When God Rebuilds... Ezra/Nehemiah Part 29 Nehemiah 9 "A Recognition of God's Attributes and Actions"

 Date: September 1^st, 2024

From The Series: When God Rebuilds…

Part 29 A Recognition of God’s Attributes and Actions

Nehemiah 9

Mountain View Evangelical Missionary Church

Last week we examined when the faithful gathered in Jerusalem and listened to the Word of God spoken over them and the people of God responded. They responded in an emotional way, first by weeping and then by joy. The people resumed a long-lost observance, a feast and a week-long celebration to remind them of the salvation of their people by God from the Egyptians. A celebration that the people of Yahweh had forgotten to observe for over 800 years. A celebration that was a command from God directly to His people so that they would not forget what He had accomplished for them. Yet… they had forgotten.

I originally selected a different passage for this morning’s message, but I just couldn’t skip over the wisdom contained in the ninth chapter of the Book of Nehemiah. Don’t misunderstand me, I think every chapter of the Bible contains God’s Wisdom and it is a gift to us from our Creator. If the Lord sees fit to grant me enough time to do so, I would love to go through each passage of the Bible in as much detail as we have been going through the passages that we had in the past year.

But, as Job writes in the 14^th Chapter of his Book, “⁵ A person’s days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed.” Psalm 139:16 lets us know that these days are determined even before we are born, “¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” So, I will have to be content with the days and hours that the Lord has determined for me and make the most of the gift that He has given me.

The passage that I eventually settled on for our last look at the Book of Nehemiah together, is the ninth chapter of the Book. Please join me in opening you Bibles or turning on your devices to the ninth chapter of the Book of Nehemiah.

If you did not bring your Bible this morning, you should find one underneath one of the chairs in the row in front of you. Nehemiah chapter 9 will be found on page 390 of the pew bible. If you do not have a bible at home, please take that bible with you as a gift from Mountain View Church. We feel that it is vitally important that you have easy access to God’s Word. And God’s Word says…

I want you to reach down and strap yourself in for this morning’s message because we are going to cover some ground this morning. There is a special insert for the bulletin this morning that highlights everything that we will be covering, and you can see from the list that we will not have a lot of time to spend on any one attribute, so we'll be looking at this chapter through three different lenses.

First, we will examine this chapter by paying attention to the unchanging attributes of God through the history of His dealing with His people. We will look at all the attributes listed in the passage, not just the ones that paint our God in the best possible light in an attempt to avoid offending anyone.

Second, we will skip back through the verses concentrating on the inconsistent response of God’s people and their attributes as exhibited toward a Holy and merciful God. Lest we think too lowly about our predecessors in the faith and too highly of ourselves. We will take a few minutes to see if we are any different today. We will examine together if we are a nation under God’s judgment just as Israel was in the days of the Assyrians and Babylonians. Our nation may not be occupied by foreign armies, but are we any less enslaved than the Jewish people were in the days of the Bible?

Finally, we will weigh the attributes of each party, and then ask the question: Whom should we put our trust in for our eternal salvation?

Look with me at Nehemiah Chapter Nine starting at verse one. And God’s Word says, “¹ On the twenty-fourth day of the same month, the Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth and putting dust on their heads. ² Those of Israelite descent had separated themselves from all foreigners. They stood in their places and confessed their sins and the sins of their ancestors. ³ They stood where they were and read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for a quarter of the day, and spent another quarter in confession and in worshiping the Lord their God. ⁴ Standing on the stairs of the Levites were Jeshua (Yesh-U-ah), Bani (Bay-nigh), Kadmiel (Kad-meal), Shebaniah (Sheb-ah-Nigh-ah), Bunni (Bunn-eye), Sherebiah (Cher-ah-Bye-ah), Bani (Bay-nigh) and Kenani (KEN-ah-nigh). They cried out with loud voices to the Lord their God. ⁵ And the Levites—Jeshua (Yesh-U-ah), Kadmiel (Kad-meal), Bani (Bay-nigh), Hashabneiah (Hash-ab-Knee-Ah), Sherebiah (Cher-ah-Bye-ah), Hodiah (Hoe-DIE-ah), Shebaniah (Sheb-ah-Nigh-ah) and Pethahiah (Peth-A-High-ah)—said: “Stand up and praise the Lord your God, who is from everlasting to everlasting.” Stop right there for a moment.

