3-3-25 Nehemiah 9:17a – The Superiority of God: A Powerful Exposition

SPEAKER 01 : 0:08

Welcome to Expository Truths, where we exalt Christ by bringing clarity of truth through the scriptures with Dr. John Kyle, pastor of Faith Community Church in Vacaville. As Christians, we are called to know the truth and be able to proclaim it. We can know the truth when we know the word of God, which is precise, without error, powerful, and effective for both salvation and spiritual growth. Let’s join Pastor Kyle as he takes us verse by verse through the book of Nehemiah, an incredible book showing us how God sovereignly used the faithfulness of Nehemiah to lead the people to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem in the midst of many mighty and powerful enemies.

SPEAKER 02 : 0:57

Please turn in your Bibles to Nehemiah chapter 9, verse 17. Nehemiah 9, 17b. We’re not preaching a chapter. We’re preaching half of a verse today. Now remember, God led Nehemiah to go to Jerusalem and to rebuild the ruined walls of the city, which was an amazing task. But even more, God led Nehemiah to be the catalyst in bringing the people back to repentant faith in the living God. See, they were spiritually dry. They were living in compromise and in great sin. They were far away from God. And God used Nehemiah… to help the city to return to its former glory, and even better, to help the people to return to the Lord. Remember, after the wall was finished, the people gathered together in Jerusalem. They read from the law of God, the Word of God, and then they wept and rejoiced at the Feast of Trumpets. Then two weeks later, when they celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles, they read from the law again. They worshiped and celebrated the Lord, and there was great joy. great gladness from all the people. It didn’t end there because just a couple of days after that most amazing event, the people again gathered together to observe a national day of repentance where they fasted, they mourned, they wore sackcloth, they put dust on their heads as they cried out to God to express their turning away from sin and turning to the Lord in heartfelt love and worship to Him. It was an amazing time. It was real. God was certainly well pleased by everything that he was seeing. They then prayed. This prayer is a penitent prayer of confession that offers an amazing survey of Old Testament history. Up to this point, the prayer shows us some of the many reasons that we, the people of God, can praise him. Why? Because he alone is God. Because He made everything including you. Because He chose Abraham. Because He saw His people’s affliction and He heard their cry. Because He led Israel out of Egypt. Because He gave His people His law. And because He both fed them and He gave them water when they were thirsty. Amazing. I mean, absolutely amazing. What a God. What a God. But sadly… As we saw last time in this prayer, the people got used to God and His goodness towards them. And in their pride, they refused to obey and they hardened their necks to the Lord who had delivered them and to the Lord who had sustained them and to the Lord who had blessed them in so many amazing and incredible ways. Lord, help us to not be like them. Now what? Verse 17b, let’s look. But… But you are God, ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, abundant in kindness. And get this, you did not forsake them. How incredible is that? I mean, think about that. How incredible is our God? As we look at this wonderful verse, the first thing that stands out is the fact that He is God, but you are God. That’s right. He is God and He alone. No one else is God, but He alone is God. Right? God Almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth, Lord over all, the one true God. Or as Deuteronomy 6.4 says, Hear, O Israel. Shema, O Israel. Hear, O Israel. The Lord our God, the Lord is one. In other words, the Lord is our God, the Lord alone. So He is the one and only God. And He is our God and there is no other. In Exodus 15, 11, it says, Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? The answer, no one, not even close. And every other so-called God is really no God because He alone is King of kings and Lord of lords. John Gill said it like this, He is Jehovah, the being of beings, a self-existent being, eternal and immutable. and he is but one in nature and essence. This appears from the perfection of his nature, his eternity, omnipotence, omnipresence, infinity, goodness, self-sufficiency, and perfection. For there can be but one eternal, one omnipotent, one omniscient, one infinite, one that is originally and of himself good, one self and all sufficient and perfect being, Yahweh, the one and only true God. That’s absolutely right. He is it. He answers to no one. He rules. He is above all. He is not merely first among the gods, but He is the one and only God. He is the one and only living true God. He only is God. And He is but one. See, he doesn’t share his glory with other so-called gods. He isn’t one of many gods. He doesn’t bow the knee to anyone or to anything, but he is above all and he stands alone. Adam