Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Revival at the Water Gate Msg 1016 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living (64k)

Transcript

Revival at the Water Gate Msg 1016 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living (64k) · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Once the walls and gates were finally completed, the leader
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Nehemiah organized Jerusalem into a well-guarded, stable body of people.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Immediately upon the completion of this massive task, he made
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: plans to revive the authority of the Scriptures in the
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: minds of all of the citizens of Jerusalem. The testimony
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: of God's Word had been silent far too long. The
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: beginnings of spiritual revival were now taking place. And the
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: potential for revival is always present in our own lives,
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: by the way, if we just know where to look.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: This is a wonderful story which I will read from
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: Nehemiah chapter 8, and I'll read verses 1 through 12.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: So please follow along. Nehemiah 8, beginning at verse 1.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: All the people gathered as one man at the square
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: which was in front of the water gate, and they
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: asked Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: law of Moses, which the Lord had given to Israel.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: Then Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: of men, women, and all who could listen with understanding
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: on the first day of the seventh month. He read
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: from it before the square which was in front of
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: the water gate from early morning until midday. in the
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: presence of men and women, those who could understand. And
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: all the people were attentive to the book of the law.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: Ezra the scribe stood at a wooden podium, which they
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: had made for the purpose. And beside him stood Metathiah, Shema, Ananiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, Maaseah,
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: on his right hand, and Petaiah, Mishael, Melchizedek, Hashem, Hashmedana, Zechariah,
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: and Meshulam on his left hand. Ezra opened the book
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: in the sight of all the people, for he was
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: standing above all the people. And when he opened it,
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: all the people stood up. Then Ezra blessed the Lord,
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: the great God, and all the people answered, Amen, Amen,
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: while lifting up their hands. Then they bowed low and
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: worshiped the Lord in with their faces to the ground. Also, Yeshua, Bani, Cherubiah, Jamin, Akub, Shebathiah, Jodiah, Meshiah, Kelita, Azarita, Josabath, Hanan, Palilah,
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: and the Levites explained the law to the people while
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: the people remained in their place. They read from the book,
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: from the law of God, translating the to give the sense,
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: so that they understood the reading. Then Nehemiah, who was
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: Levites who taught the people, said to all the people,
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: This day is holy to the Lord your God. Do
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: not mourn or weep. For all the people were weeping
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: when they heard the words of the law. Then he
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: said to them, Go, eat of the fat, drink of
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: the sweet, and send portions to him who has nothing prepared.
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: For this day is holy to the Lord. Do not
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: So the Levites calmed all the people, saying, Be still,
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: for the day is holy. Do not be grieved. All
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: the people went away to eat, to drink, to send portions,
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: and to celebrate a great festival because they understood the
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: words which had been made known to them.
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: In every genuine revival, there are always two major factors
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: that play important roles. First, there is always the proclamation
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: of the Bible, God's word. And second, there is always
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: the mobilization of God's people, the believers.
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: Strange as it may.
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: Sound, a revival does not basically relate to the lost.
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: You cannot revive the lost.
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: You revive the saved.
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: The lost have to be saved. So when we speak
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: of revival, we are not referring to the matter of
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: one's ministry with the lost. as much as we are
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: talking about God's ministry in his word to the saved,
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: as he allows his word to be proclaimed, and in
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: the spirit and excitement of that proclamation, how he mobilizes
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: his people to go and win the lost. Let me
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: illustrate it from history. Step back in the time tunnel
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: some 450 years to Germany. and gather around a candlelit
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: room in which a small body of men prayed much
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: over God's direction for their lives. As that ministry and
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: vision began to grow, it wasn't long before such greater
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: lights as Savonarola and Melanchthon and Calvin and Zwingli and,
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: of course, Luther began to carry the torch to the Germans.
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: The Bible came into the language of the people of Germany,
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: and by and by the old formalism of the church
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: was replaced with living, vibrant Christianity. There is an old
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: Bohemian Psalter that's been dug up by a lover of
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: old literature, and there's a front piece in it that
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: is a picture of Wycliffe striking the spark, Hus kindling
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: the coves, and Luther brandishing the flame. It is saying,
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: in effect, that's the Reformation. Revival has broken out. That
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: Psalter is dated 1572.
