The Israelites Confess Their Sins (Nehemiah): Have you ever felt lost? Often, the first step to moving forward is to turn back. After the wall project was finished, it was time to rebuild the people of Israel. But first, they needed to address their past. Confession of sin is the first step in repentance, which is the fuel of revival. Recorded on Nov 1, 2026, on Nehemiah 9:1-37 by Pastor David Parks.
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This sermon is part of our series, Nehemiah: From Ruins to Revival. When Nehemiah heard about the desperate needs of the people living in Jerusalem during the Exile, he was deeply moved. Someone had to do something! Nehemiah’s story is what happens when wise and courageous leadership has a God-given burden to help. Nehemiah faced significant opposition and leadership challenges while mobilizing thousands of people to complete a major building project. But through it all, one thing was clear: It’s amazing what can happen when God’s people get to work!
Sermon Transcript
Have you ever been lost? I can’t remember the last time I was lost. With GPS today, and self-driving cars tomorrow, I think being lost might be a thing of the past—at least, when you’re on the road. Now, have you ever felt lost? That’s a different thing. When you feel lost, you may not even understand where you’ve come from, much less where to go next. In Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis writes about being progressive, saying, “We all want progress. But progress means getting nearer to the place where you want to be. And if you have taken a wrong turning, then to go forward does not get you any nearer. If you are on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; and in that case the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive man.” (Lewis, C. S.. Mere Christianity (C.S. Lewis Signature Classics) (p. 28). (Function). Kindle Edition.) Today, we’re talking about turning back, not just to make progress, but to fuel real spiritual revival in your life. We’re continuing a sermon series from the book of Nehemiah called From Ruins to Revival. And we’ve said that the book of Nehemiah tells the story of the Jewish remnant in Jerusalem at the end of the Exile, around 445 BC. It’s a story of God’s people getting to work, under the wise and faithful leadership of Nehemiah, to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem. Now, last week, in chapter 8, the wall was finished, and we finally got to the revival part of the story. Ezra the priest started reading the Hebrew Bible, and the people responded well. We saw that devotion to understanding and applying God’s word is always the beginning of revival. But today, we’ll see that without turning back when you’re on the wrong road, without confession of sin and true repentance, revival is unsustainable. So if you have your Bible/app, please open to Neh 9:1. We have a lot of Bible today, but we’ll unpack it as we go.
Nehemiah 9:1–8 (NIV), “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, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani and Kenani. They cried out with loud voices to the Lord their God. 5 And the Levites—Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah and Pethahiah—said: “Stand up and praise the Lord your God, who is from everlasting to everlasting.” “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. 7 “You are the Lord God, who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and named him Abraham. 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.” So, the revival continued! Just two days after the Festival of Tabernacles that we saw last week, the Israelites gathered together again. You might remember that the first time Ezra and the Levites read God’s word, the people wept in response. They were convicted, cut to the heart, not only for their sins, but for the generational unfaithfulness of their ancestors. And it wasn’t just a few bad apples. If you’ve ever read the Bible, the story of ancient Israel is a depressing cycle of turning away from God, falling into disaster, God’s gracious deliverance, and the people turning back to God, only to turn away once again. God warned them at Sinai that if they did this, he would eventually send them into exile. But God also promised that if they would humble themselves and confess their sins, he would remember his people and his covenant with them, even after their unfaithfulness. Now here, we have the Israelites confessing their sins and the sins of their ancestors as they fasted and wore sackcloth with dust on their heads—all symbols of humble, godly sorrow over their sin. This wasn’t some religious box to check. This was serious, wholehearted devotion to God, expressed in confession. Chapter 9 starts with the third reading of God’s word since the start of chapter 8. Each time, the people responded in genuine faith. The first time, they responded to Ezra’s reading and teaching of God’s word with worship, joy, and generosity—a really strong start! The second time, the heads of all the families, priests, and Levites (basically everyone responsible for spiritual leadership) listened to Ezra read and teach God’s word and responded with an enthusiastic desire to obey the instruction of the Feast of Tabernacles—again, this was really great! Here, they “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.” (v.3) Again, this is what revival looks like—a reclamation of devotion to understanding and applying God’s word, confession, repentance, worship—it’s all here! How did they get here? They begin with creation, then jump to the start of their covenant relationship with God through the family of Abraham, which is basically the book of Genesis. As we continue with the Exodus, I’d like you to notice what God does vs. how his covenant people respond.