Clark says it like this, Yahweh alone is God. The Israelites were to forever remember that the God who had rescued them from Pharaoh was not like the false gods of the Egyptian pantheon or the Canaanite cults. Thus, Yahweh was to be their sole object of worship, devotion, and faithful service. Only Yahweh is eternal. Unchanging, consistent, and true. All other deities are to be summarily rejected as false and perverted, and that’s absolutely right. The simple point is this, that there is but one God who is above all and who stands alone. The God of Israel, our God who is one and who eternally exists in three distinct persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In 1 Samuel chapter 5, the ark of the Lord is captured by the Philistines. The ark, remember, symbolized the presence and power of God and it was captured. The Philistines then took the ark and placed it in the house of Dagon. Now Dagon was a false fish god whose image had the lower body of a fish and the upper body of a man. And Dagon was the Philistines’ highest god. And so… When the ark was placed in Dagon’s house near Dagon’s image, it was supposed to symbolize that Dagon was superior to the Lord. How do you think God felt about that? Listen to 1 Samuel 5, 2 through 5. When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon and set it by Dagon. And when the people of Ashdod arose early in the morning, there was Dagon fallen on its face before the ark of the Lord. I absolutely love that. So they took Dagon and they set it in its place again. When they arose early the next morning, there was Dagon fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord. The head of Dagon and both the palms of its hands were broken off on the threshold. Only Dagon’s torso was left of it. How good is that? Note that the cutting off of the head And the cutting off of the hands was a sign that the enemy was dead and defeated. And this was a very clear sign that Dagon is no match for the one true God, not even close. Why? Because no one is. No one is. See, all bow down to him. And the perceived other gods can’t compare to the one true God. He’s not one of many. He’s not the best of many. No, He stands alone. And He alone is the one and only God, the Maker of heaven and earth, the all-powerful, almighty, omnipotent, holy God over all. And that fact had already been made very clear to the people of Israel and to the people who were referred to here specifically in this prayer. The Israelites who had been freed from slavery in Egypt, who had experienced miracle after miracle after miracle, who had been cared for and fed by the Lord God Almighty, and who had received His law from Him in a mighty and miraculous way. The people’s response, remember, indifference, rebellion, pride, hard necks and hard hearts, and great disobedience. But what about God? What about the one true God? What about the one and only God? Five truths. First, look. He is ready to pardon. That’s truly amazing and it’s a very good thing for us. The word for pardon means to forgive. And it speaks of the removal of guilt from wrongdoing and of the letting go of an offense that has been made against you. Note that this word pardon is used solely of God’s forgiveness of the sinner. And the good news here is that our God is a God of amazing forgiveness, of abundant forgiveness. This is true good news because forgiveness from God for all our sin is a desperate need of the hour for every single person. Why? Because we’re all in debt. But we don’t owe money that can be repaid. No, we owe our soul. The Bible says that we have all sinned, and we’ve all fallen short of the glory of God, and don’t we know it? Anybody here a sinner? Right? Don’t we know it? The price for sin is death, not just physical death, but eternal separation from God in hell. And one little sin is enough to put you into spiritual debt, because one little sin will separate you from God for all eternity. Why? Why? Because God is holy, and sin committed against a holy and infinite God is worthy of infinite wages. So, how do we deal with this debt? Well, we either pay up in hell forever and reject Christ as Lord and Savior, or else someone who is able and worthy comes along and pays our eternal debt for us. But who is worthy and who is able to do that? Only one. Jesus. God the Son. Fully God and fully man. And so He came. Jesus left heaven and He came here. He took on human flesh. He lived 33 years without sin. He died on the cross and then three days later He rose up from the dead. What’s the big deal about that? Because the Bible tells us that on the cross, Jesus became the believer’s substitute for sin. On the cross, God the Father punished Jesus for the sin of every person who would ever believe so we who believe could be forgiven of all that sin that condemns us and declared righteous before God and thus go to heaven instead of hell. See, on the cross, our sin as believers was credited to Christ’s spiritual account and He was brutally punished and crushed for all that sin and then His perfect righteousness was credited to our spiritual account. See, he died and faced God’s divine wrath against our sin