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: And then they realized what God was doing.
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: Travel not too many miles away to the land of
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: Scotland a few years earlier, and you come across an
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: interesting character by the name of John Knox. Now, Knox
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: was a fiery preacher. a pungent writer. In fact, at
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: one time he said of the Mary Queen of Scots,
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: she is an old Jezebel. And Mary Queen of Scots
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: responded when she heard of it, I fear his tongue
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: and pen more than the armies of England. For she
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: knew that Knox carried a real sway in the minds
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: of the people. He took God's word, trusted in its promises.
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: and mobilized the people of the Scots into what came
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: to be known as the Scottish Revival.
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: And then came the Wesley brothers. Remember those boys? In
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: England in the 1700s.
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: Born in a unique home, sons of an old English rector,
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: and perhaps the greatest mother England has ever known, Susanna.
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: John preached in his 50 years of.
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: Preaching ministry some 40,000 sermons to some audiences as great
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: as 20,000 people without public address assistance. He traveled 225,000 miles,
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: most of it on horseback, proclaiming the word of God.
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: His gifted brother, Charles, left in the lap of the
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: church a magnificent legacy. Before he died, he had left 8,000
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: hymns in the hymnal of the church. Among them were,
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: and can it be, O for a thousand tongues to sing,
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: and you could add others that you love, hark the
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: herald angels sing. Ye servants of God, your master proclaim,
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: Christ for the world we sing. Arise, my soul arise,
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: a charge to keep I have, Jesus, lover of my soul,
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: and on and on and on. The people not only
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: got a Bible, they got a hymnal. These were the
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: two strokes that Luther wished to leave in the minds
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: of the Christians. They need a Bible they can understand
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: and a hymnal from which they can sing.
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: And then let them go, as he put it. Let
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: them loose. The flame will spread on its own. That's revival.
• 9:08
  Speaker 4: Revival.
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: When the word of God is proclaimed and the people
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: of God are mobilized, revival has occurred. Now, believe it
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: or not, tucked away in the old, stuffy, dusty book
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: of Nehemiah.
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: Is a revival. And of all places, it took place
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: at the water gate.
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: According to chapter 8, all the people gathered, says verse 1,
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: And in the setting of these first two verses, we
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: have the most exciting experience that transpired.
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: Since the wall was completed.
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: You see, at this time, there was a spiritual vacuum
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: in the city. The project had been completed. They had
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: moved into their own dwellings. And according to chapter 7,
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: which is a detailed chapter of organization, structure, the people
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: were now well organized, well defended, well governed. And in
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: this city, though they had those nice homes and good
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: jobs and a well defended.
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: City with its walls, there was a spiritual.
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: Dimension that was missing. Nehemiah sensed it, as did the people.
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: And so they.
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: Came together in one place, in front of the water gate.
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: And the Bible tells us that they met at the square.
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: The Hebrew word means a great expanse, a large opening,
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: a plaza. And so just inside the water gate, there
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: was this area where there were no buildings and And
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: so the people came, I take it, on their own, voluntarily.
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: Perhaps someone realized what time of the year it was.
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: Some Jew with a good memory would know that at
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: that time, the first day of the seventh month, they
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: needed to assemble. Somebody had read Deuteronomy 31, which talks
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: about the Feast of Booths, B-O-O-T-H-S, the place of Where
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: they would come and build out of little pieces of
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: timber their own homemade booths. And they would live in
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: that for seven days.
• 11:27
  Speaker 3: The first day would be a day of the reading
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: of the scriptures.
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: And the next several days would be a day of
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: reminding themselves that.
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: God had preserved the people.
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: As they had left Egypt and gone into the land
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: of promise. It was a visible promise. Tangible reminder. It
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: was an object lesson of God's truth. And it was
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: to take place every seventh year, the first day.
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: Of the seventh month. And at this time they gathered.
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: What did they do? Who was there? Why did they meet?