We see from the date listed that we are still in the midst of the celebrations from the High Holy Month in the Hebrew Religious calendar. Many of these celebrations had been lost for over eight hundred years, which was long before Assyrian or Babylonian captivity. That means, all on their own, the Jewish people had begun to drift from the teachings of God.

We just sang those words before corporate prayer time from that great hymn, “Let Thy goodness like a fetter, Bind my wand'ring heart to thee; Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart, O take and seal it. Seal it for Thy courts above.” How many of you were singing those words in earnest recognizing how weak we are when we try to cling to Jesus using only our strength? I sincerely sing those words for I recognize how easily my attention is turned from the Lord by the temptations of the world and the desire for approval from men.

After being convicted by the reading of the Law by Ezra, we see the Israelites return to Jerusalem fasting, wearing sackcloth, and sprinkling dust on their heads. These were all open signs of confession and repentance. They were still seeking forgiveness from the LORD for the sins that were in their lives.

They are trying. We read that they separated themselves from the foreigners in their midst and stood patiently listening to the public reading of God’s Word. They stood for hours, then the crowd broke out in spontaneous confession of sin and open worshipping of the LORD.

Then the Levites who were standing, began to give instructions to the people gathered in Jerusalem. They opened with “Stand and praise the LORD your God” naming god with the name that He told His people. “Stand and praise Yahweh your God, who is from everlasting to everlasting.”

Here we see the first attribute of God listed: everlasting. This is a state of existence without beginning or end, beyond the confines of time and space. In Christian theology, it is often associated with the eternal nature of God and the everlasting existence of the soul after death.

According to the Bible, God is not only everlasting, He is unchanging. Malachi 3:6 says, “I am the Lord, I change not.” Hebrews 13:8 says Jesus is the same “yesterday, today, and forever.” When everything else shifts and changes, you and I are still standing on a solid, unchanging foundation. Hebrews 7:24 says, But He [Jesus], because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood.

Let’s read on and see what other attributes we can discover about God. I’m going to rely heavily on definitions from Bible dictionaries to explain some of these words.

“Blessed be your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise. ⁶ You alone are the Lord. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.” Look at the attributes listed here. In addition to being everlasting, or eternal, God is said to be Glorious. He must be Glorious if He has a glorious name.

As well as being glorious, God is to be exalted. Exalted is used in both the Old and New Testaments. One set of original terms means “to become or to declare great.” God shows himself great through his acts; our faith recognizes and affirms his greatness and exalts him by praising him for what he has done and for who he is. This is why our worship on Sunday morning is so critical. We are exalting God, recognizing His greatness through song to bring Him praise.[i]

Another set of biblical words that we translate as “exalt” means “to lift up, or raise,” or “to be high.” It is appropriate that God be exalted, for he is great and lifted up. Think Jesus on the cross here. Jesus was lifted up on the Cross, this is why we exalt or sing adoration songs about Jesus. It is not appropriate for mere human beings to exalt themselves. Isaiah 2:17 warns us, “The arrogance of man will be brought low and the pride of men humbled; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day, and idols will totally disappear”.

Verse 6 speaks about Yahweh as Creator and life-giver. There’s no room for Darwinian Theory of Evolution here friends. At least not the macroevolution of one species to another species as Darwin proposed. There is microevolution within a species. Changes that Darwin observed in the finches while he was in the Galapagos Islands. An observation which led to a huge leap in logic without any proof yet has become accepted as truth by many in the world. As mankind’s knowledge increases, Darwin has become somewhat of an embarrassment to the scientific community. So, God’s attributes of Creator and life-giver are recognized by the Levites here in the text.

Verse seven makes it clear that Yahweh chose man. “⁷ “You are the Lord God, who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and named him Abraham.” Abraham was not searching for a new god or even a new place of residence when Yahweh revealed Himself to Abram.

