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Primarily we'll just say there in Nehemiah chapter 9, but notice verse number 5 it says then the Levites Jeshua and Cadmiel Beni, Hashabniah, Cherubiah, Harijah, Shebaniah and Petahiah said Stand up and bless the Lord your God forever and ever the title for the sermon this morning is Bless the Lord your God bless the Lord your God Your God Now one thing that I've observed Just you know in real life. I'm not having to go to anybody right just so you know But you know what I just observed that in your life at the church even even our blessed hope at this church Is that sometimes when we when we pray as individuals we have a hard time? blessing the Lord Okay, and I and I'm just going to share some thoughts I think this chapter gives us a good foundation of what we can do to bless the Lord And I remember as a child think about this idea of blessing the Lord normally when we read for the psalms We read many times the psalmist is just blessing the Lord and I used to think as a child Well, how do I bless the Lord exactly? I mean I know when I think about the Lord blessing me I think about you know You know life. I think about my health I think about my work and I think about you know I guess I was at school back then and The friends that I had in the family that I had and I used to look down to the things that I have the great Things you know that fact that God has given me a new day of life I said well, I'm being blessed by the Lord, and I think about how do I bless the Lord in return? You know what can I give to others? I mean really what can I give to the Lord right our Lord's given me so much is blessing me so much I think sometimes we have a hard time But how do we bless the Lord and I think this is why sometimes in our prayer life? We struggle inside the how do I bless the Lord? You know and and one thing that I had to learn as I matured as a Christian Was instead of just going to the Lord and saying look Lord. I need this I need this I need that I need that You know how do I just bless the Lord and really it's not that complicated Blessing the Lord is just praising the Lord. It's just thanking the Lord It's just acknowledging who he is and what he has done for us Yes when it comes to salvation, but acknowledging even the great gifts that he's given us for our life Hey when we do that to all the Lord we are we are blessing the Lord We are lifting up his name, and this is something that we need to develop in in our in our Christian life You know just just thanking God for the great things that he's done for who he is And so we'll see in this chapter the people of God blessing the Lord. Let's start there in verse number one Now in the twenty and fourth day of this month say what is that month? We'll go to in a minute the children of Israel were assembled we fast in and who sack cloths and earth upon them and The seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers and stood and confess their sins and the iniquities of their fathers Alright, so when it says here. This is the 24th day of this month Let me just give you just quickly let you know what we're up to in this chapter Go back to chapter 8 please Nehemiah chapter 8 and verse number 18 Nehemiah chapter 8 and verse number 18 you may recall that it was a seventh month and they had two feasts that they were celebrating right and When you look when you look at Nehemiah chapter 8 verse 18 It says also day by day from the first day unto the last day He read in the book of the law of God and they kept the feast seven days and on the eighth day was a solemn assembly According to according unto the manner all right So you may recall that that was celebrating this the second celebration in this chapter was the Feast of Tabernacles and that Feast of Tabernacles Commenced on the 14th day of that was a 14 or 15th day anyway What does they think might be the 15 that they know I think about it of that month, okay? So you can see here that it's a feast for seventh day, and then on the eighth day They have a solemn assembly, so that's eight days in total so you consider that let's say It's a 15th right that would bring it now It's actually the 14th now that I think about it that brings us up to the 22nd the 22nd day of the month Now when you start looking at Nehemiah chapter 9 verse 1 it says now the twenty and fourth day So this is two days later two days after they have finished celebrating the Feast of the Tabernacles So my point is that Nehemiah chapter 9 is straight after the events of Nehemiah chapter 8 all right So what are they doing? They're no longer feasting now. They're fasting all right now now They're considering that they've got sacklops upon them Hey They're kind of in mourning aren't they usually when we read about in the Bible they put sacklops and and ashes upon their head these Kinds of ideas they're in mourning that they're fasting Why they fast in because it says there that they've they confess in their sins and the iniquities of their fathers Yes, that they're rejoicing about that God's brought them back to Jerusalem God's rebuilt helped them rebuild the walls the temples back right the people are coming back the Jews are coming back to the land But they stopped for a moment and say look we better confess our sins You know we've done so much wrong in the eyes of God the fact that we will take it into captivity Those 70 years you know our fathers our forefathers They've done so much sin against the Lord God and so they want to get right with God as a nation they want to get those sins confess before the Lord which is a good thing to do and Verse number three and they stood up in their place and read in the book of the law of God their God One fourth part of the day so one fourth part of the day is about three hours, okay? So they're just they're here in God's Word if you can preach it for about three hours And this is an another fourth part they confess so for a whole three hours Sometimes we have the Lord's up We have a time of silent prayer you know that time silent prayer might be a few minutes So we're just going for God confess our sins these guys are spending three hours Confessing their sins confessing the sins of their fathers have that how have they disobeyed the Lord and it says and worshiped The Lord their God praise God now. They're now they're worshiping God after confessing their sins and then verse number four Then stood up upon the stairs of the Levites Joshua and Benai Cadmule, Shebaniah, Bunash, Cherubiah, Bani and Canani And cried with a loud voice unto the Lord their God then the Levites Joshua and Cadmule, Bani Hashebniah, Cherubiah, Hryja, Shebaniah and Petahiah Said stand up and bless the Lord your God forever and ever and Look how it continues and blessed be thy glorious name Which is exalted above all blessing and praise So we learn a few things if you want to get into the habit of blessing the Lord Hey, just start exalting the name of God just start thanking God exalting above all things Say God you're the highest God that we have Lord you are above all things You know, you're the king of kings or the Lord of Lords, you know And you still look down upon us as your children Which is which is that amazing amazing thought to think about who our great God is sometimes I just need to remember how great our God is You know the fact that he even cares for us That he even allows us to live and and to enjoy life and to serve him and worship him It blows your mind when you just think about the crate of all things a God that is outside of the natural You know the natural world, you know, he exists in the heavens He's above it all and he can be here right now is he is here right now in our church He's here in our midst the Holy Spirit's work in our hearts, you know I mean the fact that he