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: Those questions are answered for us in these two verses.
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: First of all, who was there?
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: We read that it was Ezra the scribe that was
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: asked to bring the book of the law of Moses.
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: What is a scribe?
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: We don't have scribes today in our system of worship.
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: What did it mean to the Jew to have a scribe?
• 12:22
  Speaker 3: A scribe was a man who had expertise in two areas.
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: First of all, he was an expert in the realm
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: of legal matters.
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: He acted as both judge and jury when he stood
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: before his people. Seldom was his judgment questioned. Second, he
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: was an expert in the field.
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: Of the scriptures.
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: He was the one, you might remember, who copied the
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: scripture by hand before there were such things as printing processes.
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: The scribe was known for his expertise.
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: In the scriptures.
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: He was an interpreter of the law. So it fell
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: his lot to stand before the people. They called him
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: to be the scribe. and to give them the word
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: of God.
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: He's called a priest in verse 2.
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: As a priest, he was able to go into the
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: temple and represent them.
• 13:21
  Speaker 3: Before the Lord God.
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: This all took place before Jesus came and made every
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: one of his followers his own priest. But Ezra filled
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: these two purposes as a man. He was a stout-hearted
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: Christian man. He wasn't afraid to stand alone. And so
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: he read the scriptures before the people. That's why they
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: came together. That was the reason. And the time is
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: given to us in the last part of verse two.
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: Now we come in verse three to one of the
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: most interesting and clearest presentations of all the Bible of
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: what is called the ministry of exposition. What does it
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: mean to have the ministry of the word in a church?
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: I ask that question because it is a question.
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: Asked all over the land, especially in our day when
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: God's word is always under attack. What does it mean
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: to sustain an expository ministry? In verses 3 through 8,
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: we have it in a nutshell. First of all, it
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: includes reading the scriptures. Verse 3 says, He read from
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: it before the square which was in front of the
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: water gate from early morning until midday. He read from
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: the Bible from dawn till noon. Oh, for the good
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: old days. What a day that must have been in
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: the presence of the men and the women. The Bible
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: tells us in verse 3 that they were attentive to
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: the book of the law. The scriptures tell us in
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: this passage that not only were they attentive, but when
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: the book was opened, they stood to their feet. Now,
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: we can't appreciate the emotion of that moment. We can't
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: possibly understand what it must be like not to have
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: the scriptures or someone to teach them. I would venture
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: to say that not anyone, perhaps one, maybe two, in
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: a congregation this size has ever known the experience of
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: being forced away from his Bible. Captivity is an unknown
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: thing to our generation. We are fat, well cared for,
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: easily and constantly.
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: Fed the word of God.
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: We don't know what it's like to have someone slam
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: the door and lock it with the Bible on the inside.
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: These people had been born and raised in that context.
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: They had been raised in captivity.
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: Their whole cultural foundation had shifted from Hebraistic to Chaldean.
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: Though they were Jews by birth, they were Chaldeans by
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: tongue and culture. So that this generation had not known
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: the Lord.
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: Jehovah as had their forefathers known him.
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: And then of all things, they had been shifted from
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: this land of Chaldea, Babylon.
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: Over into Jerusalem.
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: They had built a wall and suddenly were making a living.
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: But there was no ministry of the word. And for
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: the first time, I want you to imagine it. They
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: had a man stand before them and open the scriptures.
• 17:09
  Speaker 3: The Torah, the law of God.
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: And he began to read from the scriptures verse by verse.
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: It was an incredible experience of emotional movement in the congregation.
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: We have our Bibles in all sorts of texts, all paraphrases,
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: all size prints, all color covers.
• 17:34
  Speaker 3: And we know nothing of being absent from our Bibles.
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: And I'm afraid that this familiarity has certainly bred a
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: contempt and a skepticism, even a cynicism, in places where
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: it was once loved and obeyed.
• 17:53
  Speaker 3: They read the Bible.
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: You might be interested to know in passing that verse
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: 4 is the first mention in all the Bible of
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: a pulpit being used for the purpose of the word
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: of God.