Look at verse 8, “⁸ You found his heart faithful to you, and you made a covenant with him to give to his descendants the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Jebusites and Girgashites. You have kept your promise because you are righteous.” Now, I want to warn you of a common mistake here, do not read into this text that Yahweh chose Abram because Yahweh found his heart faithful. According to Joshua 24:2, Abram was raised in a pagan home and did not know Yahweh. “² Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago your ancestors, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates River and worshiped other gods.” So Yahweh chose Abram because Yahweh wanted to. Plain and simple. We will see in a few verses that we are chosen by God because of His mercy

So, Yahweh, “⁸ You found his heart faithful to you, and you made a covenant with him” and God went on to, “keep your promise because you are righteous.” The Father is a covenant maker and a promise keeper.

Look with me at verse 9, “⁹ “You saw the suffering of our ancestors in Egypt; you heard their cry at the Red Sea.” This verse explains that God sees our sufferings and hears our pleas for mercy or assistance. But keep this in mind friends, just because He sees and hears our pleadings does not mean the Father is under any obligation to grant our requests. The Father hears and answers all of the prayers of the Believers. Sometimes the answer is yes, sometimes the answer is no, and sometimes the answer is not now. We serve a sovereign God who does not answer to us. We answer to Him. When we get to mankind’s attributes, we will see how easy it is for us to forget that point.

Verses 10 and 11 demonstrate the power of our God. “¹⁰ You sent signs and wonders against Pharaoh, against all his officials and all the people of his land, for you knew how arrogantly the Egyptians treated them. You made a name for yourself, which remains to this day. ¹¹ You divided the sea before them, so that they passed through it on dry ground, but you hurled their pursuers into the depths, like a stone into mighty waters.” We see that God is powerful enough to control and command nature. God is “supernatural” He exists outside the laws of Nature. He is the Creator, He wrote the Laws of Nature, but He is not bound by the Laws of Nature. When the Son, Jesus walked the earth we saw that He too had command of the seas and the winds. Jesus walked on water and calmed a raging storm with three little words, “Quiet! Be Still!” Jesus is more than Creator and controller of the Universe, Colossians 1:16 & 17 tells us, “¹⁶ For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. ¹⁷ He is before all things, and in him, all things hold together.” No wonder Jesus can command nature, He holds it together. Never forget the supernatural attributes of God. Unbelievers are ruled by science and man’s theories. If it is not explained by a theory or Law, then they refuse to acknowledge that it can exist.

Now, look at the end of verse 11. This is going to be difficult for some to accept. “You divided the sea before them, so that they passed through it on dry ground, but you hurled their pursuers into the depths, like a stone into mighty waters.” If you do not have a full and robust view of who God is in all of His attributes you will find this difficult to accept. God punishes His enemies, and not just the God of the Old Testament. Remember the first attribute we looked at this morning: God is everlasting and alongside that attribute, we discovered that God is unchanging. The Jesus of the Cross is the Jesus of the Red Sea. The Jesus that fed the five thousand, is the Jesus that destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. This is why it is critical to keep a complete view, a biblical view of who God is in your mind at all times.

Moving on to verse 12 we see God is a leader and protector. “¹² By day you led them with a pillar of cloud, and by night with a pillar of fire to give them light on the way they were to take.”

Have you caught on to what the Levites are doing with those assembled in Jerusalem? The Levites are reminding the Israelites of their history with Yahweh and all that He has done for them. The Levites are reminding the faithful of how God watched over them in their days in the wilderness. They will move on from this time in a few verses, but they are reminding the people once again, why they observed the festival that they had just wrapped up, The Festival of Booths.

Verses 13 to 15 reveal four more attributes of God. Look with me, “¹³ “You came down on Mount Sinai; you spoke to them from heaven. You gave them regulations and laws that are just and right, and decrees and commands that are good. ¹⁴ You made known to them your holy Sabbath and gave them commands, decrees and laws through your servant Moses. ¹⁵ In their hunger you gave them bread from heaven and in their thirst you brought them water from the rock; you told them to go in and take possession of the land you had sworn with uplifted hand to give them.”

