Living in God's Grace

1/17/10 Sermon by Minister Michael Johnson translated by Ming-Chung Kang

Living in God's Grace

Nehemiah 9:28-31

When I was a child I made a few mistakes. Ok, it was more than a few. My parents were not always happy with me by any stretch of the imagination. Like all kids I disobeyed the rules of my parents and repeated the same mistake more than once. When I disobeyed them, my parents had to punish me. When I was punished I needed to apologize and seek forgiveness. Each time I sought forgiveness my parents extended the grace to forgive me. When I repeated the mistake I was punished again and then needed to again seek forgiveness. Each time I sought forgiveness my parents extended grace and forgave me. While I did not like the punishment, I grew to understand my parent’s need to punish disobedience. My parents punished me so that I would mature understand right from wrong. Because of this I grew to trust that my parents would care for me and teach me how to lead an upright life. Ultimately, my parents were pointing me to faith in our Heavenly Father who extends to us, as Christian, grace from our sin.

This week’s Scripture passage is a perfect picture of hope found in the grace and mercy of God in spite of sin. Nehemiah is recounting a portion of the long history of Israel’s disobedience to God. Think back to Moses and the Exodus from Egypt. The Lord had spared the Israelites from the seven plagues he sent to Egypt. God miraculously led the Israelites through the Red Sea, destroying the Egyptian army. The people of Israel were happy to be leaving bondage in Egypt and on their way to the Promised Land. Even still it was not long before the people began to complain about the journey ahead of them.

They complained about low food and water but God had already promised them food and safety. The Lord states in Exodus 15:26, “If you will diligently obey the LORD your God, and do what is right in his sight, and pay attention to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, then all the diseases that I brought on the Egyptians I will not bring on you, for I, the LORD, am your healer.” Still they complained that God was not caring for them. While God was giving Moses the Ten Commandments, the Israelites created an idol. They quickly forgot the grace and mercy of God. Thus would begin a cycle of sinful nature, punishment from God, repentance, and reestablishment of favor. Nehemiah presents a portion of this cycle where the Israelites sinned and God allowed them to fall into captivity of another nation, only to redeem them after they repented.

Nehemiah 9:28 says that God abandoned Israel to their enemies. More literally, the Hebrew definition for abandon is to leave or forsake. The implication is that God left Israel to what they deserved. God allowed the Israelites to fall into captivity. God could have stopped this from happening, but this would not have helped the Israelites. By saving them from punishment without repentance God would be teaching Israel that they could do anything they wanted without consequence. Instead, God punished them by allowing them to fall into captivity. They were punished for their greed. They desired more than what they felt God was offering them. Once in captivity they realized they abundance and freedom they had while in the care of the Lord. So, they turned to God in repentance and the Lord saved them from their captors. The Israelites again began to worship and praise the might of the Lord. When back in the favor of the Lord their needs were now met because they were out of captivity and, as the Scripture states, they rested in the Lord. Again they became complacent and began to desire more than what the Lord was offering them. They returned to sin. God gave them many opportunities to repent. They did not repent and God abandoned them to their enemies. Yet God did not forget them. God always heard the cries of the Israelites.

Similar to the Israelites of the Old Testament we too tend to become complacent in our lives. School or work might be going well. Maybe our relationships are fulfilling. We may feel all around sense of comfortability. Then the enemy begins to whisper in our ear temptations that we know we should not act upon. At first it is easier to resist, but as temptations grow stronger we may find ourselves caving into them. We are like Israel in this way. We are comfortable for a while because we are seeking the Lord and He is providing. Then we start to slip into sin, maybe without even noticing it at first. The next thing we know we must seek the Lord’s forgiveness. Hopefully, when He forgives us, we learn from our mistakes and will next time seek His strength to resist sin in the future. This is the process of sanctification.

God was trying to sanctify Israel by allowing them to fall into captivity. The goal was that they would rely upon the strength of the Lord to resist sin. Using Israel’s mistakes as a model we must recognize our sin, by the work of the Holy Spirit, and rebuke sin with an honest heart. Otherwise we will find ourselves back in the same place, seeking forgiveness for the same sin over and over. You might think of sanctification as a process of going round and round a mountain. The progress upward is sanctification because the summit represents the goal of conquering sin. The process of going around the mountain is the journey we take of sinning and seeking forgivingness. The number of times we go around the mountain is depends on how often we return to our sinful ways. Of course it is impossible to reach the summit on our own and requires salvation found in the blood and strength of Christ.

Sanctification requires our dependence on God. Using this passage an argument can be made that the Lord is establishing our dependence on Him. The consequences of our sin is uncomfortable. This state of discomfort reminds us of the peace we can have when we reconcile with God. How do we reconcile? By confessing our sin and receiving His forgiveness and mercy.

Thankfully this passage shows us that even if we fall back to sin the Lord does not abandon us completely. Nehemiah 9:31 states, “However, due to your abundant mercy you did not do away with them altogether; you did not abandon them. For you are a merciful and compassionate God.” When we sin God does not leave us. God does not forsake us. God uses this to purify us. For those, in whom the Holy Spirit is working, they will never remain content with sin. The Holy Spirit exposes our sin to us. It is up to us to either listen to the Holy Spirit or to ignore Him. Ultimately though, God will call those with faith in Him away from sin and into abundant life in Him. It has thus been argued that if a Christian belongs to God then regardless of his or her actions, grace will be demonstrated and they will be saved from their sin. But, Scripture does not teach us this method for living because we are called to an abundant life. Romans 6:1-6 states,

“What shall we say then? Are we to remain in sin so that grace may increase? Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that as many as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him through baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too may live a new life. For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be united in the likeness of his resurrection. We know that our old man was crucified with him so that the body of sin would no longer dominate us, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.”

The Lord has called us to a life that is greater than sin. We, before knowing Christ, were slaves to sin, but now we follow a new master. Our master is our Father in Heaven. If our faith is in the Lord it must be in the Lord only. Matthew 6:24 tells us we cannot serve two masters. We must trust in God and God alone. Fortunately, His grace allows for us to return to Him even when we fall into the temptation of sin.

What does this mean for us today? This means that we are to live lives that are holy and pure in the sight of the Lord. We are to seek the Lord in all we do and all we say. We are messengers of God here on this earth. This means that all we say and do is a representation of the Lord. When we are at work, school, in our homes, or anywhere in between, we are demonstrating what it is to be forgiven and reconciled to our Maker. We are able to do this because God give us grace. It is the dwelling of the Holy Spirit, the work of Christ on the Cross, and calling of the Father into relationship with Him that gives us joy and peace. God will grant us the desires of our heart. The desire of the hearts of the Israelites led them to captivity. Where will the desires of our hearts lead us? Will they lead us to captivity in sin or freedom in Christ? In remembering the pattern of the Israelites, let us not become spiritually complacent. Instead, let us respond quickly to sin, embrace his loving kindness, and continually pursue a life of freedom in Him.