(Neh 9:7-8) Who Does God Bless? Only Undeserving Christians.

Nathan Sehi

Nehemiah • Sermon • Submitted 5 years ago

God fulfills promises made to Abraham

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Nehemiah 9:7-8 continues Ezra’s prayer for forgiveness and recommitment to the covenant. This section of prayer confesses that none are like the LORD because of his work with Abraham. The emphasis is on the grace and mercy bestowed upon Abraham. Abraham may be the most blessed person in the Bible – and yet he still did not deserve the blessings of God. As Christians, we have every blessing before us not because of our goodness, but because of the work of Christ. (Ephesians 1:3-6)

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Wouldn’t be great to know that you have God's favor this year?

To know that as you make decisions,

you live life,

when you fly and wonder if this turbulence is going to be the of your life

you parent your children,

you make important investments

and the list could goes on.

Wouldn’t be great to know that you have God's favor this year?

Last Sunday we looked at

Nehemiah 9:6 ESV

“You are the Lord, you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you.

Wouldn't it be great to know that you have the favor of the -

one who created it all,

who preserves everything by his Word.

But often we are trapped between two extremes – those who presume we have God's favor and those who unnecessarily doubt that we have God's favor.

Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years often causes people to consider the blessings of God.

Practically in our lives we ask the question –

And in the back of our mind - when we struggle seeing the blessings of God is to question -

What kind of person does God bless?

I am going to assume here that you want God’s blessings,

and I am not sure why anyone would not one good, great, mighty God to bless them.

>>>>Oh we might not say that out loud; but practically we are living out what we believe that answer is.

That question might not be a topic at the dinner table,

but how we respond to circumstances in our lives is often based on that question.

Our pride and our guilt often reflects the answer to this question.

Again I contend that many of us are caught between two wrong extremes about God's blessings.

(a) Many people believe a good person is the kind of person that God blesses.

{{{{I mean, surely a good person is a person who God blesses. }}}}}

According to a survey, 52% of American Evangelicals believe -

“Everyone sins a little, but most people are good by nature.”

State of Theology survey (Legionier Ministries)

>>>>>>>>>>> And if you go outside and way from Evangelicalism - I am sure that number is going to climb.

So often, our culture assumes that we are good people.

Which often means, we assume we are the kind of people God blesses.

Which may I say as a side note,

This is why the first step in telling someone about the Gospel is helping them understand they are not Good,

but in fact exceedingly sinful and evil.

You can’t be saved by Christ unless you know you are a sinner.

But is this claim true ?

Is a good person the kind of person God blesses?

but in fact exceedingly sinful and evil.

But for many,

they believe they are the kind of person that God blesses

because they are Good people.

But Another common view on the other extreme,

(2) Is people will often believe they are not good enough for God’s blessings.

But understand this is the same theology.

So in other words, most people are good, which means God is going to bless most people.

It all involves assumption: that God decides to bless people based on their goodness.

It assumes that the person who is blessed by God is the Good person.

And as -

(3) Christians often think in the same way.

Although we recognize that we received the Gospel by undeserving love,

we often think that we receive the blessings of God based on their goodness.

We buy into this.

May I say,

And of course, God would never withhold his blessings to good people.

But is that true?

There underpinnings of that false theology is that most people are good by nature.

No person has ever received the blessing of God based on their goodness.

Goodness has nothing to do with with it.

You say, how do you know that?

And my answer could be -

Romans 3:10–12 ESV

as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

So unless nobody receives the blessings of God, blessings are not because of our goodness.

Being Good doesn't qualify us for blessings.

And being exceedingly sinful doesn’t disqualify us from God’s blessings.

But instead of answering this by , may I explain it by the story Story of Abraham.

Surely, Abraham, t

Our text this morning is prayer that describes the unmerited blessing of Abraham.

>>>>>It is a prayer of people who realize that all of their ancestors received undeserved blessings.

Nehemiah 9:7–8 ESV

You are the Lord, the God who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and gave him the name Abraham. You found his heart faithful before you, and made with him the covenant to give to his offspring the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite. And you have kept your promise, for you are righteous.