loves man that he sent Jesus Christ to die for us. We serve a great God And so I do think as I said this chapter can help us improve How to praise and to bless him and you know, we need to get into this habit Honestly, we really do I feel like it's an area that I've lacked in It's an area that I've just seen other people lack in the struggles to just praise God, you know And please remember when you go to prayer, thank God praise God for who he is first and foremost Then bring your petitions then bring your supplications to him Let's keep going there verse number six. How else do they praise him thou even thou art Lord alone. You're the only true God Thou hast made heaven hey is acknowledging you're the creator you've created the heaven Look at this the heaven of heavens. So what is the heaven of? heavens Well, if the heavens have a heaven then there must be at least two heavens to have a heaven In fact, the Bible teaches this, you know consistently that there are three heavens. All right, there are three heavens We've got our atmosphere which is heaven We've got the clouds and the birds right in this heaven then there's a second heaven where of course we have the Celestial bodies the Sun Moon stars and then the third heaven that's the heaven of the heavens as the highest heaven That's of course where our Lord God is Look at this. It says we've all their hosts. So you've created heaven and all the hosts of the heavens So what is it saying here that each heaven is not empty each heaven has a host? Okay, like I said the first heaven we've got the clouds We've got the rain coming from the heavens right now. There are things operating within this current heaven, you know the second heaven We've got the celestial bodies as I said, there is a host Okay, these the heavens aren't empty and then we have the third heaven the host of the third heaven Of course, we think about the angels We think of the beasts that we read about that worship God and of course all the believers that have already passed on Hey, they're part of the host of heaven as well. It says here and All things that are there in So sorry, so we mentioned the heavens and then it says the earth Alright and all things that are there in so there are things upon this earth There are hosts in the surf the seas and all that is there in so there are hosts in the seas of course the fish and the whales and all that and all that is there in and thou Preservest them all so the Lord God his hands are upon all these areas each heaven each of the third heaven God's hands is in control upon this earth regardless of what government is in power God's hand is preserving us preserving all things on this earth Hey Even the things in the sea even in the depths of the oceans where we've not yet explored as a people Hey, even then God is preserving those things God's hands is above all things. He didn't just create things and forgot about it He's created these things and continues preserve his creation And then it says this and the host of heaven Worship of thee. So, of course, this must be referring to the heaven of heavens, you know, the third heaven all the hosts of heaven Worship in the Lord God Say what do we do when we pass away and we go to be with heaven? You know what you're doing you're worshiping God, you know praising God. We are blessing the Lord Hey, if you're gonna do that in heaven when you pass on and when God creates a new heavens and you have hey Let's get into the habit. Now. Let's gonna have a praising God right now Hey, we're part of his created beings and we've been saved by the blood of Jesus Christ And so the Bible of course speaks of the third here I just really read to you second Corinthians chapter 12 verse 2 It says I knew a man in Christ about 14 years ago whether in the body I cannot tell or whether out of the body. I cannot tell God know if such and one caught up to the third heaven All right, so the Bible is very consistent on this topic God's created three heavens and the third heaven is where the throne of God is. All right, let's keep going there verse number seven thou art the Lord the God who did choose Abram and Brought us him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees and gave us to him the name of Abraham So they're still blessing the Lord. They're still praising God God you've chosen Abraham Right, you know you you you you led him you brought him out of that land, right? And of course Abraham we can think of him as a father of what ultimately comes the nation of Israel And so what are we looking at here as part of the blessing of praising of God? They're going back they're going back and seeing the great things that God has done Historically and not even in their own lives just even in the generations that have gone before You know, we ought to be thankful that God has used his people to preach the gospel in generations past Names that we don't even know but if those people were not preaching the gospel it would not have been passed down to us to this generation and We would not even know how to be saved if not for the Christians of the past Yeah, we should thank God that God has used people in the past. Yes. God used Abraham. God used people in the Bible God uses disciples these apostles But how many unnamed Christians, you know, if this world continues one day we're going to be the unnamed Christians There's gonna be future generations praising God that are saved and they ought to be thankful for us being a Generation in that process of getting the gospel out to this world But notice here it says you chose Abraham and gave us in the name Abram and gave us him the name Abraham Hey, they're blessing the Lord. They're praising God just for change the name of Abram. Now. What's the significance of that? Now we often think about Abraham as the father of Israel But keep your finger there and turn to Genesis 17 just as a reminder go to Genesis 17 verse 4 Genesis 17 verse 4 Genesis 17 verse 4 the Bible reads as for me behold my covenant is with thee and thou shall be a father of many nations Now we don't often hear about this We often hear about Abraham as the father of Israel, which of course he did become okay, but he's the father of many nations In what sense look at verse number five neither shall thy name anymore be called Abram But thy name shall be Abraham For a father of many nations have I made thee So the name Abram if you don't know means basically means father and the name Abraham means a father of many Okay, basically that's what Abraham means the father of many nations That's what Abraham means and we need to remind ourselves of this because again. We don't want to be an Israel worshiping people okay that that modern-day nation of Israel is not the people of God Abraham is a father of many nations. That's why God changed his name Not that he would just not that God would just save the Israel and Jews on the Israelites No that people of all nations would believe in the Lord Jesus Christ Abraham is our spiritual forefather Regardless of what your background ethnicity whatever nation you come from whether you're Jew Greek Gentile. It doesn't matter You know we have Abraham to be as a spiritual forefather as a father of faith is a father of many nations stay there in Genesis 17 Actually, let's keep going there verse number six, and I will make thee exceedingly Fruitful look at this, and I will make nations there is again Nations of the plural and Kings shall come out of thee now again. We think about this in what sense how can multiple kings come out of Abraham? Well don't forget we have the millennium coming a millennial reign of Christ Hey Christ is going to be over all nations and again who are the kings and priests God's people hey? We're going to be kings we're going to be priests over many nations when it comes to the