Before we do that, let's pray real quick for our reading of God's word. Father, we thank you for the preservation of your word throughout generations and generations. We thank you that we can read an ancient text that still is alive this morning. And we pray that by your spirit that you would speak to us, Lord, and that you would help us to see Jesus in this passage and help us to apply this passage to our lives. We praise you for who you are in the name of your son that we pray, amen. Okay, so Nehemiah 1, we're going to go all the way to verse 11, the end of chapter 1. The words of Nehemiah, the son of Hekeliah. Now it happened in the month of Hislev, in the 20th year, as I was in Susa, the citadel, that Hanani, one of my brothers, came with certain men from Judah. And I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped, who had survived the exile, and concerning Jerusalem. And they said to me, the remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates are destroyed by fire. As soon as I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven. And I said, oh Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments. Let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you, day and night, for the people of Israel, your servants, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Even I in my father's house have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept the commandments, the statutes and the rules that you commanded your servant Moses. Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses saying, If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples. But if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there I will gather them and bring them to the place that I have chosen to make my name dwell there. They are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand. Oh Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name. And give success to your servants today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. Now I was a cupbearer to the king. So our passage today presents us with a people that are in great trouble and shame. So most basically in our passage today, I want us to look at what the people of God are to do when they are in great trouble and shame, mostly by looking at what God's servant, Nehemiah, did when faced with this circumstance. So that's primarily where I want to go, and we'll break it down by first looking at Nehemiah's situation in verses 1 through 3, and then Nehemiah's response in verses 4 through 11. So Nehemiah's situation first off in verses one through three. Book of Nehemiah begins around the year 445 BC. And right there in verse one, we see that he is in Susa, which is the capital of the Persian Empire, about a thousand miles east of Jerusalem, kind of in modern day Iran. So, Nehemiah, who's Jewish, is 1,000 miles east of Jerusalem in a Persian court. What is he doing there? What is Nehemiah doing 1,000 miles away from his home country? What's going on? We provide a little bit of context here. If you like history, I think you'll really like this. If you don't like history, stick with me for just a couple minutes. History of God's people of late. Israel consisted of 12 tribes, the 12 sons of Jacob. In 930 BC, those tribes were split into two groups, Northern Kingdom and Southern Kingdom. The Northern Kingdom, called Israel, was 10 tribes. Southern Kingdom, called Judah, was two tribes. So 930, they're split into two groups, both groups greatly sinning against the Lord. And because of that, the Lord calls both in to exile. 722 BC, the Assyrian Empire sacks the Northern Kingdom, Israel, drags them into exile. In 586 BC, the Babylonian Empire, led by Nebuchadnezzar, sacks Judah and drags them into exile. So 586, Judah dragged into exile by the Babylonians. 539, the Persian Empire sacks the Babylonian Empire, so all of the exiles that were under Persian rule are under Babylonian rule, now under Persian rule, which explains why Nehemiah could be under Persian rule 1,000 miles away, because they were sacked by Babylon, but then Persia then came and sacked Babylon. So that explains why Nehemiah is so far away at this time period. Now bridging the gap a little bit more, Nehemiah's 445 B.C. An amazing thing happens in history, preserved for us in God's Word in 538 B.C. Cyrus, the king of Persia, is stirred up by the Lord to allow the Jewish people to return to Jerusalem. You can read about that in Ezra 1, but you can also read about it prophesied in Isaiah 44. The Lord stirs up a king of an opposing empire and allows the people to return. Now, they return in 538 BC. We read in Haggai in 515 BC, they rebuild the temple. But it pales in comparison to the former glory. If you don't like history, we're done. Back to Nehemiah, verse 2, we're in 445 BC. So now we have a remnant, a group of people that have gone back into Jerusalem, after they were in exile, but they're in Jerusalem with a less than glorious temple than what they've had before, and they're in Jerusalem, as we read, with broken down walls and gates that have been destroyed by fire. And so Nehemiah has people come from Judah and report this to him, that the people are in great trouble and shame, and that the city itself is in great trouble. Now we all have been in moments in our life when we were faced with great trouble and shame. These people at this current circumstance, what's the nature of their trouble and shame? So first off, if you're a city in the 5th century BC and you don't have walls or a gate, you are just welcoming your enemies to come in and take everything that you have, right? That is your greatest form of security, high walls and gates. But since theirs are torn down, they are at great trouble. There is a huge security risk. And the fact that they haven't rebuilt them, being back there for over 100 years, means that they don't have the resources, whether finances or people, to actually rebuild the walls. So they're in trouble, and