The next two weeks - Nehemiah is going to point out that -

From our passage today,

PROP: We should trust in God as the Source of Undeserved Blessings.

TRANS: And this text will show us how God blessed undeserving Abraham.

Of all people in the Old Testament, surely Abraham, was somebody who received God's blessing because he deserved it.

I mean, what other name besides Christ, who is God, had more blessing then Abraham.

Even our New Testament repeats the name of Abraham many times.

Emphasizes -

Abraham was -

Chosen By God.

Brought out of a Pagan Nation.

Given A New Name.

Given Kept Promises.

Of a Vast Possession of Land, Wealth, and Prestige.

Man - it makes you wonder what Abraham did to receive so many blessings from God.

And the answer - Abraham didn’t do anything.

And if we were to go into his life,

Abraham was - Chosen By God.

Nehemiah 9:7 ESV

You are the Lord, the God who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and gave him the name Abraham.

Chosen as a person of God.

Our text, states now a second time, - “You are the Lord”

Which is meant to exalt the name of God as like no one else.

And proceeds to tells us why the LORD is like no one else.

It started with creation. ()

The LORD is like no one else because he was the one who made everything. And preserveses even today.

The LORD is like no one else because he was the one who made everything.

But now our text says,

You are LORD alone because of what you did to Abram.

God choose Abram.

Abraham is known as the father of Faith.

Galatians 3:6–7 ESV

just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”? Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham.

Gal 3:67

But notice - it wasn’t Abram reaching out to God, but God choosing Abram.

Who was the one who started the relationship - God or Abram??

God was the one who reached out with his finger from heaven,

and said I am going love and bless this man.

The one who created world, and preserves it with his hands - chose Abraham.

ILLUSTRATION:

I remember when I first believed in the Gospel -

I had never read a Bible before in my life.

All the verses I knew were the ones’ from the Romans Road - a list of verses that teach someone what the Gospel is.

Partly in my unsaved thinking and partly because of how people acted in my church -

- I thought God blesses those who live more by his standards than anyone else.

- I thought the one’s who God blessed the most were the people who pleaded for God the most.

I thought the one’s who God blessed the most were the people who pleaded for God the most.

- and thought God only blesses those who call upon his name.

Or blesses for

If nothing else, God only blesses those who call upon his name.

Notice everything was about how hard and persistently I sought God.

CLARIFY:

Now I do believe, God blesses those who call upon his name.

Psalm 145:18 ESV

The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.

: 18

But I believe that has more to do with God blessings faith, then how hard we pray.

Another way say that is - God blesses the faith that trusts him more than the person who thinks the good work of praying hard brings the blessings of God.

And one of the reasons I believe that is because Abram’s blessings did not come because he cried out to God.

But does the story of Abram teach us that Abram called out for God?

No!

No where in do we read Abram calling out to God.

Genesis 12:1–3 ESV

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Genesis 12:13

In fact,

the name of Abram means “the father is exalted” and many scholars suggest that this is related to worshiping of the moon God.

Abram

You see - Abram grew up in the city of Ur, who was renowned for it’s paganism.

The landscape was dominated by the ziggurat, or temple tower, and the life of the city was controlled by a religion with a multiplicity of gods. The chief deity was Nanna(r), or Sin, the moon god, who was also worshiped at Haran. Near his ziggurat was a temple dedicated to his consort, the moon goddess, Ningal. (BEB)

So Abram, was probably named after a pagan god.

and Grew up worshiping pagan gods.

How does a pagan worshiping man, who makes no plea to the one true God,

get so blessed?

It is not because he deserved it.

He deserved judgement,

But our text says - God choose Abram.

That is - God showed grace to Abram.

Grace is of course a theology word that has often been used to describe God giving us what we don’t deserve.

God chose to bless Abram - even though he didn’t deserve it.

God chose to have a relationship with Abram - even though he wasn’t even a worshiper of the true God.