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: They had a practical problem.
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: No public address, no beautiful amphitheater like the Hollywood Bowl,
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: no built-in setup where they could hear easily. And so
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: they apparently fixed a platform of some kind in an
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: area that was easily seen. And then they erected a
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: wooden podium, a pulpit, and they placed behind it a man, Ezra,
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: with a book, the law of God. And then he
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: opened this book because it was the source of all truth.
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: And he read from it. And they stood up.
• 18:50
  Speaker 3: First of all, there was the reading of the scriptures.
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: In verse 6, there was praise for the scriptures. Ezra
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: blessed the Lord, the great God.
• 19:07
  Speaker 3: I don't know what that means, really.
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: I can't manufacture in my mind, to my.
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: Satisfaction, what he must have said.
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: I can imagine what he could have said or done.
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: He could have set aside the Bible for a moment
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: and looked up and expressed verbal thanks and praise to
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: the Father for the giving of the word. Maybe he
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: prayed that Maybe he led them in singing one of
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: the songs. But he expressed to God his praise and
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: gratitude for what God had said and revealed to them.
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: That was a moving moment. What did the people do
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: in response to this? I think it is interesting because
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: so much of my time is spent before congregations. I
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: think it is interesting what they did in response to To.
• 20:10
  Speaker 3: What they had heard. Verse 6. All the people answered. Amen.
• 20:16
  Speaker 4: Amen.
• 20:21
  Speaker 3: That's a rare sound these days isn't it? I am
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: fully aware.
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: That in many churches it is overworked. It is in
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: fact an interruption to the ministry of the word. Having
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: to wade through all the verbalisms that come from the pews.
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: But every once in a while. Every month or so.
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: It's sort of like saying sickum to a bulldog to
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: say amen to a preacher.
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: Every once in a while, a quiet little.
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: Amen would just fracture some things. It's remarkable what it does.
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: They said it, but they didn't stop there. They lifted
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: up their hands.
• 21:09
  Speaker 3: Now, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Let's back off
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: a few faces and let's look at this. Did they really? Yes,
• 21:19
  Speaker 3: they did. All the people answered, Amen. Amen. And they
• 21:27
  Speaker 3: lifted up their hands. Why did they do that?
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: The only reason I can discover, technically, is because the
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: Psalms often speak of expressing praise with the uplifted hands.
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: And here again, I say, and I say it to
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: a measure of our embarrassment, that this is the sort
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: of thing that is often misread. We are a very
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: structured people. Our congregational form of worship is always.
• 22:03
  Speaker 3: Done in the sitting position.
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: Sometimes standing, never kneeling, never laying down, never with our
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: hands up, very, very rarely with an amen. Isn't it
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: interesting that we find these people in their response to
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: God relaxed enough to respond without embarrassment?
• 22:32
  Speaker 3: Now, I'm not advocating.
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: A great breakthrough in all of these areas for us.
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: I think there's a principle here, however. I think there's
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: a spontaneity that is often missing in a worship service.
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: Just the singing of a hymn in a cappella is
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: a beautiful change from the standard. Adjusting worship services and
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: arrangement of things so that it comes across in a
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: fresh new way. I find personally encouraging and delightful. Believe me,
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: I have preached in churches that were icily regular and
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: silent as a church mouse. You could drop your notes
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: on the pulpit and it would sound like a bombardment
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: in the church. There's something about a responsive congregation.
• 23:28
  Speaker 3: That is beautiful to behold.
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: You are a responsive audience, including the choir. That's a
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: responsive group of people. You're the reason we have long
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: sermons at this church, not me. I try often to
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: stop earlier, but you won't let me do that. And
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: it says, after they lifted up their hands, they bowed
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: low and they worshiped the Lord.
• 24:02
  Speaker 3: How? With their faces to the ground. Our size and our.
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: Setup won't allow us to do it, but I'm going
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: to encourage you, when you get away on a vacation
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: this summer and you get under the starry skies, believe me,
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: there are stars up there. I saw them in Wisconsin.
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: I guarantee you there are stars up there.