they're in a bit of a hopeless state. They can't do anything about it. To add to their trouble, they're greatly ashamed. They know that this trouble is their own fault. They know because of their sin, God drew them into exile. They know it's their fault. And so they're greatly ashamed at what they've done. So I wonder how many of us have been there at a moment where we're greatly troubled and we also have shame. where we know our problems are solely because of us. Now, when I'm in moments like that, I tend to fall into fight-or-flight mode, right? Initially, I want to go fight mode, I want to try to rebuild the walls, stir up the army, we got this, create a plan, and then when that doesn't work, probably made things worse, I turn into flight mode. I just want to cower in a corner, protect myself from any future harm, and just sit and wait. Nehemiah does neither of those two. What does he do in his trouble and his shame? He runs to the Lord. He runs to the God of heaven in his trouble and shame. So that's moving on to our second section, Nehemiah's response. In his trouble and his shame, which he is identifying with even though he's a thousand miles away, he runs to the Lord. So this is verse four, primarily, where we're looking here. I wanna break down Nehemiah's prayer into three sections. He recognizes the Lord for who he is, he confesses sin, and then he pleads. So he recognizes, confesses, and pleads. So the first thing there, verse five, look with me. Nehemiah begins his prayer with, O Lord, God of heaven. He's crying out to the I Am. He's crying out to Yahweh, the God of heaven, to do something. How often do we actually take a moment to sit and reflect on how grand and majestic our God is? He is the God of all of heaven and all of earth. Nehemiah, in his trouble, recognizes God for who he is. He gets his eyes up and looks to the majestic and powerful Lord in which he serves. And he says here in verse five, the great and awesome God. He's not just saying formulaic things about God, this means something to him, the great and awesome God. Now, awesome, very trivial word in our vocabulary today, Right? We kind of just throw that around left and right. Awesome in the Hebrew most literally means the one being feared. So he's crying out to the one being feared. Awesome really conveys a sense of fear and awe in the Lord. To provide kind of maybe an example of it, when I was a teenager, I was in Florida one time and we were at an alligator farm. I don't really know why that's a thing, but we're at an alligator farm, and I'm just minding my own business at the alligator farm, and I hear this loud smacking sound. And I look over in the swamp, and there is about a 12-foot alligator that has a 5-foot gator in its mouth and is just slamming this thing against the bank. For a teenage boy, my jaw just hit the floor. I had never seen that sort of power and awe in anything in my life. And that drew me, not that I didn't respect alligators before, but that drew me to such a sense of awe for this creature. Like, I'm not gonna mess with that alligator. If a tiny creature like that can instill a fear and a sense and awe in me, how much greater the God of heaven? Right? If I shouldn't, if we shouldn't mess with an alligator, how much greater the God of heaven? And think about in the life of Jesus, very early on in his ministry, when he's out on the boat and there's the huge storm and Jesus stills the storm. Do you remember the response of his disciples? They're horrified. Why? What's scarier than a storm? Someone who can control the storm. Right, so Jesus has this very same sense of awesomeness in that there is a holy fear and a reverence for him. And so Nehemiah respects God. He has a proper sense of God's authority. And yet the amazing thing, keep looking with me at this verse, the amazing thing is that he's not only a great and awesome God, he is also a faithful God who keeps his covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments. When we fear the alligator, we stay away from the alligator. God is not like that. God is also a God full of steadfast love and mercy who we can run to in our trouble, knowing that he delights to bring mercy and forgiveness to his children. And so we can run to this God who is great and mighty and powerful because he is also loving. filled with steadfast love and mercy. And so Nehemiah runs to this Lord who he recognizes. That's the first thing he does in his trouble, in his mercy. Second point, second thing that he does, recognizes God's the one in control, and then he confesses his sin. So verse six here, Nehemiah confesses for the sins of Israel. He intercedes for them. He recognizes that they are in exile and they are in trouble and it's their fault. But secondly, he does something amazing. He owns it too. At the end of verse six, even I and my father's house have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept the commandments, statutes, and rules. In light of this, when we are in trouble and shame, we need to own what we can own. We need to confess what we need to confess. We live in a culture today that loves to blame anyone else and loves to blame our environments for the things going wrong in our life. We really do. We are so good at shifting the blame onto other people. We're so good at that, in fact, that it's actually refreshing when you see someone genuinely own up to their sin. Isn't it? Like, it's genuinely refreshing when you see a confession where there are no excuses and where they fully own it. Thinking of probably the best example I saw this last couple years, there's a guy named Shannon Sharp, former NFL player who's now kind of like a sportscaster. And he, a little over a year ago, was at a Lakers basketball game sitting courtside, and he started kind of trash talking with some of the players on the court. It got heated, he ended up getting kicked out of the basketball game. So like, had to leave the game as a public