So the blessing of Abram began with God choosing the undeserving Abram,

And then our text says,

Abraham was - Brought out of a Pagan Nation.

Brought out of a Pagan Nation.

Nehemiah 9:7 ESV

You are the Lord, the God who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and gave him the name Abraham.

How was that a blessing to Abram?

Again,

We must ask what was about Ur that made leaving the city worth mentioning.

And especially on the same level as Abram being chosen, his named being changed, and the promises that Gave him.

If you understand the text,

The Hebrew creates a sequence of events.

God -

Chose Abram

And that was ab

Then he Brought him out of a Pagan Nation.

Then he Given A New Name.

Given Kept Promises.

Ur would have been a city of earthly wealth, culture, and worship.

Leaving

So the blessing is not because Ur is place of poverty, or barren,

but in fact the blessing is that he left the the wealth, culture, and worship of Ur.

The most prominent theme of this ancient city was that it’s wealth and culture centered around the worship of false Gods.

The center and the heartbeat of the ce

So most, likely the blessing here is that Abram was brought out of a pagan culture.

ILLUSTRATION:

Often people struggle with all that God calls them to give up when they get saved.

Even after we have been saved many years, isn’t there times you feel like it would be easier and more fun to live the way unbelievers do.

But, Consider the cost of unbelief.

- An unbelievers most devout worship is ultimately to a false God who is powerless against the challenges of this life.

- When all their prayers have no result, they think the reason is because God is angry with them or doesn’t care.

- And eventually, the unanswered prayers of a false God leave unbelievers hopeless, depressed, and with a weight of guilt.

Yes, Christians are called live lives that glorify God,

but let us not think for a second that a relationship with Jesus is not the most valuable possession anyone could ask for.

God brought Abram out of Ur out of the dark demonic hopelessness paganism that he grew up in.

Again, is the point of this prayer that Abram earned this.

And the answer is - no.

Abram was perfectly happy worshiping false Gods, until God choose him.

The blessing of being released from Paganism was undeserving blessing that God gave Abram.

The Third Way that Abram was blessed Undeserving.

And Then,

Abraham was - Given a New Name.

Nehemiah 9:7 ESV

You are the Lord, the God who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and gave him the name Abraham.

Simply reading our English Bible’s we often miss the significance of this name change.

What is the difference between Abram and Abraham?

Both in English and Hebrew they seem like almost the same name.

However, as this verse shows - the name change of Abraham was significant.

Ezra in his prayer in this text makes the name change of Abraham as important as God choosing him, and God giving him promises.

So the text here emphasizes the importance of God changing Abraham’s name.

BACKGROUND CLARIFICATION:

As many of you know, names in the Old Testament function in more ways than just mere names.

They tell something about the person.

Immanuel - God is with us.

Noami changed her name to Mara - which means bitter.

Abram meant - “The Father is Exalted” and most scholars believe this likely was a name that found it’s meaning in the Moon God that was worshipped in Ur.

And yet, God changed Abram’s name from a pagan reference, to Abraham.

Abraham means - The “father of a multitude”.

The “father of a multitude”.

His name was to remind

Consider the significance of these two names when God changed Abram’s name.

Genesis 17:3–5 ESV

Then Abram fell on his face. And God said to him, “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.

Why was the name change significant in this passage?

Changing his name helped teach Abraham this he was no longer to worship false Idols, but also reminded him of the promise God gave him.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Everyday Abraham heard his name, he was reminded of the promise that God gave him.

So the name change of Abraham symbolized both God bringing him out of Paganism,

but also the incredible promises God made.

But again - did Abraham deserve this promise or the name God gave him?

In God had promised to Abraham "And I will make of you a great nation”

Which implies that one day Sarai would have a child.

But ,

records the impatience and doubt of Sarai and Abram. Abram, failing to trust God, commited adultery with his servant Hagar, to have a child.

And then God changes Abram’s name in .

- The giving of the name to Abram, Abraham, was an act of mercy and reminder what the LORD had promised.

, God gives Abram the name Abraham.

