every New Year. The Jews celebrated this to 1)
Look back and thank God for His faithfulness in the past 2)
Look around at His blessings in the present and to 3) Look
ahead, remembering that they were not put their trust in walls
and anything they cannot take with them after they die, but in
the Lord and the city He has prepared for them.

Today they are going to elaborate on those three items in more

detail here in Neh. 9, focusing more on looking back than the other
two. Let’s start with this:

I. Make time to intentionally and purposefully remember

(Neh. 9:1-5)

Intentional: sinasadya.

1 It was on the twenty-fourth day of that same month. The

people of Israel gathered together. They did not eat. And they
put on rough cloth and put dust on their heads. This was to
show their sadness.

It is still the first month of their year, which would be our September-
October time (right about now!).

Day 1 of the Month: dedicated to celebrating the New Year and it

was called the Feast of Trumpets.
Day 10 was the Day of Atonement (not mentioned in Neh. 8) and

Days 15-22 was the Feast of Booths.

Now we are in Day 24. They just had a joyous festival, but all the
feasting has suddenly turned into fasting. Anyare???

Look at Neh. 9:1. Anong suto nila??(cf. Matt. 11:21).

What I found interesting was that everything seems to be “out of

order” since Neh. 8. The order was supposed to be:

celebration (Day 1, Feast of Trumpets)—

repentance (Day 10, Day of Atonement) ---

celebration (Day 15, Feast of Booths).

We kind of do that with our holidays. We have Christmas, a time of

celebration. But Good Friday is supposed to be a time of mourning,
but then Resurrection Sunday, a time of celebration.

However, here, on day one itself if you recall, people were weeping
over their sin (Neh. 8:9). Now after the Feast of Booths, they are
again grieving over their sin. It made me realize this: that when
God gets a hold of people, it is not always neat and orderly. It is
rather messy. God does not fit in our nice boxes. Kapag ang Diyos
kumilos, minsan akalain mo nanggugulo eh, hindi siya kumikilos
doon sa way na ineexpect or gusto natin. You cannot put God in a
box.

Isaiah 55:9

Just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways
higher than your ways. And my thoughts are higher than your
thoughts.
Here we have a special movement of God among His people and
sometimes that messes up everything. Minsan si Lord, iisipin mo
talaga panira ng moment. Who says you can only think about your
sin on the Day of Atonement? This is really a special move of
God. Ang Diyos may sariling paraan, may sariling panahon.

But notice how intentional they are here.

Nehemiah 9:1-2

It was on the twenty-fourth day of that same month. The

people of Israel gathered together. They did not eat. And they
put on rough cloth and put dust on their heads. This was to
show their sadness.

2 Those people whose ancestors were from Israel had

separated themselves from all foreigners. They stood and
confessed their sins and their ancestors’ sins.

They are wearing the appropriate attire, setting time apart to come
together in solidarity with their ancestors in Neh. 9:2.

The reason they separated from all non-Jews was because they
were going to confess the sins of their own people. Kargo nila sarili
nila.

3 For a fourth of the day they stood where they were. And they
read from the Book of the Teachings of the Lord their God.
Then they spent another fourth of the day confessing their
sins. And they worshiped the Lord their God.

Notice again the connection between reading the Word of God and
conviction of sin. They read for a while, they confessed and
worshipped in Neh. 9:3. This may have included reading from the
Pentateuch and singing some of the Psalms.

James 1:22-24

22 Do what God’s teaching says; do not just listen and do

nothing. When you only sit and listen, you are fooling
yourselves. 23 A person who hears God’s teaching and does
nothing is like a man looking in a mirror. 24 He sees his face,
then goes away and quickly forgets what he looked like.

The Word is a mirror that shows you how dirty you are (James
1:23).

This assessment can be life-changing, as it has the potential to

liberate us from damaging habits and bring us closer to God.

After the Feast of Booths, they should have gone back to their day-
to-day routines, but being moved by God’s Word, they wanted
more. Grabe…. Dapat back to ordinary day na back to work, back
to school, back to normal life, but because they were moved by
God’s word, they wanted more!!! So they set time apart to seek the
Lord. It was intentional and purposeful. Notice all the action verbs.
They assembled, separated, confessed, stood up, read,
worshipped and cried out. Bakit ka pa babalik sa normal, kung
pwede naman sa special. Special day for the Lord.

What keeps us from being intentional and purposeful in taking

time to remember who God is and what He has done and what
He is doing in our lives? I would say it is busyness, “We have
learned to multiply our possessions, but we reduced our
values…We’ve learned how to make a living, but not a life.
We’ve added years to life not life to years.”

Isn’t it interesting that a secular television actor notices how

busyness does not equal experiencing life, but we who know Him
who promised to give us abundant life, (John 10:10) do not realize
it?

John 10:10

10 A thief comes to steal and kill and destroy. But I came to

give life—life in all its fullness.