Nehemiah 9:9-21 (NIV), “9 “You saw the suffering of our ancestors in Egypt; you heard their cry at the Red Sea. 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. 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. 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. 16 “But they, our ancestors, became arrogant and stiff-necked, and they did not obey your commands. 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, 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. 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. 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.” I can’t overstate just how formative the Exodus story was for the people of Israel. No other event shaped their knowledge of God or themselves so profoundly. But did you notice what God did vs. how his covenant people responded? God was only ever gracious in his actions: hearing their cries, sending signs, rescuing them from Egypt, leading them through the wilderness, speaking to them, providing food and drink, protecting them, instructing them by his word, and forgiving them, while the people responded with arrogant rebellion, a refusal to listen, and a failure to remember what God had done. But the wilderness was tough! And the Israelites had been slaves for hundreds of years in Egypt. Would it be any better/easier when they finally got to the Promised Land? Notice again what God does vs. how his people respond.
Nehemiah 9:22-31 (NIV), “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. 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. 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. 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. 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.” The statement that stands out to me here is that they reveled in the great goodness of God, but they were still disobedient, rebellious, blasphemous, and even killed the prophets sent to call them to repent and turn back to God! So despite the fact that God is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in love, who had been nothing but merciful, patient, and kind to his people, delivering them time after time, he eventually gave them over into the hands of the Assyrians and then the Babylonians, who conquered first the northern kingdom of Israel, and then later the southern kingdom of Judah, destroying the city of Jerusalem, including the wall and the temple in 586 BC. Between the Exodus and the Exile was almost a thousand years of this same sad pattern running generation after generation. But even after the death and destruction of the Exile, God still demonstrated his good and merciful character, allowing them to come home, providing what they needed to rebuild first the wall around Jerusalem, and now, to rebuild the people through spiritual revival. So far, chapter 9 has looked back—remembering God’s faithfulness and humbly confessing their unfaithfulness. But what about the present? Which way should they turn now?
Nehemiah 9:32-37 (NIV), “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. 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.” This is God’s word. Ok! So, to see the full turning back, the full picture of repentance, we’ll need the passage from next week as well, when the people not only confess their sins but renew their covenant with God. But here, we see the first half of what’s needed to sustain this revival. Because here’s the big idea today: Confession of sin is the first step in repentance, which is the fuel of revival. A big question, given the history recited here, is this: the people of Israel are returning to the Promised Land, but will they actually turn back to God? If you don’t know you’re lost, you’ll never turn around. But when you realize you’re lost, and given the Exile, the people of Israel knew they were indeed lost, spiritually at any rate, you can finally, as Lewis would say, do an about-turn and walk back to the right road. This is why confession of sin was so needed. If the people weren’t honest about how they got into the mess of the Exile, and their willful disobedience, rebellion, and sins, they would stay lost. God’s Word teaches confession of sin throughout. In the Law, it says, “when anyone becomes aware that they are guilty in any of these matters, they must confess in what way they have sinned.” (Le 5:5). In the New Testament, the Apostle John writes, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 Jn 1:9). James writes that Christians should “confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.” (Jas 5:16). Healing, forgiveness, and reconciliation all begin with confession of sin. Now, to whom do we confess our sins? First of all, to God. This is his world, and you are his creature. If you do not walk in his ways, then you owe him an apology at the very least. Second, you must confess your sins to anyone you have wronged. Your confession should go as far as your sin. If you’ve sinned against your spouse or your friend, you should confess to your spouse or your friend. If you’ve sinned against your family or community group, then you confess to them. This doesn’t mean you won’t face other consequences for your sin. Confession and repentance don’t mean you immediately regain someone’s trust. Trust takes time to earn back. But confession is the first step in repentance, which is the fuel of revival. But finally, notice how their prayer ends: they acknowledged their great distress and simply trusted themselves to God’s mercy. “Oh God, we know what we’ve done, and we know it’s our fault, but we still need your help.” Have you ever prayed a prayer like that? I have. Now, if you didn’t know anything else about the Bible than what we’ve read here today, would you ever predict that God would have helped these people? After all their unfaithfulness? But he did. In fact, the good news of the gospel is that God was willing to do so much more than give them yet another second chance to try and fail to save themselves. Shockingly, God sent his one and only Son, Jesus Christ, to live the life they couldn’t live and die the death they deserved on the cross—not just for the sins they confessed, but for the sins of the world. This is why the gospel is good news. For us, it’s the news of what God has already accomplished in Christ, so that now anyone who believes in him might be forgiven for their sins, have a new relationship with God (a covenant of love), and live forever with him in a kingdom that starts now, but will one day find its fulfillment when Christ returns, the dead will be raised and judged, and God will make a new heaven and earth. The curse will be broken; we will be free. Until then, every time we wander off the right path, every time that we sin, we too must turn back, confess again, and be healed and forgiven by our faith in Christ. This is not only the way to make progress—this will fuel our revival to the glory of God. Let us pray.