• 24:20
  Speaker 3: You lay on your back some night and you look up.
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: And you will worship in a way that you haven't
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: worshipped for months, perhaps years. You turn over with your
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: face to the ground. And there is a feeling, a
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: sense of worship that is something to experience. You fall
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: on your knees and you lift up your hands to
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: the Lord God and you talk to him. And there's
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: something refreshing about it.
• 24:50
  Speaker 3: Break the structure. Get away from the ritualism. Of Christianity.
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: And get locked into a whole brand new creative approach.
• 25:03
  Speaker 3: To knowing the Lord God of heaven. That's part of the.
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: Reason the youth of our day are turning us off.
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: They're weary of the structure that means nothing more. Than
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: the empty sacrificial system. And sacrament system of the Roman church.
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: In the mid 15 and 16 hundreds.
• 25:23
  Speaker 3: They're sick of it.
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: And I'll tell you, these people, when they came before God,
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: were not even told to do it. They heard the
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: word and they refreshingly worshipped God. And by the way,
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: sometimes the very best response is silence. I honestly believe
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: my most meaningful times of worship are times that I
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: have absolutely run out of words and I have gone
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: before God with not a thing to say.
• 25:58
  Speaker 3: After the word of God was read, after praise was.
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: Given for the reading of the word and its marvelous revelation,
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: there was insight into the scriptures. Before I dig into
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: verses 7 and 8, which form the real nucleus of
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: this passage, I want to warn us against two extremes.
• 26:21
  Speaker 3: Churches fall into these.
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: Extremes all the time. The larger we get, the easier
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: it is to form an extreme. The extreme of nothing
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: but emotion. And the extreme of nothing but teaching. There
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: was a beautiful balance I find in these verses. They
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: had emotion and it was an emotion.
• 26:42
  Speaker 3: That was spontaneous.
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: They expressed their love and praise to God not caring.
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: Thinking only of the Lord God and of how much
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: they loved Him. But at the same time There was
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: the teaching ministry of the word. As you will see
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: in a moment. It was intensive teaching.
• 27:04
  Speaker 3: Not just a neat little ditty. That filled up the
• 27:08
  Speaker 3: rest of the time. It was intense. Look at verse 7.
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: It says that these men explained the law.
• 27:19
  Speaker 3: To the people. After Ezra had read the law.
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: Then these men mingled among the people. For it says
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: in verse 7 that the people remained in their place.
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: So there was no other area in which to meet.
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: So apparently Ezra dispatched from his side.
• 27:38
  Speaker 3: A number of these men. And they met in cells perhaps.
• 27:44
  Speaker 3: In smaller groups.
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: I take it that there would have easily been a
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: few thousand people there. And they sat down together as
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: the man who was qualified to teach the word taught.
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: It wasn't the old S.Y.I. Bible study, which stands for
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: share your ignorance. That kind of Bible study does not
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: honor the Lord God. You've all been in such groups
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: where nobody's given the second thought of what's going to
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: be read. And suddenly the Bible is open and some
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: inane idea is given along with another shallow thought. I'm
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: not putting down personal Bible study. In fact I'm a
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: great advocate of it. I'm putting down ignorant Bible study.
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: Opinionated Bible study with no forethought. These men were trained.
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: They were capable. They were respected. So as they opened
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: the book and taught the word of God. It was
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: a marvelous thing. Look at what they did. First they
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: read from the Bible. Verse 8. They read the book.
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: The Hebrew word means to recite, to read aloud. And
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: so there was the oral reading of what God had written.
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: The second thing I notice is that they translated the scriptures.
• 29:02
  Speaker 3: Paras is the Hebrew word.
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: It means to make something distinct, to separate it from
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: something else so as to make it flow together in
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: a meaningful fashion. They separated the words, the verses, the
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: passages so that it fit it into place. It was
• 29:21
  Speaker 2: a system of thought that was presented in an intelligent fashion, clear, understandable.