Pastor John Ortberg asked a wise friend once what it takes to be

spiritually healthy. He said just one thing to him, “You must
ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life." He asked him what else
and he said that’s it. Ortberg goes on to say, “I've concluded that
my life and the well-being of the people I serve depends on
following his prescription, for hurry is the great enemy of
spiritual life in our day. Hurry destroys souls.” The greatest
paradox about this is as Henry Nouwen says, “many of us are busy
and bored at the same time.”

I think this is a good word for us. I notice that so many of us are
often so tired. Pagod ka, pero ang tanong may naaaccomplish ka
ba? And the time we do have, we medicate ourselves with the
escape of entertainment.

Beloved, do not be so focused on making a living, that you are

not making a life and you are not living the life God desires for
you and wants to give you.

be intentional and purposeful with the Lord and your life. Kailangan
sadyain mo.
Make time now to cultivate the habit of slowing down and
remembering the Lord. Make time to reflect and meditate, before
you realize, as I said last week, that you have shriveled up on the
inside long before you shrivel up on the outside.

Secondly:

II. Remember the character of God (Neh. 9:5-31)

Now we get into this long prayer. The prayer begins with a
recognition of who God is.

a) His greatness (Neh. 9:5-6)

They said, “Stand up and praise the Lord your God. He lives
forever and ever.” “Blessed be your wonderful name. It is
more wonderful than all blessing and praise.6 You are the only
Lord. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens. You
made all the stars. You made the earth and everything that is
on it. You made the seas and everything that is in them. You
give life to everything. The heavenly army worships you.

How great is God? Several times the word “great” is used here. He
is eternal (Neh. 9:5), He is unique (Neh. 9:6) and He is Creator and
Preserver (Neh. 9:6).

As Creator and Preserver, we are reminded that God is sovereign

above all and that life comes from Him and not from ourselves. So
all praise goes to the Creator and not the creation.

Idolatry comes when, as Augustine prayed, “…the world forgets

You, its Creator, and falls in love with what You have created
instead of with You

b) His promises (Neh. 9:7-8)

7 “You are the Lord God. You chose Abram. You brought him
out of Ur of the Babylonians. You named him Abraham 8 You
found that he was faithful to you.So you made an agreement
with him.You promised to give his descendants the land of the
Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Jebusites and
Girgashites. You have kept your promise. You are fair.

The prayer moves to their father of faith, Abraham. Notice several

acts of grace in the life of Abraham.

God indeed picks unlikely people from unlikely places to display

His glory, so that we cannot boast of our own achievements.

Secondly, God changed him. Abram meant “high father,” but God
changed him to Abraham “father of a multitude.” The herdsman
who was “as good as dead” became “father of a multitude.”

Next, God knew him. When the people are acknowledging that
God knew the motives of Abraham’s heart, they are also
acknowledging that God is aware of everything. There are no
secrets.

Lastly, God used him. He made a covenant with Abraham, using

his trust and obedience with God as an example for his
descendants. God always does what He says: “You always keep
your promise.” You can rely on His Word because of the integrity
of God’s character: “For you are righteous.”

b) His loving power (Neh. 9:9-12)

9 “You saw our ancestors suffering in Egypt. You heard them

cry out at the Red Sea. 10 You did signs and miracles against
the king of Egypt. And you did them against all his officers and
all the people of Egypt. You knew how proud they were. You
made everyone know your name. And it is still known today.
11 You divided the sea in front of our ancestors. They walked
through it on dry ground. But you threw the people chasing
them into the deep water. They were like a stone being thrown
into mighty waters. 12 You led our ancestors with a pillar of
cloud in the daytime. And you led them with a pillar of fire at
night. It lit the way they were supposed to go.

The prayer moves from Abraham to Moses. It moves from the

creation of the nation to its salvation, from God’s grace in
establishing a community to his power in redeeming them.[12]
Once again, God chooses an unlikely hero in Moses, a refugee
who had fled from Egypt forty years earlier, guilty of murder. Here
we see the combination of God’s love and power.

God’s love saw the suffering and His power did something about it
(Neh. 9:9). Ray Brown notes that, “Many people have love but no
power to help, whilst others have forceful power but minimal love.
Love without power is helpless, power without love is dangerous.
God is both loving and powerful (Ps. 62:11-12).

Psalm 62:11-12

11 God has said this, and I have heard it over and over: God,
you are strong.12 Lord, you are loving. You reward a person
for what he does.

c) His patience and mercy (Neh. 9:16-18, 26-31)

26 “But they were disobedient and turned against you. They

ignored your teachings. Your prophets warned them to come
back to you. But they killed those prophets. And they spoke
against you. 27 So you allowed their enemies to defeat them.
Their enemies treated them badly. But in this time of trouble
our ancestors cried out to you. And you heard from heaven.
You had great mercy. You gave them saviors who saved them
from the power of their enemies. 28 But as soon as they had
rest, they again did what was evil. So you left them to their enemies
who ruled over them. But they cried out to you again. And you
heard from heaven. Because of your mercy, you saved them again
and again. 29 You warned them to return to obeying your
teachings. But they were proud. They did not obey your
commands. If a man obeys your laws, he will live. But they sinned
against your laws. They were stubborn and disobedient. They
would not listen. 30 You were patient with them for many years.
You warned them by your Spirit through the prophets. But they did
not pay attention. So you allowed them to be defeated by other
countries. 31 But because your mercy is great, you did not kill them
all. You did not leave them. You are a kind and merciful God.