millennial reign of Christ and Verse number seven and I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their Generations for an everlasting covenant to be a god unto thee and to thy seed after thee All right keep your finger there. We are coming back to that keep your finger there actually no. We're not coming back Sorry, I changed my notes a little bit We're not coming back to Genesis 17 But I went to just remember there And you guys know this very well that this covenant is promised that Abraham will be a father of many nations is Given to Abraham and to his seed okay now let's go back to Nehemiah chapter 9 verse number 8 Nehemiah chapter 9 verse number 8 and Found us his heart. That's the heart of Abraham Faithful before thee and made us a covenant with him we just read about to give the land of the Canaanites the Hittites the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Jebusites and the gergashites to give it I say look at this to his seed That's what we read about in Genesis 19 17 and has performed thy words for thou art righteous There's again the blessing of God praising God whatever praising him you perform your words. You're a god that keeps your promises You're a god that is righteous this covenant that God made with Abraham is one that will never change It's been promised to Abraham and to his seed, and I'm going to quickly read to you two familiar passages Galatians 3 16 Okay, it says now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made yes They were we read that in Genesis. We're reading that in Nehemiah. We're now reading about that in Galatians Yes The promises were made to Abraham to his seed Then it says he saith not and to seeds as of many But as of one and to thy seed which is Christ Amen when we read Genesis 17 it says Abraham to see the promises have been made this covenant has been made It's been made with Abraham and to Jesus Christ This makes sense how can Abraham be a father of many nations This is why because it continues then in verse number 28 neither is sorry there is neither June or Greek There is neither bond nor free There is neither male nor female for ye are all one in Christ Jesus And if ye be Christ's then are ye Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise Please remember who you are your heirs to this promise that we read about in Genesis 17 You are because you're in Christ Jesus because you're saved and brethren our body You know we live in Australia Yeah, you know what Abraham is a father of many nations because he's got children in Australia He's got children in America. He's got children in New Zealand. He's got children across the entire world that are in Christ Jesus because of faith So you know when we read Genesis 17, please don't lose sight. Please don't think oh, yes, but Israel Israel's history Yes, it is, but it's about the history of all of God's people of all nations. I I Realize I'm preaching loud because the rain but rains kind of come down, but I saved my voice a little bit okay, all right Nehemiah chapter 9 verse number 9, please Nehemiah 9 9 is what we're up to and Did see the affliction of our fathers in Egypt so of course when they were taken You know Joseph and his brothers moved into Egypt, then they were enslaved generations later This is what it's all about God's seen the affliction of our fathers in Egypt and Heard us their cry by the Red Sea, and you guys know the story when they exited Egypt The Red Sea stood in their path, and they didn't know how they're gonna cross all right and show signs and wonders upon Pharaoh And on all his servants and on all the people of his land For thou newest that they dealt proudly against them So didst thou get thee a name as it is this day So they've been praised in the name of God and now they're explained. This is the moment where your name When you got your name Lord say what does that mean you got your name now? This is not about God's name that we think about Jesus or Jehovah or the Lord Almighty God Almighty When it's all about naming it's all about reputation This is where you got your reputation God when you dealt with us out of Egypt all right Please keep your finger there and turn to Exodus chapter 9 Exodus chapter 9 I just want to show you this a little bit more Exodus chapter 9 verse number 15 Exodus chapter 9 verse number 15 Because again when you think about the exodus out of Egypt we often think about this one nation Israel The Israelites God's people coming out of that land and yes of course it is But don't forget Abraham is the father of many nations all right So it's not just a story of people come one nation being extra special to everybody else when you look at Exodus 9 15 Exodus 9 15 it says for now I will stretch out my hand that I may smite thee and thy people with pestilence That's the Egyptians, and thou shalt be cut off from the earth Now notice verse 16 is so important and in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up For to show in thee my power and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth Why did God allow for Pharaoh to hold back the Jews or the Israelites for so long? You know we can see that Pharaoh harden his heart But then God said it hard in the heart of Pharaoh that reprobates, but God did it for a purpose Yes for the Israelites to have a wonderful miracle a wonderful story of being birthed out of that Egypt. Yes That's that's true But primarily we see here that God's name will be proclaimed with declared. That's what he means declared for all the earth Hey all people of all nation will be talking about this great God that delivered Israel out of Egypt Yes, you know God always cared for others. It's never been just this one nation That's all I care about The reason God allowed Pharaoh to be hardened to reason to that position is that the entire world would know his name Would know what great works God has done for his people And this makes perfect sense with what we're reading you know again We're looking at the history of the Israelites yeah, but don't lose sight that God has a greater picture for all people Okay, and he used the nation of Israel to demonstrate his reputation his name his authority his power his blessings Can you please go to Exodus 12 since you're there already Exodus 12 and verse number 12 Exodus 12 and verse number 12 Just a reminder this this our final step of coming out of Egypt as it were Exodus 12 12 for I will pass through the land of Egypt this night And I will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt both man and beast and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment. I am the Lord and the blood shall be to you for a token Upon the houses where ye are and when I see the blood I will pass over you and The plague shall not be upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt so don't forget that's the blood of the Passover lamb our Passover lamb again the Passover lamb of Exodus was symbolic was a picture a representation of the true Passover lamb Which is Jesus Christ the lamb that taketh away the sin of the world and God says when I see that blood I will pass over you you will not be judged with the Egyptians that do not have this blood upon their doorposts and so what we see here is the symbolism of the Israelites coming out of Egypt because of the blood of the lamb okay and this Symbolizes the same exodus that we've all experienced the moment you were saved Okay, the moment you trusted Christ the blood of Christ was applied upon you and God's judgment God's curse God's wrath Hey, it's passed over you because he sees the blood of the lamb. He sees the blood of Jesus Christ And so the story of the Israelites coming out of Egypt again is not just a story just for the Jews. It's a story for For people of all nations Abraham the father of all nations the story when you were