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: Now the question that must come into the mind of
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: any thinking person is why did they translate it? Why
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: did they bother to translate the scriptures? Well remember now
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: these were people who were Jews by birth but not
• 29:44
  Speaker 2: Jews by tongue or nature or culture. These Jews who
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: had come from Chaldea or Babylon over into this land
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: of Jerusalem had brought with them their whole mindset of
• 29:59
  Speaker 2: the Chaldean lifestyle. That means that they spoke Aramaic, not Hebrew.
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: The Bible that was read to them was a Bible
• 30:09
  Speaker 2: that was Hebrew. They heard a Hebrew Bible through Aramaic ears.
• 30:15
  Speaker 3: And there was a breakdown.
• 30:18
  Speaker 2: And so these trained scribes, these men, took the Hebrew text.
• 30:24
  Speaker 3: And broke it.
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: Down so that it became meaningful into the ears of
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: the Aramaic listeners.
• 30:30
  Speaker 3: That's what happened. That's important.
• 30:35
  Speaker 2: That's important for men that are training for the ministry
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: of the word. I find all over people loving insights
• 30:44
  Speaker 2: into the original languages.
• 30:45
  Speaker 3: Not to dangle it, to impress. But to open it up.
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: To give it meaning and character and color. And so
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: they did. And after they translated, it says they gave
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: the sense. Verse 8. They translated it to give the sense.
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: The word means to give insight. The ability to see
• 31:11
  Speaker 2: into something beneath the surface. They gave the in-depth meaning
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: of words and passages so that what resulted understanding.
• 31:22
  Speaker 3: They understood what they heard. Amos 8, 11, and 12.
• 31:29
  Speaker 2: Refers to a famine that was to come in the land.
• 31:32
  Speaker 2: Not a famine of bread or water, but a famine
• 31:35
  Speaker 2: of hearing the word of God. I want to pause
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: right here in this passage and in this message to
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: say that we are in such a famine today. You
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: can get into your automobile and drive miles and miles
• 31:52
  Speaker 2: And stop off at most any town or city. And frankly,
• 31:57
  Speaker 2: it's difficult to find exposition of the scriptures. I do
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: not say that out of judgment. I say that out
• 32:07
  Speaker 2: of an ache in my heart. I find the people
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: of God not revived. Because the word of God is
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: not revived. It is just a pedantic or empty, shallow
• 32:23
  Speaker 2: kind of teaching ministry. And I find people all over
• 32:27
  Speaker 2: the country longing for the teaching of God's word.
• 32:32
  Speaker 3: I wish there were some possible way.
• 32:35
  Speaker 2: Got a letter this past week from Zululand, wherever Zululand is.
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: We got a letter from there. And these dear people
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: that wrote said, we are brand new missionaries on the field.
• 32:48
  Speaker 2: no place around to hear the scriptures. She said, suddenly
• 32:53
  Speaker 2: there was deposited into our lap a stack of tapes.
• 32:57
  Speaker 2: We don't even know you, she says. And she says
• 33:00
  Speaker 2: the tapes were on Nehemiah and discipleship. And then she
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: went on to say, you will never know, or he
• 33:09
  Speaker 2: went on to say, whoever wrote, you will never know
• 33:13
  Speaker 2: what that has meant in our beginning time as missionaries
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: that could be duplicated all over from other men that
• 33:22
  Speaker 2: are teaching the word from other churches that are involved
• 33:25
  Speaker 2: in an expository ministry the saints when they are revived
• 33:30
  Speaker 2: by the revival of the word do a job it's
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: a beautiful thing when it fits together when there is
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: understanding let me say one more thing.
• 33:40
  Speaker 3: The real test of exposition.
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: Is when you leave and you're back on your own
• 33:46
  Speaker 2: in your apartment or in your home, and you go
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: back to the passage of scripture, can you understand it
• 33:52
  Speaker 2: on your own?
• 33:53
  Speaker 3: That's the test. Those of you that teach the Bible.
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: In Sunday school, you might wonder, how do I know
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: if I'm really coming through?
• 34:01
  Speaker 3: Ask your pupils.