so that all who believe can be cleansed, forgiven, justified, rescued, delivered, and saved by God’s amazing goodness, by God’s amazing grace. How good is that? How good is that? I mean, He did all the work in saving us, and it was very costly. And look, through faith in Christ, because of what He did for us on the cross, God can look at wretched sinners like us, no matter what sin you may have committed in your life, and He can say, I forgive you. Your sin is remitted. Your sin is paid for. You can come now into my holy presence. You can go to heaven even though you deserve to go to hell. I forgive you. Yes, I forgive even you. Isn’t that incredible? Because of Christ. and what He did in the believer’s place on the cross. And that forgiveness and all the blessings that go along with that comes by God’s incredible grace through faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Again, how good is that? I mean, God doesn’t have to forgive any of us. But praise Him. He’s ready to pardon. He’s ready to pardon all who want it. So much so that He sent His Son and crushed Him so that our forgiveness could be possible. See, every sin… Ever committed in all of creation must be punished by holy God. And so for God to pardon our sin, it demanded that Christ suffer our wages and die, and not only die, but face divine wrath against sin, our sin, a million times over on that cross. Do you think He loves you? Look what He has done for you. As Psalm 103.12 says, As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. How far is that? It’s unmeasurable, right? This is who our God is. And isn’t it good to stand forgiven today? Anybody? Isn’t it? Anybody? Come on. Come on. This is good, right? This is real good news. We’re forgiven. No matter what you have done, no matter how bad you have been, no matter how wretched of a sin you might have committed, God is ready to forgive you for all that sin if you would go to Him in repentant faith. And when you do, He will freely pardon. Second, God is gracious. Canoon in the Hebrew, gracious. The word for gracious literally means to bend or to stoop in kindness to an inferior. It means to show favor toward and to have pity on someone. That’s how God is toward us, His people. Isn’t that good? And because God is a God of grace, He responds to us with graciousness, with His unmerited favor, with His undeserved riches. You say, what undeserved riches? First in the fact that He saved us from eternal wrath, and then in the fact that He daily showers us with His gracious blessings when we don’t deserve any of them. The Hebrew word ties in to the Greek word for grace, charis. What then is grace that leads to God being gracious to us? Grace is love that seeks you out when you have nothing to give in return. Grace is being loved when you’re unlovable. Grace is God’s unmerited favor towards sinners who don’t deserve it. Grace is everything for nothing to those who don’t deserve anything. Or as one said, grace first inscribed my name in God’s eternal book. It was grace that gave me to the Lamb who all my sorrows took. See, grace is one-way love. It’s God loving you when you were dead and lost in your sin, a rebel, an infidel, one who stood opposed. But even so, the one God of amazing grace was gracious to undeserving sinners, Israel in the wilderness, and us today. See, God saved us by His grace. And He continues to supply us with daily sustaining grace so that we see this thing through to the end until we are glorified with Him forever. So grace really encompasses everything. Our justification, that one-time event whereby we are saved and declared righteous by faith. Our sanctification, the daily process of fighting sin and growing in Christ until… we die and our future glorification in heaven grace it’s all about the grace of god and really the grace of god should blow us all away and i guess the question is are you amazed by god’s graciousness today it’s easy for us to get used to god’s grace it’s easy for us to take grace for granted It’s easy for us to live under cheap grace where we praise God for saving us and then we go on living like it’s not that big of a deal. We often treat sin lightly. We embrace the world. We play the hypocrite. We say that we are saved, and sometimes we live like we’re not. We follow God until it gets hard, and then we just compromise. We forget that we were bought with a price, a very high price, and we just sail along with the crowd down the road of cheap grace that is very popular these days. And so I say, what about you? What about us? What about me? My prayer is that we would always stand in awe and be amazed by God’s grace, His saving grace, His sustaining grace, His daily grace, and His future grace. The Lord is gracious. Don’t we know it? Don’t we know it? Third, our God is merciful. Rahum in the Hebrew means to be sympathetic, compassionate, and to have a heart of pity to one who is needy. And that’s how our God is toward us, his people. The Greek equivalent of this Hebrew term is the Greek word splanchnon. The word literally means inward parts. See, the people in that culture believe that the seat of emotions wasn’t in the