saved that you came out of Egypt as it were you're not going to Be judged you're not going to be destroyed by God, but you've been saved by the precious blood of Jesus Christ That's what the exodus story represents Salvation salvation for all people and the fact that God's name is being declared throughout the whole earth You know they're here about this great story. How God passed over when he saw the blood The Bible says in Ephesians 1 7 in whom we have redemption Through his blood the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace all right back to Nehemiah 9 verse 11 Nehemiah 9 11 and Thou didst divide the sea before them that's the Red Sea so they went through the midst of the sea on the dry land and Their persecutors thou threw us into the deeps as a stone into the mighty waters Moreover thou lettest them in the day by the cloudy pillar and in the night by a pillar of fire To give them light in the way wherein they should go now notice. This isn't just a historical lesson They're not just going through their history. Oh, yeah, that's what happened They're still blessing the Lord they're saying God you've done all this thing all these things for us You're the one that delivered out of Egypt us out of Egypt You're the one that's passed us through the Red Sea you've done all these great things This is a way to bless the Lord to praise the Lord now I thank God that we have our hymnals You know the songs of praise that we sing to the Lord it helps us bless the Lord helps us praise him But brethren this is what you need to do you need to go back and thank God for your salvation Bless him for what he's done praise him for what he's done Not just that he saved you, but he's done other great works in your life You know when you go back and remember these things and say God. Yeah, you did that for me This is part of blessing the Lord now when we think about this idea of You know passing through the Red Sea the pillar of cloud upon them Don't forget a cloud is made up of water particles, and they're passing through that Red Sea as they're trying to escape for the Egyptians That's that's basically symbolism as well Okay, so the coming out of Egypt is symbolic of salvation the passing through the Red Sea is symbolic as well I'll just quickly read to you from 1st Corinthians 10 1 that says moreover brethren. I would not that you should be ignorant Now I want to notice this because the Corinthian Church is not a Jewish Church. It's a Gentile Church Okay, it's it's in it's in Corinth all right. It says now. It says this moreover brethren so brethren Hey you Corinthians you Gentiles you Greeks right moreover brethren I would not that you should be ignorant how that sorry how that all our fathers Our fathers Were under the cloud that's the pillar of cloud and all passed through the sea That's the Red Sea did you know those are our spiritual fathers? Those that were saved of course not all of them were saved But those that were saved that came out of Egypt pass through the Red Sea there are spiritual fathers as well, okay? And It keeps going there it says in verse number two and we're all baptized unto Moses Into the cloud in the cloud and in the sea so what does that represent? Baptism you get saved the next step is to get baptized passing through the Red Sea is a picture of baptism I know they passed through dry land I know they didn't get wet, but they had the walls of water around them They had the pillar of cloud above them so in many ways. They were baptized or immersed in water Okay, symbolically as they pass through that Red Sea And that's the next step once you're saved the next step to do is to get baptized all right so again We'll read for these stories these history there are greater truths out there There are spiritual lessons even that apply to you Abraham the father of many nations verse number 13 Nehemiah 9 13 Oh Sorry sorry something else so something else that we read in verse number 12 It says and in the night by a pillar of fire to give them lights in the way We're in they should go so sometimes They would travel in the night as well when it's dark so instead of a pillar of cloud God will come as a pillar of fire and that fire would give him light to give him warmth and it'll give him direction I've ever see in which ways they were traveling and that reminds me of Luke chapter 1 verse number 79 speaking of Jesus Christ It says to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death To guide our feet into the way of peace So what's that symbolism represent the fire the fact that it provides them a direction a way to go hey? That's also symbolic of Christ that he is our lights. Yes We're saved, but now we want to demonstrate and show us which way where to walk and brethren We are living in a world of darkness. I believe our government has become a little darker Today than it was yesterday, okay, just a little darker, but you know what we should not get distracted We pay attention to the light of Jesus Christ, and he will guide our feet in the ways that we are to walk verse number 13 thou camest down also upon Mount Sinai and spake us with them from heaven and Gave us them right judgments and true laws good statutes and commandments and made us known unto them thy holy Sabbath and Commandest them precepts statutes and laws by the hand of Moses thy servants and brethren We still have those statutes and laws they haven't gone away these things were given by the hand of Moses And it's what you have in your hands right now. God's holy word God's Bible Okay, so what's the next thing that we should do you're saved you get baptized Hey, you want leading in the light of Jesus Christ next thing to do is to open this book Amen to receive the judgments the statutes the commandments of God you know to know what God expects from every believer What a blessing that we don't have to go to some Mount Sinai Where God is speaking from heaven and it's thundering and lightning and it's so loud, and we're so scared hey Thankfully we've got Lord's voice right here a lot easier to access we didn't we can access this anywhere now You know again a lot of you guys I do have a Bible app on my phone Hey, even if I forget my Bible even if I'm in the middle of nowhere, and I've got my phone I can still read God's Word what a blessing that we had so much access to God's Word The Bible says in Romans 15 for for whatsoever things were written a full time So things were written by Moses and all the prophets of the Old Testament it says here We're written for our learning. Hey, this is to the Romans. Hey, it's to the Italians It's not to the Jews here all right So the Gentiles written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope And I praise God for for Nehemiah the book of Nehemiah praise God for the law of Moses Thank God for every every 66 every book 66 books of the Bible that we have these things were written for our learning And sometimes again we get that idea. That's for the old. That's for them. That's for them God's dealing with them nights for us all of it It's all been written for us you know when God made sure that his word was put together He was thinking about this generation. He was thinking about new life Baptist Church He was thinking about you individually you need in God's Word to know how to walk in his paths Verse number 15 And gave us them bread from heaven for their hunger. That's the manna that's come from heaven and brought us forth water for them out of the rock of for their thirst and Promised them that they should go into possess the land which thou hadst sworn Thou hadst sworn to give them all right. I will get to turn to this passage Can you please turn to John chapter 6 John chapter 6? So not only did God deliver them out of Egypt hey, they left their homes They left you know this place They