figure, wasn't a good look. Couple days later on his show, he comes out with this apology that was unbelievable. I mean, apologizes to so many different people, completely owns it, has no excuses, doesn't blame anyone. And I was just like, man, I don't know where Shannon Sharp is with the Lord, I don't know what he believes, but Christians should be people that embody that left and right every single day. Because we know that we're naturally sinners, we know that we still have our sinful flesh with us, and we know that we serve a God that loves to forgive. And so we as Christians should be people that are leading the front in our culture of owning what we can own, of confessing our sins because we know it's there. And we also know that God not only desires to save us, he desires for us to grow up into our salvation. And one of the principal means of becoming more like Christ is confessing our sin, confessing where we're not like him. in turning in repentance and seeking to live out a renewed obedience. And so Nehemiah here is owning what he can own in this prayer because he knows that's what they have to do. And so may we be a people, when we're in trouble and shame, we own what we can own. That doesn't mean every trouble that comes your way is all your fault, not at all. But in most situations in life, there's something that we can probably own in it. So let's own it, let's confess our sins to the Lord and to each other, and then experience the growth that comes with that repentance. Third thing that Nehemiah does, so he recognizes the Lord for who he is, he confesses his sins, and then third, he pleads with the Lord. He pleads for God to do something. He's 1,000 miles away and he knows that his only shot is if the God of heaven intercedes. So verse 9, look with me, he pleads Moses his own words. In essence, he's saying, Lord, you told us that if we were unfaithful, you would scatter us. We indeed were unfaithful and you indeed scattered us. Which is kind of interesting, this brought a new thing to my mind. Typically, when I think about God being faithful, I think about the blessings that he bestows according to his promises. But God's faithfulness is also on display when he brings down punishment based on the curses that he has promised. So God's faithfulness is actually on display in the exile. He told them, I will surely scatter you if you disobey. And they disobeyed. So God is simply being faithful to his word, to the people. And so Nehemiah recognizes that here. But it's not only that, he goes on to pray. You have also said, if we return to you and keep your commandments, you will gather us from the outermost places, places like Susa, a thousand miles away, and bring us to the place that you have chosen, to Jerusalem, and you will make your name dwell there. So Nehemiah is saying, we are turning back to you, Lord. We are confessing our sins. We are coming to you in repentance, seeking renewed obedience. Would you be faithful to your word? Faithful to your word, draw us back to Jerusalem so that your name might dwell there. And then specifically in verse 11, he cries out for success and mercy in the sight of this man, which we later learn is the king. Nehemiah is a cupbearer to the king and he is crying out that he could be the vessel to go to Jerusalem and rebuild the city. So he's praying that the Lord would be faithful to what he has promised his people. At the beginning, we kind of looked back at the history of God's people. Closing, I want to look forward to the history of God's people. It would take some time, a little bit over 400 years, but God would surely come to dwell with his people in the city that he promised them he would. And he would come as one of them. He would take on flesh in the form of his son, Jesus Christ, to come and to dwell with his people. And in that city, on a wooden cross, Jesus not only dwelled with his people, he bore their trouble and he took on their shame so that they wouldn't have to bear it any longer. He bore their iniquities and he was faced with mocking and spit on and flogged and accused of all sorts of things, not because of anything that he did, but simply out of love. so that his people might be forgiven. Jesus comes to bear their trouble and their shame. The man who knew no sin became sin so that a people might be forgiven. So in our trouble and shame, we run to Jesus knowing that he delights to forgive us of our sins. we trust in him alone for our salvation, knowing that he took our ultimate trouble and our ultimate shame on the cross, and that we are completely forgiven by his blood. And then knowing that, knowing that Christ took our ultimate trouble and our ultimate shame, we can trust him with our lesser troubles and our lesser shames. If God dealt With our worst ones, he surely can deal with our lesser ones. We surely can trust him with the things in our life. Because we know as we believe in Christ, God has promised to work out all things for the good of those who love him. So in our trouble and our shame, let us run to the God of heaven. Let us confess our sins, own what we can own, and let us cry out to him and plea that he might help us. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your servant, Nehemiah. God, we thank you that there are lessons in this book that can be taught to us today. Father, I just pray for everyone here including myself, with all of the trouble and shame that we face in this life. Father, would we put it at your feet? Would we bring it to the cross knowing that our ultimate trouble and shame you dealt with completely, that we are fully forgiven in you? And Father, for the lesser sufferings that we have in this life, would you grow our trust in you as a God who is in control and also a God who is good, who will work out all things for good? Father, lift our eyes to you this morning in our suffering. We praise you for everything you've done in Christ. In the name of Christ we pray, amen.