We see that God is the Law Giver, and if He is the Law Giver then He must be Just and Righteous. We also see that Yahweh was self-revealing to His people. Yahweh revealed Himself to Abram and to several others in the Book of Genesis all the way up to this episode with Moses. The Levites also reminded the Israelites that it was Yahweh who provided food and water for them while they were in the desert.

Look at verse 16 to see how the people responded to God’s generosity, “¹⁶ “But they, our ancestors, became arrogant and stiff-necked, and they did not obey your commands.” We will come back to this in a bit.

Continuing with God’s attributes in verse 17, “¹⁷ They refused to listen and failed to remember the miracles you performed among them. They became stiff-necked and in their rebellion appointed a leader in order to return to their slavery. But you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. Therefore you did not desert them,” Stop there for a second. Look at the attributes revealed in this verse, God is forgiving, God is Gracious, God is compassionate, He is slow to anger, God is abounding in Love and He is loyal even when His people do something idolatrous.

Verse 18, “¹⁸ even when they cast for themselves an image of a calf and said, ‘This is your god, who brought you up out of Egypt,’ or when they committed awful blasphemies.” While their earthly leader Moses was away for a few days in communion with their rescuing, protecting and providing Father in Heaven, Those who just a short time previous had been chased by Egyptians decided to gather some gold and make an idol and give the still-warm golden-calf credit for their rescue. But more on this in a bit.

Despite those actions, look at how their true God reacted. Verse 19, “¹⁹ “Because of your great compassion you did not abandon them in the wilderness. By day the pillar of cloud did not fail to guide them on their path, nor the pillar of fire by night to shine on the way they were to take.” Because of His character, Yahweh remained compassionate towards those in the wilderness. God did not abandon them, instead, He remained their leader and protector.

Look with me at verses 20 and 21. “²⁰ You gave your good Spirit to instruct them. You did not withhold your manna from their mouths, and you gave them water for their thirst. ²¹ For forty years you sustained them in the wilderness; they lacked nothing, their clothes did not wear out nor did their feet become swollen.” We see God portrayed as an instructor, provider, as being generous and also as a sustainer not just of their goods and clothing, but also as the sustainer of their bodies as they spent the required time in the wilderness.

Let’s look at a larger chunk of text. In verses 22 to 25, we will see God illustrated as a Kingdom Maker, a Giver of Children, a Guide for His people, and a provider and protector. “²² “You gave them kingdoms and nations, allotting to them even the remotest frontiers. They took over the country of Sihon king of Heshbon and the country of Og king of Bashan. ²³ You made their children as numerous as the stars in the sky, and you brought them into the land that you told their parents to enter and possess. ²⁴ Their children went in and took possession of the land. You subdued before them the Canaanites, who lived in the land; you gave the Canaanites into their hands, along with their kings and the peoples of the land, to deal with them as they pleased. ²⁵ They captured fortified cities and fertile land; they took possession of houses filled with all kinds of good things, wells already dug, vineyards, olive groves and fruit trees in abundance. They ate to the full and were well-nourished; they reveled in your great goodness.”

 

In verse 26, the Levites contrast God’s faithfulness with man’s seemingly inability to remain faithful at all, “²⁶ “But they were disobedient and rebelled against you; they turned their backs on your law. They killed your prophets, who had warned them in order to turn them back to you; they committed awful blasphemies.” Here’s the shocker! The Levites are talking about God’s Chosen People. Those who knew Him best and most intimately, but we will come back to this in a bit.

Verse 27 once again shows that in His love for us, He is willing to allow us to suffer and endure hardship to bring us back to Him. “²⁷ So you delivered them into the hands of their enemies, who oppressed them. But when they were oppressed, they cried out to you. From heaven you heard them, and in your great compassion you gave them deliverers, who rescued them from the hand of their enemies.” You know, I have heard atheists and Muslims try to paint the Christian God as an egomaniac and a child abuser for inflicting suffering on mankind. First, there is a false premise in this question. God did not inflict suffering on mankind. Man, inflicted suffering on mankind. All God had to do was remove His restraining hand from the wicked hearts of men and the suffering was unleashed.