lived for many many generations But God made sure their needs were provided for their food their thirst the water right they were they were provided for by God and While you turn to John chapter 6, I'm going to quickly read to you from 1st Corinthians 10 verse 3 1st Corinthians 10 verse 3 it says and did all eat the same spiritual meat That's talking about the manna and did all drink the same spiritual rock Sorry the same spiritual drink and they drank from that spiritual rock that followed them and that rock was Christ. You may recall the story where where Moses was able to Cause water to come out of a rock you know God performed that miracle because the people were thirsty The Bible says that rock was Christ No, it wasn't literally Christ against Symbolic okay, it's a picture of Christ the manna that fell from heaven that fed them. It's all a picture of Christ Look at John chapter 6 verse number 31 John chapter 6 verse number 31 Our fathers did eat manna in the desert as it is written. He gave them bread from heaven to eat. Yeah Look at look what Jesus says then Jesus said unto them very liberally I say unto you Moses gave you not that bread from heaven But my father giveth you the true bread from heaven For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the world and they Then said they unto him Lord evermore give us this bread and Jesus said unto them I am the bread of life He that cometh to me shall never hunger and he that believeth on me shall never thirst So we're reading these stories yeah, God's provided their food God's provided their water again. What is it showing us Jesus Christ? You know and this is the thing you need to understand yes, Jesus Christ has saved us yes by his blood But he the Lord God also sustains us by Christ You know our life continues to can continues to exist because of Christ You know it's just it's it's beautiful to me the fact that you know our spiritual life is sustained again You've got these stupid beliefs out there in some some churches in some some Christian some within some Christian churches You know which teach that basically yeah, Jesus Christ came and he saved you you know But now you've got to do your part like if you're not doing your part, then you lose your salvation No, they've got it all wrong. It's not that Jesus just saves us, but he sustains us It gives us everything we need to continue in our spiritual life. It's once saved always saved It's not like okay, Jesus Christ done this much for you at this point in time and now from this point forward after you got Saved now. It's all down to you. You've got to keep it going otherwise. You're not saved No brethren Jesus Christ sustains our life our everlasting life Not just salvation, and that's what salvation is salvation is everlasting life Alright for God to love the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish But have everlasting life That's what Jesus Christ offers us not just a moment of salvation now do your best It's salvation, and it's always based on the sustaining life of Jesus Christ He is our spiritual food. He is our spiritual water that we consume Verse number 16 Nehemiah chapter 9 verse 16 Then it says this but they and our fathers dealt proudly and hardened their necks and hearkened not to thy commandments Again, we're looking at symbolism here What can this represent the fact that you can be saved the fact that you can be baptized get plugged into a good church He could preach in read the Bible serve the Lord walk in his ways But here's the reality of life you're gonna sin And you know what every time you sin against the Lord you've hardened your neck you said no God I'm gonna do it my way. I'm going to give in to my flesh I'm gonna do what I selfishly want every time you sing you do that Okay, and you harden your neck again. This is why salvation not based on our performance praise God you know the sustaining life is Jesus Christ But this is a reality that we need to deal with you know I sometimes get a little bit worried when I see you know New Christians or recently saved people, but on fire for God, and they kind of make these promises Lord I'm gonna serve you every day of my life You know I'm gonna be in church every day It's like oh Lord. No they're gonna fall. I know I really know they're gonna fall because they're just like any other man They're just like any other woman. They're gonna struggle. They're going to sin they're going to want to go back to their fleshly desires at some points and You know I it's just it's just a reality that we have to understand Okay, and understand this is not that we should it should happen not that it's fine that it happens But that it's just a reality okay, because if you've got this commitment law I'm just gonna work, so every day I'm alive. I'm gonna. I'm never gonna let you down Lord I'm just gonna and then when you do Then you can get very discouraged and you might even get out of the race all together So it's just a it's good to just remember the fact that hey the Israelites of old they harden the necks when you sin You've hardened your neck against the Lord okay, and this is why they've Eventually got themselves into this bad place up to being taken into captivity by the Babylonians Let's keep going there verse. I'm 17 and Refused to obey yeah when you sin, that's what you're doing you're refusing to obey Neither were mindful of thy wonders that thou didst among them Hey when we harden our necks we start to forget the wonders that God is done We start to forget with the great things that God has done for us Hey, and when we start to forget the great things that God has done for us in our life Then we stop blessing him we stop praising him okay, so you can see this downward spiral But harden their necks and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage This was the time with Moses though. They wants to put a captain to bring them back into Egypt But thou are a God ready to pardon Gracious and merciful slow to anger and of great kindness and forsook us them not Praise God that's the God that we serve Now it says they appointed a captain to return to their bondage the idea is hey you know what it's not that great to serve God just go let's just go back to Egypt and You're gonna face that reality. You know maybe you already have where you know you know there are pleasures of Egypt Pleasures of being unsaved or the things that this world gives you and the moment you got saved You know I'm sure there were changes in you You know something a desire to serve God a desire to know more about the Lord right But then you know again you get hardened you get a little backslidden, and you think man those pleasures of old I want to go back to Egypt I want to go back to serve my flesh the way I used to And these things develop you know these thoughts come all right, but don't forget Well, we just read the verse on 17, but thou are a God ready to pardon For everyone you know when you sin against the Lord just get right with God. He's ready to pardon You know what if you're not right with God right now Just bow your head right now, and just just go to God and apologize. He's ready to pardon Gracious and merciful slow to anger and of great kindness and forsook us them not What a great God that we serve a God that would never forsake us even that sometimes we forsake God We turn our backs against the Lord God will never do it to us verse 18 Yeah, when they made them a molten calf and said this is thy God that brought thee up out of Egypt and had wrought great Provocations yet thou and thy manifold mercies forsook us them not in the wilderness The pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day to lead them by the way Neither the pillar of fire by night to show them lights and the way wherein they should go Now we know the story when they did