heart. but it was in the intestines, in the bowels. The idea is that mercy, sympathy, and compassion for others was something that just welled up from deep, deep within of them. The phrase, I feel it in the pit of my stomach, I am brokenhearted, or this is gut-wrenching, are modern parallels to this term. So the mercy and compassion of God speaks of deep feelings of intense caring that well up from within Him, and that’s what God has for us. That’s what God has for you, His child. How amazing is that? I mean, think about that, that our God, God Almighty, the Creator of all, The all-powerful God who is greater than we could ever think or imagine cares for us like that. Who are we to have a God like that? We see this mercy when we look at Christ. Clearly Jesus wasn’t remote or cold concerning man’s needs, but he was deeply moved by the suffering, confusion, despair, and plight of those around him. Jesus indeed felt pain, and He experienced genuine anguish for the sufferings of others. And clearly, our God is a God who is full of mercy, who is full of compassion for the pitiful, for the needy, for the hurting, for the desperate, for us. And it comes from deep within the Lord. It wells up from within Him. It’s real, and it’s passionate, and it’s genuine. As preacher Thomas Bradbury said, God is never at a loss to help and comfort His weary and weak, tried and tempted, oppressed and suffering people. Amen. All God’s children are dear to Him, pleasant in His eyes and the delight of His heart. God draws them to Himself with cords of love, blesses them with the sweets of divine communion. Presses them to his bosom of everlasting love and holds every covenant blessing ready for whatever state or condition they may be in. That is right. And I say amen to that. That’s who our God is. Another said, does a shepherd watch tenderly over his flock? The Lord is my shepherd. Does a father exercise fondest concerns toward his children? I will be a father unto you, says God. Does a mother’s love exceed all other earthly types of affection? As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you. Is the apple of the eye, the pupil, the most sensitive part and the most delicate bodily organ? He guards His people as the apple of His eye. And again, I say amen to that. This truth about our God is important to remember in this world that’s full of trouble. That God cares deeply for you. That God cares intimately for you, His beloved child. You say, John, I don’t feel it. Why then, if God is so merciful to me, why then does He not take my suffering away? Why then is this happening to me? Why then doesn’t He make everything easy and fun and trouble-free for me? Because it’s not easy. And it’s not always fun. And life is full of trouble. If we don’t get it, if we don’t see it, God knows. But just because we don’t understand the deeper things of God doesn’t make them not true, and it doesn’t change this ironclad truth that our God is merciful, compassionate, and sympathetic to us, His needy children. Trust His heart when you can’t trace His ways. Life is hard for now, but the best really is yet to come. Trust Him. Suffering and pain for us is a promise in this life because this isn’t the end. But good news, God is with us through it all, saving, guiding, helping, encouraging, and reminding us that what lies ahead is far better. So trust Him and be faithful until glory. And when in doubt, look to the cross. When in doubt, read His heart of mercy for you in the cross, in the wounds, in the tears, in the anguish, in the blood that Jesus shed for you. Did you hear that? For you. It’s very personal. The Lord is indeed merciful and compassionate for us. Let’s pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, we love You and we thank You for who You are and we thank You for what You’ve done. And we do stand in awe of You, Lord. often take You for granted. We forget Your goodness. We get used to amazing grace. I pray that this would be a good reminder to us today of how incredible You are. And we have You. We are Yours and You are ours. We’ve done nothing to deserve a God like You. Oh Lord, help us to stand in awe of You. to love you with more fervor and more passion, and may it affect the way that we live our lives as we go out today. May our lives be a great praise offering to you. May our lives be living sacrifices every day for you in light of who you are and what you’ve done. We love you. We ask you to bless us now. May we encourage each other with your truth. In Jesus’ name, amen.

SPEAKER 01 : 24:25

Thanks for joining us for today’s exposition from the book of Nehemiah on expository truths with Dr. John Kyle. To find this and other sermons, visit expositorytruths.org. Faith Community Church seeks to exalt Christ by bringing clarity of truth through the scriptures with a commitment to glorifying God through the pure, deep, and reaching message of the gospel. Pastor John is the preacher Thank you. Join for services at Faith Community Church Sundays at 9 and 1045 a.m. 192 Bella Vista Road, Suite A. To learn more, visit vacavillefaith.org or call 707-451-2026. That’s 707-451-2026. Or visit vacavillefaith.org.