• 34:02
  Speaker 2: Ask those that are under your tutelage. When you go home,
• 34:04
  Speaker 2: do you understand what that says? Can you get that
• 34:07
  Speaker 2: on your own? If they say to you, I haven't got.
• 34:10
  Speaker 3: The slightest idea what that says, then... Either they weren't listening.
• 34:15
  Speaker 3: Or you weren't teaching. It's that simple. Every ministry of teaching.
• 34:24
  Speaker 3: Hangs on three wires. Is it accurate? Is it clear?
• 34:30
  Speaker 3: Is it practical?
• 34:33
  Speaker 2: Is this what God actually said? Have I taught it
• 34:37
  Speaker 2: in a way that's clear? And when these people leave.
• 34:42
  Speaker 2: Do they understand in their practical everyday life what.
• 34:46
  Speaker 3: It means to them?
• 34:48
  Speaker 2: Those are the very important tentacles of truth that hang
• 34:54
  Speaker 2: from what I would call genuine exposition.
• 34:58
  Speaker 3: How do we know that these people really heard? How
• 35:00
  Speaker 3: do we know that there was.
• 35:01
  Speaker 2: A genuine revival? Look at verse 9. Nehemiah, who was
• 35:06
  Speaker 2: the governor, that was something. The governor was right in
• 35:10
  Speaker 2: the middle of the revival. the governor was there, Ezra
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: the priest and scribe, the Levites who taught the people
• 35:17
  Speaker 2: said to all the people, this day is holy to.
• 35:21
  Speaker 3: The Lord your God.
• 35:22
  Speaker 2: Do not mourn or weep, for all the people were
• 35:25
  Speaker 2: weeping when they heard the words of the Lord.
• 35:28
  Speaker 3: Why were they crying? They were guilty.
• 35:32
  Speaker 2: They were thinking back to those years they had spent
• 35:35
  Speaker 2: with no spiritual dimension. The the sin of their forefathers
• 35:40
  Speaker 2: that caused them to land in captivity.
• 35:44
  Speaker 3: And the depth of their guilt brought weeping.
• 35:47
  Speaker 2: And that's a good sign, by the way. At times,
• 35:50
  Speaker 2: guilt is an excellent motivational factor. Not all guilt is wrong.
• 35:55
  Speaker 3: Guilt is one.
• 35:56
  Speaker 2: Thing that God uses to bring many people to a
• 35:58
  Speaker 2: saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. In this guilt, however, the
• 36:03
  Speaker 2: men stood and said, now listen, stop that.
• 36:07
  Speaker 3: God's forgiving. Let's move on. This is a holy day.
• 36:12
  Speaker 2: This is a day not to cry, but to celebrate.
• 36:16
  Speaker 2: Verse 10, they said, Go and eat of the fat
• 36:19
  Speaker 2: and drink of the sweet. Send portions to him who
• 36:23
  Speaker 2: has nothing prepared. For this day is holy to our Lord.
• 36:28
  Speaker 2: Don't cry on a holiday. Celebrate on a holiday. Don't
• 36:32
  Speaker 2: be grieved. The joy of the Lord is your strength.
• 36:35
  Speaker 2: Verse 11 says, the Levites calmed all the people, saying,
• 36:39
  Speaker 2: be still. The day is holy. Do not be grieved.
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: You see, they were living in an era that's a
• 36:48
  Speaker 2: little bit like our previous era, in which God was
• 36:53
  Speaker 2: declared to have been dead. Technically, this is known as
• 36:56
  Speaker 2: radical theology. Radical theology got its roots way back in
• 37:01
  Speaker 2: the higher critical theory, and it just bore its fruit
• 37:04
  Speaker 2: in In our day and age in which there was
• 37:06
  Speaker 2: a God is dead concept. But it's a marvelous thing
• 37:11
  Speaker 2: to notice. How there is a revival taking place. Not
• 37:17
  Speaker 2: simply as far away as Indonesia. Not just in Latin America.
• 37:22
  Speaker 2: But it's beginning it seems. To come across our own land.
• 37:29
  Speaker 2: Reminds me of a bumper sticker I saw when I
• 37:31
  Speaker 2: was driving down to. Palm Springs. We were with some friends.