create this golden calf did God want to forsake them God wanted to destroy them all except for Moses. You know recall the story okay, but again. He's merciful Moses appeal to God and say God give them more time Okay, you know what are people gonna say you've brought us out of Egypt, and it destroyed us Alright, I mean you know you know the idea here We're trying to proclaim the name of God And then what kind of idea they're gonna get of God if you just destroy us all and so God's merciful is long-suffering He's forgiven. He gives them another chance to get things right The Bible says in Hebrews 13 5. I will never leave thee nor forsake thee I don't know how far you might feel God might be from you this morning, but brethren he's ready to pardon His mercies are new every morning You know and again this idea of going to God and forgiveness praise God say God your words your promises say that you're ready to pardon You're ready to forgive me. You know what a great God that I serve. Please forgive me for my sins Hey, that's how we can bless God just continuing lifting up his attributes You know the fact that we harden our necks against God, but he never forsakes us. What a great God What a great God that we serve Verse number 20 thou gave us also thy good spirit to instruct them and We've held us not thy manner from their mouth and gave us them water for their thirst So we've seen the manner ready the water But now it talks about the spirit to instruct them thou gave us also thy good spirit to instruct them and you guys know very well This passage first Corinthians chapter 2 verse 12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world But the spirit which is of God that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God So brethren we have been given the same spirit The spirit to instruct and to guide us okay verse number 13 it says which things also we speak Not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth Comparing spiritual things with spiritual. You know that's my goal today as I speak to you You know that it's not words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth. That's what we want to receive Holy Ghost What are you teaching me today? Verse number 14 says, but the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God But they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. You know what's beautiful Not only salvation we can know the truth of God's Word the truth of reality You know I don't know if you've gone on YouTube sometimes YouTube leads you to one recommended video another recommended video And all of a sudden you're down the rabbit hole with YouTube videos. I come across a video going you know What's the truth about reality and like you know it's all a simulation. You know we don't really exist You know we're just we're just part of a program a computer program Because you know there's DNA and what looks like a computer code all this stuff, and they'll say you know Maybe we're just trash You know the aliens from another world they use the earth as their trash and out of trash We kind of evolved and that's why we generate so much trash as a society because we are trash I mean just so much stupidity You know praise God. We've got his well. We know the truth I don't ever wonder oh, maybe the world was created some other way. You know maybe wasn't six days Maybe we are alien trash or something you know I mean this is what the world thinks about though Okay, we have God's Word. We have the Spirit of God that teaches us the great truths of his word man We've got so much wisdom so much knowledge I don't think we are we we underestimate how much we know of the truth how much we know of reality How much we know about life and this world and the world to come this ungodly world just have no idea I haven't got I haven't got this knowledge that God has given you through his spirit Verse number 21, please Nehemiah 9 21 Yay, 40 years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness So that they lacked nothing their clothes was waxed not old and their feet swelled not again This is a picture of everlasting life. You know it's it's it's never going away now look when they spent time in the wilderness You need to remember the reason they were in the wilderness is they did not have enough faith to go into the Canaan to the promised Land all right when they should have and so God allows them to wander in the wilderness for 40 years Again, this brings to light another reality of the Christian life You know when you're the moment you're saved You want the promised land you want to live this fulfilled bountiful fruitful Christian life You know, but it's a journey it takes time to grow it takes time to mature And there are gonna be times where you just you're just not faithful to the Lord And you may wander in the wilderness for a while not necessarily 40 years Hopefully not okay, but it takes time to live a a fruitful abundant. You know a happy Christian life And as I were going for that perfect man series I'm trying to demonstrate there are areas of our life that we need to change and adapt in accordance to God's ways To have that perfect life, and that's what the land of Canaan the promised land represents Yes, you can take an attribute and application to heaven you know yes You can but really it's about having a victorious fruitful mature happy Christian life, but it takes time Sometimes you do have to wander in the wilderness a little bit sometimes you do have to grow maturity Appreciate what God has done for you and and continue to grow it into being a more mature person in the Lord Jesus Christ But even while you're going for that time of growth don't forget God is providing our every need he's sustaining us He's sustained them that their clothes would not wax old that their feet will not swell You know God will make sure he gives us what we need to continue to grow and to find that promised land in a spiritual life The Bible then continues there in verse number 22 near my 922 moreover thou gave us them kingdoms and Nations, and it's divided them into corners And they possess the land of Sion and the land of the king of Heshbon and the land of og king of patient This is that they did go into promised land. They did have these victories their children also multiplies thou as The stars of heaven and brought us them into the land concerning which thou has promised to their fathers They should go in to possess it and So this promised land you can see how to have to be able to enter into that promised land in order to have a a fulfilled You know perfect Christian life a happy life where you feel mature where you feel close to the Lord You know it requires for you to go to battle it requires for you to have victory Okay, and they had they had to battle against these kings This is why it's not like heaven really a picture of heaven because going to it's already guaranteed You know we wouldn't have to really fight our way to heaven or anything like that It's already done, but you know when it comes to this life as we live this life We have so many sins to battle we have this world to battle where the philosophies of this world to battle We have Satan to battle and we have this flesh to battle There's so many battles to get to a point where we feel a lot closer a lot more fellowship a lot more according to you know I will more aligned with God's will it requires effort it requires going in there and going to battle But don't forget what the Bible says in 1st John 5 for for whatsoever is born of God Overcometh the world and this is the victory that overcometh the world even our faith. Hey, what's going to give you victory? Yes, salvation's by grace through faith. That's that's one way to get victory of course to overcome this world that is salvation But don't forget our life is from