One of the great paradoxes of the Christian faith is that fruitfulness comes not from strength but from brokenness. Jesus said, “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies it remains by itself alone. But if it dies it bears much fruit” (Jn 12:24).
Peter was the arrogant leader of the disciples who boasted “Lord even if all the other disciples forsake you, I never will.” Before the next morning, he denied knowing Jesus three times and when the cock crowed, he went out and wept bitterly, a broken man. Never again in Scripture do we see that arrogance in Peter. Instead, he passes on to others a lesson that he learned through his brokenness “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” (I Pt 5). Can you imagine God pulling out his big guns AGAINST YOU? The fastest way to see that happen is pride. And one of pride’s most subtle manifestations is taking our sins lightly rather than weeping over them. Today’s episode from Nehemiah is a great picture of a nation, broken by its sin.
Since sin blocks our relationship with God, superficial sadness instead of heartfelt repentance is like removing only part of a blood clot. It still blocks the flow of intimacy with God. In contrast is the brokenness over sin that the citizens of Jerusalem express in Nehemiah 9.
5 Characteristics of Brokenness of True Repentance Over Sin
A. Brokenness over sin is provoked by hearing God’s Law. The Israelites under Nehemiah and Ezra’s leadership are in the 7th month of the year known as Tishri. They’ve just completed the 8-day Feast of Booths.
Nehemiah 9:1-4. Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the people of Israel were assembled with fasting and in sackcloth, and with earth on their heads. And the Israelites separated themselves from all foreigners and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. And they stood up in their place and read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for a quarter of the day; for another quarter of it they made confession and worshiped the Lord their God.
I'm not aware of any period in the history of Israel when as much attention was given to the law of God in such a concentrated period of time. Back in chapter 8 when the month of Tishri began on the 1st, we read that the Word of God was read for dawn until noon. On Tishri the second “the heads of fathers’ houses with the Levites and the Priests came together to Ezra the scribe in order to study the words of the Law.” On the 15th of the month, they began the seven-day Feast of Tabernacles during which “day by day, from the first day to the last day Ezra read from the Book of the Law of God. In Chapter 9 two days later, we are told that they read from the book of the law 1/4 of the day followed by the response is to confess their sins and the wickedness of their forefathers. I am reminded of a verse we mentioned last week: Hebrews 4:12-13.
The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
B. Brokenness over sin contains a deep sense that we OWE God obedience. We see this implied as this prayer of repentance begins.
Nehemiah 9:5-6. Then the Levites, Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said, “Stand up and bless the LORD your God from everlasting to everlasting. Blessed be your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise, “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.”
Brokenness begins by remembering who we are and who God is. We are creature. He is creator. We are here for HIS purpose and GLORIFY. He is not a genie in a bottle there to bring about our pleasure. Since he created us, we are his possession. We belong to him, not to ourselves. He has the innate right to do with us whatever he wants.
The reality is that we are his treasured possession, that he loves us, and in his pure goodness is more committed to what is best for us than we are. These attributes of God make rebellion against him even more heinous. But repentance begins with acknowledging that we are God’s creation. He sustains us every second and as creatures we owe God obedience.
C. Brokenness confesses a pattern that reveals the sharp, consistent contrast God’s character and theirs, i.e. between THE GOD FULL OF GOODNESS AND MERCY and the PERSISTENT REBELLION of his people bringing punishment for sinful violations of God’s covenant upon themselves. The next 31 verses rehearse this same theme: God’s goodness and mercy contrasted to his people’s rebelliousness.
Nehemiah 9:7-8: The context of Israel’s unfaithfulness. The call of Abram and promise of the promised land.
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.
Nehemiah 9:9-17: This pattern in Israel’s deliverance from Egypt.
“And you saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt and heard their cry at the Red Sea, and performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh and all his servants and all the people of his land, for you knew that they acted arrogantly against our fathers. And you made a name for yourself, as it is to this day. And you divided the sea before them, so that they went through the midst of the sea on dry land, and you cast their pursuers into the depths, as a stone into mighty waters. By a pillar of cloud you led them in the day, and by a pillar of fire in the night to light for them the way in which they should go. You came down on Mount Sinai and spoke with them from heaven and gave them right rules and true laws, good statutes and commandments, and you made known to them your holy Sabbath and commanded them commandments and statutes and a law by Moses your servant. You gave them bread from heaven for their hunger and brought water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and you told them to go in to possess the land that you had sworn to give them. But they and our fathers acted presumptuously and stiffened their neck and did not obey your commandments. They refused to obey and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them, but they stiffened their neck and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them.
Nehemiah 9:18-21: This pattern during the 40 years in the wilderness:
Even when they had made for themselves a golden calf and said, ‘This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,’ and had committed great blasphemies, you in your great mercies did not forsake them in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud to lead them in the way did not depart from them by day, nor the pillar of fire by night to light for them the way by which they should go. You gave your good Spirit to instruct them and did not withhold your manna from their mouth and gave them water for their thirst. Forty years you sustained them in the wilderness, and they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell.
Nehemiah 9:22-27: This pattern during the occupation of the promised land.