Second, let me ask you, parents, were you child abusers when you disciplined your children when they did wrong? No, you disciplined your children so they would learn not to repeat undesirable actions. Did your children enjoy it at the time? I doubt it. But did they learn and become better human beings? I bet they did.

In verse 27 we saw the Father as a Punisher, but we also saw the other side of God. We saw Him listening to the cries of His children for mercy and He acted with compassion and became our rescuer once more. Are we starting to see a pattern here?

Verse 28 repeats the cycle, “²⁸ But as soon as they were at rest, they again did what was evil in your sight. Then you abandoned them to the hand of their enemies so that they ruled over them. And when they cried out to you again, you heard from heaven, and in your compassion, you delivered them time after time.” The Hebrew word that we translate as “abandoned” here in English does not have the same sense of permanence that we think of when we read it. In the Hebrew the word doesn’t mean “abandoned” as in left for good, but rather it has a temporary sense of being left behind. We see that because, while it is true that God handed them over to their enemies for a time (think Babylonian captivity here), God once again listened, and He rescued His people from their punishment.

Look at the next paragraph with me. Verses 29 to 31 teach that God acted as an adviser, a herald or one who warns others. We will see His patience once again, then He hands His people over to the enemies once more. But He does not leave them there, for His Mercy, Loyalty, and Graciousness causes the Father to once more recover His disobedient children. “²⁹ “You warned them in order to turn them back to your law, but they became arrogant and disobeyed your commands. They sinned against your ordinances, of which you said, ‘The person who obeys them will live by them.’ Stubbornly they turned their backs on you, became stiff-necked and refused to listen. ³⁰ For many years you were patient with them. By your Spirit you warned them through your prophets. Yet they paid no attention, so you gave them into the hands of the neighboring peoples. ³¹ But in your great mercy you did not put an end to them or abandon them, for you are a gracious and merciful God.” Let me ask you, are you like the Israelites? When you have come out the other side of a rough patch in your life, do you exalt God like the Levites are doing in this passage? Do you praise Him for the deliverance that He has bestowed upon you?

Moving on. In this next paragraph, the Levites are really going to pile on the superlatives regarding God. See if you can catch them all, “³² “Now therefore, our God, the great God, mighty and awesome, who keeps his covenant of love, do not let all this hardship seem trifling in your eyes—the hardship that has come on us, on our kings and leaders, on our priests and prophets, on our ancestors and all your people, from the days of the kings of Assyria until today. ³³ In all that has happened to us, you have remained righteous; you have acted faithfully, while we acted wickedly. ³⁴ Our kings, our leaders, our priests and our ancestors did not follow your law; they did not pay attention to your commands or the statutes you warned them to keep. ³⁵ Even while they were in their kingdom, enjoying your great goodness to them in the spacious and fertile land you gave them, they did not serve you or turn from their evil ways.” Did you catch them all? Verse 32, God is Great, Mighty, Awesome, a Covenant Keeper, Loving, Sympathetic and aware of what His children are enduring. In verse 33 we see God portrayed as Unchanging, Righteous, and faithful. In verse 34 God is once again a herald and one who warns His children. Finally in verse 35 we the Father as a provider of great goodness and a protector.

Wrapping up the chapter, in verses 36 and 37 we see the lament about the present condition of the people, but the Levites are honest enough to acknowledge that it was the pattern of disobedience that led them to where they were. “³⁶ “But see, we are slaves today, slaves in the land you gave our ancestors so they could eat its fruit and the other good things it produces. ³⁷ Because of our sins, its abundant harvest goes to the kings you have placed over us. They rule over our bodies and our cattle as they please. We are in great distress.” God is once again presented as a Provider.

Verse 38 is another of the unfortunate chapter and verse breaks here because it is obvious that verse 38 belongs to chapter 10.