faith to faith We we have to continue being faithful we can just continue to trust the Lord and to trust the promises of his word This is what ultimately is going to give you victory in these aria other areas of your life that's number 24, so the children went in and possessed the land and Thou subduest before them the inhabitants of the land the Canaanites and gave us them into their hands with their kings and the people of the land that they might do with them as they would and They took strong cities in a fat land and possessed houses full of all goods Wells digged vineyards and olive yards and fruit trees in abundance So they did eat and were filled and became fat and delighted themselves in thy great goodness So brethren, that's the advantage of being in that promised land that relationship with the Lord God the blessings the abundance It said there right fruit trees in abundance and that reminds me of what Jesus Christ says in John 10 10 The thief cometh not but for to steal and to kill and to destroy I am come that they might have life Hey, that's salvation and that night and that they might have it more Abundantly a more abundant life is what Jesus Christ wants from us You know the moment you got saved and you're growing the Lord It should be a better life a more abundant life a more fruitful life. I'm not talking about fine I'm not some out riches here. I'm talking about joy join the Lord. I'm talking about satisfaction Set us being satisfied in the soul being content with what God has given you Reverend this is These are great treasures that God wants us to have And you can get it by being in the promised land. Hey, we can delights in God's faithfulness. We can delight in his fellowship But then look at verse 126 nevertheless, they were disobedient and rebelled against thee and cast thy law behind their backs and slew their by prophets which testified against them to turn them to thee and They wrought great provocations Therefore they'll deliver stem into the hand of their enemies who vexed them in the time of their trouble When they cried unto thee thou hurt us them from heaven and according to thy manifold mercies Thou gave us some saviors who saved them out of their hand of their out of the hand of their enemies This is of course a time of judges the saviors being the judges there, you know I just owe you get read the book of judges just over and over again the people of God they turn against the Lord You know, they'd forget the Lord then God will allow the canines the people of the land to to Persecute them. It's not what I'm looking for That's it so overthrow them as it were Okay to conquer them and then God would raise up a judge when people wanted to get right with God and that judge would save Them or deliver them from the hands of these enemies. And so I think the lesson that we can learn here brethren Actually, let's keep going. Let's keep going verse number 28. It says and after they had rest they did evil again before thee So this happens multiple times the book of judges they get right with God a judge comes they delivers them from the enemies And then it says after they had rest after they okay things are good. Once again, they did evil again before thee Therefore left us out them in the land of their enemies so that they had the dominion of them yet when they returned and cried unto thee thou hurt us them from heaven and many times didst thou deliver them according to thy mercies and Testified us against them that thou mightest bring them again unto thy law yet They dealt proudly and harken not unto thy commandments but sinned against thy judgments which if a man do he shall live in them and Withdrew the shoulder and hardened their neck and would not hear Yet many years didst thou forbear them and testified against them by the spirit of thy prophets Yet would they not give ear therefore gave us thou them in the hand of the people of the lands Nevertheless for thy great mercies sake thou didst not utterly consume them nor forsake them for thou are a gracious and merciful God Alright, so we learn a few more things here You might find that promised land in your Christian life You might have a spiritual high of the Lord and you're having times of great blessings great Enjoyments you've grown in the Lord you rejoice in the in the wisdom that he's given you, you know, you can see his hand of blessings But just like it is many times and again, you know, I found myself in this in this hat here Right because I've seen in my own life, you know, especially as a teenager when I'm just you know I just see God's great hand and things are going so well, you know life is life is awesome and That's where it's so easy to get far from the Lord That's why it's so easy to go. Well Maybe I'm just maybe I'm awesome Maybe I'm just I'm just like man. I know how to live life Yeah, man, I've made the right decision for life and you start becoming proud you start thinking it's you it's your efforts You start to forget the Lord. So that's it's the Lord that's done all these things Right. It's the law that's given me victory over the enemies. It's the law that's blessed me It's so easy when life is going so well that we start thinking of ourselves and we turn against the laws of God Okay, again God sends them preachers, you know I don't again the importance of coming to church and hearing a prophet here in the preaching of God's Word, you know, don't You don't think it's not important in your life. You we need it like don't think like I'm look if you got a mr Service here and there that's all that's understand happens But don't think you can go weeks and months and years without hearing preaching of God's Word. We need it Okay, God send them prophets. They would not harken And I praise God we have new life I'm not talking about something about any man that comes to you to preach that has the Holy Spirit of God That's trying to the best they can to proclaim God's Word. Hey, we should be thankful for that and Listen here. What can we learn from that? We don't want our church again Who's preaching now? Oh dad. That's gonna go for an hour. Oh, man. I don't know my kids. I don't know if you're thinking that I Think my kids enjoy my sermons a lot less than the rest of you guys do. I don't know cuz I'm dad You know, I'm just family, right? But we should not take that approach because if you do harden your ears against the Lord You are gonna get into sin and God's gonna allow you to be chastised allow you to be judged Allow you to get hurt and lose the freedoms that you had there in the Promised Land But again, it said there nevertheless verse number 31 for thy great mercy sake that did not utterly consume them nor forsake them for thou What a gracious and merciful God What a quickly reads you to another passage in 1st Corinthians 10 11 1st Corinthians 10 11 It says now all these things happen unto them unto the Jews unto the Israelites for Man now all these things happen unto them for in samples that they are written and they are written for our Admonition unto whom the ends of the world are come then says this in verse number 12 So all these stories about Israel turning against God they're written for our Understanding our in samples that we can see this example in human beings. This is what people do Okay, then it says in verse number 12. