When Conviction Comes

Nehemiah’s Example

• Nehemiah led the people to confess their personal and their predecessors’ sins (9:1-5).
• The leaders helped the people identify their place in the grand narrative of Scripture (9:6-31).

• Creation – The sole Creator deserves unrivaled worship (9:6).
• Covenant – God initiated a relationship with Abraham to change the world (9:7-8).
• Exodus – God powerfully rescued His people from bondage (9:9-12).
• Commandments – God graciously provided rules after redemption (9:13-15).
• Wilderness – God supplied everything for a people who rebelled about anything (9:16-21).
• Canaan – God fought their battles and established their prosperity (9:22-25).
• Cycle – God provided suffering and saviors to confront their sin (9:26-28).
• Exile – God disciplined their defiance but refused to abandon them (9:29-31).

The people wanted to learn the lessons of those before them by embracing God’s faithfulness and confessing their sinfulness (9:32-38).

Our Response

• Christians – stop fighting against God’s good plans for your life by breaking His commandments.
• Non-Christians – confess your sin and trust in Christ for salvation.

When conviction comes, resist the condemnation trap that seeks to keep you from the One eager to forgive you.