I left this slide on the screen this whole time because I wanted you to see the complete list of God’s attributes mentioned in this chapter. What a list it is indeed. The list of Man’s Attributes is far less impressive. I hope you were paying attention as we went through the first time. But let’s do a quick recap.

Let’s now return to the list of man’s attributes. I won’t reread the scripture verses, frankly, I don’t think my ego could take it. But, let’s go down the list here and I will point out in what verse it is mentioned. Two things: one, we are going to see a pattern here, a repeating pattern. I hope you have noticed it already. Second, keep in mind that we are talking about God’s own people here. Did you notice that the Lord is not concerned with the punishment of the actions of the pagan nations here?

Verse 10 speaks about the arrogance of the Israelites shortly after being delivered from bondage in Egypt. Then again in verse 16, they were described as being arrogant, stiff-necked, and disobedient while they were still in the desert. In the desert when they could look over and see the presence of God as a pillar of smoke during the day and a pillar of flame every night. They could see God there in their presence while He was providing food and water every day and verse 17 goes on to point out they were stubborn, forgetful and rebellious.

Worse yet, in verse 18, while still in the clear presence of the God who delivered them, the Israelites add to their terrible behaviour by becoming idolatrous blasphemers by creating a Golden Calf and claiming it as their God who delivered them.

Years later, when His people turned away from being led by their God and demanded that they be given a King to rule over them, that was the point when their slavery began, and things really started to slide. Verse 26 recounts how during this period of human rulers, keep in mind they were still supposed to be people of God at this point, they became disobedient, rebellious, they turned away from God, they killed God’s messengers, the Prophets, and they were blasphemous once more. Not a particularly proud period of human history.

In the paragraph containing verses 28 to 31, where we see that the Father turned them over to their enemies, they were evildoers, arrogant, disobedient, sinners, stubborn, stiff-necked, which is another way of saying they were prideful and refused to bend the neck or the knee to God. They were listed as ignoring God in two verses and ignoring His warnings.

In verse 33 they were called wicked, verse 34 again we see them ignoring God, they were lawbreakers as well as command and statute breakers. Finally, in verses 36 and 37 they were called delusional slaves, sinners, slaves and distressed. That is not a list to be proud of.

Now, be honest with yourself and look around our country today and ask each other, are we really any different today? As sophisticated as we are told that we have become in this modern society, are we really any different from the Israelites of biblical times? Aren’t we still arrogant, prideful, disobedient, stubborn, forgetful, rebellious, idolatrous, blasphemers, wicked sinners, and modern slaves to an economic system and taxation from the government? Granted, we no longer kill God’s messengers, at least not in this part of the world, be we frequently ignore them and dismiss their teachings when they challenge us too much. Things have not changed in the world because mankind has not changed. We are the problem in the world.

Now the answer is not depopulation as some globalists are proposing. The answer is Jesus. My intent this morning is not to beat up on you, but to simply point out our need for a saviour. Mankind cannot fix this mess apart from Jesus. We need Him to replace our hearts of stone with new hearts of flesh and to give us the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to guide us and empower us on our walk with Jesus.

Looking at these two lists of attributes as described in this chapter this morning, who should you trust for your salvation? Mankind and man-made religions devised by wicked sinners, or should we trust in an unchanging, everlasting, loving, patient, God who is righteous, merciful and just? We should be praising the Father every day that we are living in this period of Grace and we are not living out the punishment we deserve as a nation for how we have turned away from God.

CONCLUSION

Well, this sermon marks the one-year anniversary of my becoming pastor at Mountain View Evangelical Missionary Church. The first Sunday in September marks the first sermon I gave here as pastor. This is the week that we wrap up our study through Ezra and Nehemiah and next week we will begin the Gospel of John with a message detailing the background and context of the Book. I wish we had more time to finish the Book of Nehemiah together, but alas, we must move on.