- It was not so much a new promise as a helpful reminder to Abraham of what God had already promised.

And then in , God gives Abram the name Abraham.

Which means - Abraham didn’t earn his name.

It was an act of grace and mercy.

God could have judged Abram,

but God chose to keep the promise and even encourage Abram by changing his name to Abraham.

So Abraham again by grace and mercy was blessed by God.

And finally, teaches us -

Given A New Name.

Given Kept Promises.

Abraham was - Given Kept Promises.

If we know anything about Abraham - we know he received promises from God.

But what

Nehemiah 9:8 ESV

You found his heart faithful before you, and made with him the covenant to give to his offspring the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite. And you have kept your promise, for you are righteous.

If we know anything about Abraham - we know he received promises from God.

and describe God’s promise to Abraham.

But what is the value of a promise - unless it is kept.

ILLUSTRATION:

Today I can freely choose to write a million dollar check,

but it is a worthless piece of paper because I don’t have a million dollars.

What God has promised to Abraham is well beyond a million dollars.

Consider -

Genesis 12:13 ESV

Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake.”

Genesis 12:1–3 ESV

Genesis 12:1–2 ESV

Genesis 17:15

Genesis 17:1–5 ESV

When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.” Then Abram fell on his face. And God said to him, “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.

Of a Long and Important Family ()

What an incredible promise!

Of a Vast Possession of Land, Wealth, and Prestige.

How mightily did God bless Abraham!

But those promises are only valuable because God kept that promise.

Abraham was made into a great nation - Israel.

But even further - Abraham did become a blessing to all nations.

This promise goes back to the Gospel.

Galatians 3:8 ESV

And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.”

Did Abraham

But did Abraham keep the covenant? - That is - did he deserve God keeping his promise?

After the promise in Genesis 12,

Abraham nearly lied his wife into adultery with the Pharaoh - because he didn’t trust God.

Abraham slept with his servant and had an illegitimate child - because he didn’t trust God.

After the promise of ,

he laughed at God.

It is true that Abraham is the father of faith,

His faith being counted as righteousness.

But that very reality should point us to the reality - Abraham did not deserve the promises of God or God keeping those same promises.

Those blessings all came by grace.

CONCLUSION:

So, as we consider the work of God in Abraham’s life -

We can say Abraham was blessed mightily.

I mean - if you had Abraham’s blessings - 2019 would be a really blessed year.

Abraham was -

Chosen By God.

Brought out of a Pagan Nation.

Given A New Name.

Given Kept Promises.

It makes you wonder what Abraham did to receive so many blessings from God.

But as we understand the point of this prayer,

and the story of Abraham

Abraham didn’t deserve those blessings.

Abraham wasn’t good enough for those blessings.

Instead, God in mercy and grace blessed Abraham even though he didn’t deserve him.

So back to the question - What kind of person is blessed by God?

And based on , but also because of the story of Abraham -

we know God’s blessing always flow to undeserving people.

If you are an undeserving person today, then you are exactly the kind of person God may bless.

But may I point us to

But remember that talked about the nations being blessed through Abraham.

How are the nations blesse

How are you and me blessed through God’s blessing Abraham? - and the answer is Jesus Christ.

Being a good person has nothing to do with how God blesses people,

but Christ is exactly the way you receive the blessings of God.

A good person

Eph 1:3-6

Ephesians 1:3–6 ESV

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

Now, that begs the question - If you are not in Christ.

That is - you have not believed in your heart that you are a sinner who owes a a sin debt to God, and you trust Christ’s death to pay for your sins.

Then you are missing out on the wonderful blessings of God.

Don’t look towards your goodness to receive God’s blessing, but trust in Christ.

But If you are in Christ - then you have every blessing available to you.

Ephesians 1:3–7 ESV

Eph 1:

You don’t have to worry about -

Your decision making

the outcome of your work

when you fly

you parent your children,

you make important investments

and the list could goes on.

May we rejoice in Christ knowing that the creator and preserver of the World has already blessed us.

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