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall Sometimes when we're standing right with God Hey, we forget the dangers We forget that we have a flesh that does not want to hear the words of God And remember when we're standing tall and we're doing so well in life That's when pride kicks in and you will fall as soon as God sees that pride in you He's going to remove his hand of blessings and you will fall Because you've forgotten to bless the Lord so important that we keep blessing him keep thanking him get into that habit brethren You know what if you're just every day you go to prayer and you just start prayer Lord. Thank you for who you are Thank you for what you've given me. You know what that does it takes down the pride Brings you into humility and say God. I only have what I have because of what you've done for me And that's gonna stop you from turning against the Lord turn against his his wishes verse number 32 near my 932 now therefore our God the great the mighty and the terrible God who keep us covenant and mercy Let not all the troubles seem little before thee that have come upon us and on our kings on our princes and on our Priests and on our prophets and on our fathers and on all thy people Since the time of the kings of Assyria and to this day The people saying God don't it says let not all the trouble seem little before thee like God since Assyria since the Assyrians took The northern kingdom over. Okay, and then we had the southern kingdom by the hand of Babylonians He says look don't think it's the troubles was little for us. In other words. He's like God I think you've you've like you've punished us enough It wasn't little trouble that we went through we went for a great trouble and they kind of say look good God Just remember what you've done already to us. Okay, like it's kind of like I think we've learnt our lessons now God Alright, that's kind of the thinking that they've got there, right? They've been judged much. They've suffered much. It says in verse number 33 Howbeit now look maybe God has chastised you I'm sure he has I'm sure God has judged you and you felt the hand of correction by God and it's hurt You're behind a little bit. Okay, and thank God when he does chastise us Thank God that he's a loving father that'll correct us when we do wrong, but notice verse number 33. It says how be it Thou art just in all that is brought upon us for thou has done, right? But we have done wickedly So when God judges us and corrects us, you know what? Yeah, God that hurt, you know Don't think it's a little bit but you know, they're not saying God don't judge us They're not saying it was wrong for you to judge us. They said no you were just you're right to do that Lord We have done wickedly So what do we learn there when you do go through tribulation and trials and you recognize it as a hand of God's judgment of? His chastisement upon you. Hey, don't blame God God why did you allow me to go through that God? Why did this happen? I'll say God you're just You're righteous God. I've done wickedly. That's the right approach. It's me God. We've done wrong. I've done wrong. Please forgive me God is right to judge us verse number 34 Neither have our kings our princes our priests nor our fathers kept thy law Nor hearken unto thy commandments and thy testimonies wherewith thou didst testify against them for they have not served thee in their kingdom And in thy great goodness that thou gave us them in the large and fat land which thou gave us before them Neither turned they from their wicked works. So thank God you've given us all these things our kings Abundance this land is fat land, but we did not acknowledge you. We do not serve you in the kingdom Reverend whose kingdom are you building? Are you building your own kingdom on this earth or you're trying to work toward building the kingdom of God? Again, be careful when life is going too good. Don't forget the Lord verse number 36 behold we are servants this day and For the land that thou gave us unto our fathers to eat the fruit thereof and the good thereof behold we are servants in us So they're basically saying look it's not just our land like we're not here just for ourselves We're here to serve you Reverend that's what you are. You're a servant of God. We're here to serve the Lord. We're here to bless him We're here to praise him. We're here to do his works You're you're employed you're employed in God's business. He's got a great work for us to do And now what of course when they're talking about here as we keep going Sorry verse number 37 and it yielded much increase unto the kings whom thou has set over us Because of our sins and they have dominion over our bodies and over our cattle at their pleasure and we are in great distress So again the servitude here, yes, the servants of God they're here to acknowledge God in the land But because of their disobedience, they also recognize we're servants to the kings that you've put over us. That's the Persian Empire Okay, they're not their own You know sovereign nation at this point in time. They're still under the power. They're still facing the consequences of their sins That's just another reminder that you need to remember. Yes, we sin. Yes. God corrects us. He judges us He chastises us and yes, we can go before God and get his forgiveness But sometimes the wrong that we've done it lasts for a while. Sometimes the constant consequences continue They realize man. We've got these kings over us, you know, it makes our life harder we you know, it's but because it's because of our weakness of our past and Please remember that you may and I I know I am sometimes, you know dealing with consequences of past mistakes But when you're dealing those consequences don't think that God is still angry at you know, it's forgiving you he's made those things Right. It's just that that's part of life. Now. You've made those mistakes You've got to carry sometimes through your life the consequences of those sins But when you do face those consequences, please don't think God is just still angry at you and God is not forgiving You know, we saw that he's quick to pardon, you know, he's quick to pardon. It's just that You know, this is life. This is life There's number 38 and Because of all this we make a sure covenant and write it and our princes Levites and priests seal unto us Okay. So what are we seeing here when they say we make a sure covenant? They're basically saying look the covenant you gave to Moses the old covenant Old Testament. They're like they're recommitting themselves to it So as a nation, yes, you know not you know, who's who's sealing this? Yes, Lord We want to enter back into that covenant We want to do things right the way you wanted our nation to do things right it says our princes So that's the politicians the Levites and the priests the spiritual leaders Hey, so the leaders of the nation whether political or spiritual they're all saying hey, we want to go back to the old ways We want to get back to that covenant Reestablish it we put a seal on this we're going to do this right as a nation moving forward so they recommit themselves that same covenant of their fathers and And yes, this is good this is good this is their desire but If you know the story a few generations later, they're back to their old ways They're back to forgetting the Lord I think you know, they've enjoyed the pleasure of the land and they're back to that way and you know What's great about this? The fact that we saw early in this chapter that God is one that keeps his covenants and his people they could not keep this Covenant, this is why we've entered into a better covenants a new covenant a new covenant in the blood of Jesus Christ and Praise God, it's not based on us keeping that covenants It's been kept, you know all the laws all the all everything that God all the commandments have been kept in Jesus Christ and what's wonderful about the new covenant is That we keep the promises, you know, because we're in Christ Jesus and don't forget. It's Jesus that holds us It's just like gives us life it's Jesus that continues to sustain our everlasting life. Thank God for salvation You know, thank God that it's not based on the old covenants, but salvation is based upon that new covenant by Jesus Christ Okay, brethren. Let's pray