And you gave them kingdoms and peoples and allotted to them every corner. So they took possession of the land of Sihon king of Heshbon and the land of Og king of Bashan. You multiplied their children as the stars of heaven, and you brought them into the land that you had told their fathers to enter and possess. So the descendants went in and possessed the land, and you subdued before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gave them into their hand, with their kings and the peoples of the land, that they might do with them as they would. And they captured fortified cities and a rich land, and took possession of houses full of all good things, cisterns already hewn, vineyards, olive orchards and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate and were filled and became fat and delighted themselves in your great goodness. Nevertheless, they were disobedient and rebelled against you and cast your law behind their back and killed your prophets, who had warned them in order to turn them back to you, and they committed great blasphemies. Therefore you gave them into the hand of their enemies, who made them suffer.
Nehemiah 9:28-31: This recurring pattern throughout Israel’s history to present.
And in the time of their suffering they cried out to you and you heard them from heaven, and according to your great mercies you gave them saviors who saved them from the hand of their enemies. But after they had rest they did evil again before you, and you abandoned them to the hand of their enemies, so that they had dominion over them. Yet when they turned and cried to you, you heard from heaven, and many times you delivered them according to your mercies. And you warned them in order to turn them back to your law. Yet they acted presumptuously and did not obey your commandments, but sinned against your rules, which if a person does them, he shall live by them, and they turned a stubborn shoulder and stiffened their neck and would not obey. Many years you bore with them and warned them by your Spirit through your prophets. Yet they would not give ear. Therefore you gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands. Nevertheless, in your great mercies you did not make an end of them or forsake them, for you are a gracious and merciful God.
D. Brokenness appeals to God’s kindness and mercy, only, for deliverance from the suffering their sin brings. Verse 32 says Now, therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love, let not all the hardship seem little to you that has come upon us, upon our kings, our princes, our priests, our prophets, our fathers, and all your people, since the time of the kings of Assyria until this day.
King David began Psalm 51, the great biblical individual portrait of the brokenness of true repentance with the words, Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy, blot out my transgressions.
David did not say, “God you know how hard I’ve tried to get my sex drive under control. I just failed this time.” To the contrary he said, “In sin my mother conceived me” (vs 5) not implying that his parent’s love-making was sinful but saying, “From the moment of birth I’ve been a rebel, from the first breath I took, I’ve had an evil heart.”
A distraught mother once approached Napoleon seeking a pardon for her son. The emperor responded, “This is his second offense; justice demands death.”
She responded, “I don't ask for justice; I plead for mercy.
Napoleon answered, “But he does not deserve mercy.”
The mom answered, “It would not be mercy if he deserved it. Mercy is what I ask for.”
Napoleon answered, “Well then I will have mercy.”
The priests leading the prayer fully realized that they like their ancestors had broken the covenant sanctions. That is why though God enabled them to return to Jerusalem they were still occupied by the Persians. They did not plead their good works as the pharisees would do 500 years later. They pled for mercy.
E. Brokenness recognizes that God is fair in bringing his punishment for sin. (covenant sanctions). Vs. 34-37
Yet you have been righteous in all that has come upon us, for you have dealt faithfully and we have acted wickedly. Our kings, our princes, our priests, and our fathers have not kept your law or paid attention to your commandments and your warnings that you gave them. Even in their own kingdom, and amid your great goodness that you gave them, and in the large and rich land that you set before them, they did not serve you or turn from their wicked works. Behold, we are slaves this day; in the land that you gave to our fathers to enjoy its fruit and its good gifts, behold, we are slaves. And its rich yield goes to the kings whom you have set over us because of our sins. They rule over our bodies and over our livestock as they please, and we are in great distress.
The prodigal son revealed this brokenness when he said to his father, “I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son” (Lk 15:21). After Nathan brought conviction to David's heart over his adultery with Bathsheba and murder of Uriah he wrote Psalm 51 a Psalm that reflects his brokenness saying, “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment” (vs 4).
Why Brokenness Matters
A. It is foundational for staying close to God. James, the brother of Jesus reveals profound wisdom about closeness to God. He writes: Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you (Jm 4:8-10).
B. Grieving over sin is so important that Jesus listed it as the second highest kingdom value after humility. “Blessed are those who mourn.” Christ-like hearts weep over sin and its awful consequences. When Jesus wept outside Lazarus’ grave, I do not believe it was grief over the death of Lazarus. Jesus knew he was going to raise Lazarus from the dead. I believe the sound of weeping and mourning in his ears, caused him to look back down to corridors of time to all the suffering and tears shed at human funerals because of death. And grief overcame him. When on Palm Sunday, Jesus rounded the bend and first saw Jerusalem, his heart was flooded with grief and he said.
“Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation (Lk 19:42-44).
We cannot be like Jesus without grieving over sin, our own and that of others. Perhaps that is why Paul commanded us to hate it. “Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good (Rom 12:9).
For Further Prayerful Thought:
- What stood out to you most as the priests recounted the cycle of Israel’s history—God’s goodness and mercy, Israel’s rebellion against him, the punishment for their sins (covenant sanctions)?
- Why do you think James is so insistent that to draw near to God we must feel broken over our own sin?
- In the Beatitudes, Jesus ranked mourning over sin second on the list of kingdom attitudes ahead of meekness, purity of heart, etc. How would grieving over our own sins, and grieving over the suffering of those who are still enslaved to sin because they do not know Jesus impact our heart attitudes towards the lost?