You would do my heart a world of good, if, in the coming week, you found time to do the homework mentioned in the bulletin. The people were in a joyful state. Sadly, it wouldn’t last, and Mankind’s Nature would win out and God’s People would once again begin to drift away from Him. But that would be OK because now all the pieces were in place and the stage would soon be set for the arrival of the Messiah, the Saviour, God Himself who would add humanity to His divinity in a unique once-in-all of Creation event that would bring about a reconciliation of man back to God. A journey we will begin next week.

However, if you have not yet placed your faith in the saving and completed work of Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour you do not have to wait. The work that Jesus did on that Roman Cross some two thousand years ago was a work of reconciliation. A work that was meant to bring His wicked rebellious people back into a right relationship with the Father. We cannot earn this work and we have read the we certainly don’t deserve this gift we call Grace.

You know the great preacher John Bunyon was on the streets of London one day sometime in the mid-1600’s and he was exhorting his fellow countrymen to come to Jesus, to accept Him as their Saviour. One man asked, “What can I bring, I have nothing to offer this Jesus in exchange for this gift.” Bunyon replied, “You can bring your sins friend. Bring your sins to Jesus and He will bear them for you.” If you are here this morning and have nit yet done that, then please come speak with me after the service. If you have a friend or family member who has not yet accepted Jesus consider taking one of these booklets to them and talking about it with them. If that is too much for you to do, simply invite them to come to church with you one Sunday. Next Sunday might be the perfect day because we are starting the new series where we will be examining the life and ministry of Jesus Christ.

Verse	God’s Attributes	Man’s Attributes
5	Everlasting/ Glorious & Exalted
6	Creator & Life-Giver
7	God Chooses Man
8	Covenant Maker/ Promise Keeper/ Righteous
9	Sees Us & Hears Us
10	Powerful/ Controls Nature	Arrogant
11	Command Nature/ Punishes Enemies
12	Leader/ Protector
13	Law Giver/ Just & Righteous
14	Self-Revealing to His People
15	Provider
16		Arrogant/ Stiff-Necked/ Disobedient
17	Forgiving/ Gracious/ Compassionate/ Slow to Anger/ Abounding in Love/ Loyal	Stubborn/ Forgetful/ Rebellious
18		Idolatrous/ Blasphemous
19	Compassionate/ Leader/ Protector
20	Instructor/ Generous
21	Sustainer
22	Kingdom Maker
23	Giver of Children/ Guide
24	Provider/ Protector
26		Disobedient/ Rebellious/ Turned Away from God/ Killer of God’s Messengers/ Blasphemers
Verse	God’s Attributes	Man’s Attributes
27	Punisher/ Listening/ Compassionate/ Rescuer
28	Hand Them Over to Their Enemies/ Listener/ Rescuer	Evildoers
29	Adviser/ One Who Warns	Arrogant/ Disobedient/ Sinner/ Stubborn/ Stiff-Necked/ Ignoring God
30	Patient/ Herald/ Gave Them Over	Ignoring God’s Warnings
31	Merciful/ Loyal/ Gracious
32	Great/ Mighty/ Awesome/ Covenant Keeper/ Loving Sympathetic/ Aware
33	Unchanging/ Righteous/ Faithful/	Wicked
34	Herald/ One Who Warns	Ignoring of God/ Lawbreakers/ Command and Statute Breakers
35	Provider/ Protector	Ungrateful/ Stubborn
36		Delusional Slaves
37	Provider	Sinners/ Slaves/ Distressed

 

Pastor Paul’s Points:

1) God’s Attributes

2) Man’s Attributes

3) Who should you place your salvation in?

Homework:

a.     Read Chapter 10 and see how the people rededicated themselves to the observance of God’s Law.

b.     Read Chapter 11 and see how God blessed the efforts of those faithful in Jerusalem by bringing new people.

c.      Read Nehemiah 12:27-47 to see how the Israelites celebrated the completion and rededication of the wall with praise and worship.

d.     Read Nehemiah 13:1-9 to read about the fate of Tobiah.

e.     Three times in Chapter 13, Nehemiah asks God to remember him.

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[i] Lawrence O. Richards, New International Encyclopedia of Bible Words: Based on the NIV and the NASB, Zondervan’s Understand the Bible Reference Series (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1999), 255–256.