Let’s take a look at how the people responded to all that God had
done for them. Here is a list:

Stubborn Pride (Neh. 9:16a,17---acted presumptuously and

stiffened their neck)

Disobedient (Neh. 9:16b,17, 26)

Ungrateful (Neh. 9:15, 17---you gave, they were not mindful of)

Blatant rebellion (Neh. 9:17---appointed their own leader)

Idolatry (Neh. 9:18) and Unashamed profanity (Neh.

9:18, 27committed great blasphemies)

They not only to ignore what God has said, but they took steps not
to hear it again (Neh. 9:26, casting your law behind their backs and
killing your prophets). But God absorbed their disloyalty,
repeatedly. We are now in the book of Judges, where the cycle was
always the same: prosperity, arrogance, apostasy, judgment,
repentance and restoration (Neh. 9:27, 30).

When things went well for them, they not only forgot God, they
turned to other gods. God disciplined them by allowing other
nations to conquer them. It was like an unfaithful partner in
marriage who was generously forgiven after an affair. Then in a
short while, the same thing happened again, and not once but
repeatedly. It is an impossible strain on life’s most special
relationship. A human being can hardly bear it, but the Lord,
grieved by the repetitive infidelity, fully forgave them and delivered
them many times (Neh. 9:28).

But God was always “ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow
to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them
(Neh. 9:17). He was patient with them (Neh. 9:30) and despite their
rebellion, in His great mercies, He did not make an end to them (I
love that phrase!) or forsake them, because He is gracious and
merciful (Neh. 9:31).

III. Remember His continued faithfulness despite our repeated

faithlessness (Neh. 9:32-37)

As the praying people here rehearse the story of their forefathers,

the scene changes from their past to the distress in the present,
hoping for a better future. They approach God in several different
ways here. Why can they (and we as well) remember His continued
faithfulness despite their (and our) repeated faithlessness?

a) We appeal to Him personally (Neh. 9:32a).

“And so, our God, you are the great and mighty and wonderful
God.
 Notice the phrase “Our God” in Neh. 9:32. They see Him as
their God and not just the God of their ancestors. And the sins
are “ours” as well. How much more do we know Him as He
revealed Himself to us through His Son!

b) We appeal to His love (Neh. 9:32b). Notice again the adoring of

His character here. Truly the word “awesome” should be reserved
for God alone! Despite their blatant disloyalty and lovelessness, His
love never changed. “Steadfast love” here is hesed, which is one
of my favorite words in the Bible, which has been defined as the
consistent, ever-faithful, relentless, constantly-pursuing, lavish,
extravagant, unrestrained, furious love of our Father God!”[14] It is
found 246x in the OT and 127x (over half in the Psalms).[15] Just
like He kept that covenant of love with their ancestors, He will do
the same with them and with us. For us we know that God
demonstrates His love ultimately in sending us His Son (Rom. 5:8),
in the New Covenant (Heb. 8:8-13).

c) We recognize the devastation and cost of sin (Neh. 9:32c-

35). Their past disobedience affected every strata in society and
they were still suffering from the consequences of it. It was truly
cancerous! However, even though they never kept their end of the
bargain, God always kept His.

d) We know God is not done with us yet (Neh. 9:36-37). Yes Lord,
the law was abandoned, the commands unheeded and the
warnings were ignored (Neh. 9:34). Because they did not serve
God, they were slaves to others (Neh. 9:36), namely the Persians
rule their land and the taxes they put their land means all their hard
work goes to them (Neh. 9:37). But they were back. God brought
them back. He helped them build a wall. So He’s not done with
them yet! So they are trusting that their great God (Neh. 9:19, 32),
who has done great things (Neh. 9:25, 27, 31, and 35) can save
them from their great distress (Neh. 9:37).
Conclusion

As we conclude here, I want us to take some time to remember.

We are too busy to do this enough. I would recommend we do this
with our families on a regular basis, otherwise we will have spiritual
amnesia. For us, our history is seen through the lens of salvation.
Look at all the categories we saw today of the character of God:
His greatness, the way He keeps His promises, His loving power,
His abundant, generous goodness, His grace and His patience and
mercy.

At the bottom of your handout, I want us to remember. from the

time you were born to now, that will help you to remember God’s
hand in your own life. Remember to look at it through the eyes of
your salvation. Don’t forget how He saved you from your sin. Think
of His faithfulness to you even now. Confess your faithlessness.
And remember how He knows you, loves you and the fact that He
is not done with you yet! End with a praise of thanksgiving for that
and a prayer of trust. After a few minutes, the worship team will
close us in a time of worship.