• 37:37
  Speaker 2: And on the back of a camper, a.
• 37:39
  Speaker 3: Great big sign, it said, God is back. And boy,
• 37:44
  Speaker 3: is he mad. There's only one problem with that. It's wrong.
• 37:53
  Speaker 3: God never left. Man left. And God isn't mad. Man's mad.
• 38:00
  Speaker 3: Man's mad. God's never left.
• 38:05
  Speaker 2: These people were thinking God's gone and he's come back
• 38:09
  Speaker 2: and he's mad. And Nehemiah, the men say, no, you
• 38:14
  Speaker 2: celebrate today. This marvelous God of heaven comes back with
• 38:19
  Speaker 2: open arms and he says, I'm ready to forgive. I'll
• 38:21
  Speaker 2: take everyone that will repent. Come to me as he is.
• 38:26
  Speaker 3: I'll take you.
• 38:28
  Speaker 2: And so verse 12 says they got the message. Here's
• 38:33
  Speaker 2: a mobilized people. We have a proclaimed Bible and we
• 38:37
  Speaker 2: have a mobilized people. All the people went away to eat,
• 38:42
  Speaker 2: to drink, to send portions, to celebrate a great festival. Why?
• 38:51
  Speaker 2: Because they understood the words which had been made known
• 38:57
  Speaker 2: to them.
• 39:01
  Speaker 3: I want to say in the last few minutes I
• 39:05
  Speaker 3: have with you this morning, I find.
• 39:06
  Speaker 2: In these 12 verses four very practical lessons that I
• 39:13
  Speaker 2: think are worth noting by way of review today.
• 39:16
  Speaker 3: And they are as follows.
• 39:20
  Speaker 2: Number one, no life is complete without the spiritual dimensions.
• 39:31
  Speaker 2: I get that from the first two verses. No life
• 39:34
  Speaker 2: is complete without the spiritual dimension. I say that on
• 39:39
  Speaker 2: behalf of young couples that marry and drift away from
• 39:42
  Speaker 2: the things of God. I say that on behalf of
• 39:45
  Speaker 2: college students that have come back for the summer. And
• 39:48
  Speaker 2: look back on a time of spiritual loss, not gain.
• 39:53
  Speaker 2: Your life has been incomplete without the spiritual dimension. I
• 39:59
  Speaker 2: find it all around when I travel. I find men
• 40:03
  Speaker 2: and women trying to live a complete life without the
• 40:06
  Speaker 2: spiritual dimension.
• 40:07
  Speaker 3: It's impossible.
• 40:11
  Speaker 2: It is for the Christian a temporary time of insanity.
• 40:14
  Speaker 2: There's another example. lesson I see in this passage. No
• 40:20
  Speaker 2: spiritual dimension is complete without scriptural input.
• 40:25
  Speaker 3: You can't go.
• 40:26
  Speaker 2: From one emotional high to the next without scriptural input.
• 40:30
  Speaker 3: That's not the spiritual life. The spiritual life.
• 40:33
  Speaker 2: Is sustained by the scriptural input.
• 40:38
  Speaker 3: The word of God into the life.
• 40:41
  Speaker 2: Separate a person from the teaching of the Bible and
• 40:44
  Speaker 2: the input of Scripture long enough and his life suffers,
• 40:48
  Speaker 2: suffers measurably. And there's a third. No scriptural input is
• 40:57
  Speaker 2: complete without personal obedience. These people not only heard and
• 41:03
  Speaker 2: received the Scriptures, they responded, as we will see the.
• 41:06
  Speaker 3: Next time we're together, by building the booths.
• 41:09
  Speaker 2: And by coming together and doing something that must have
• 41:12
  Speaker 2: appeared to be ludicrous in the eyes of the people.
• 41:17
  Speaker 2: No scriptural input is complete without obedience. And the fourth
• 41:22
  Speaker 2: I see is there is no personal obedience complete without
• 41:27
  Speaker 2: great rejoicing. They had the time of their lives. You
• 41:34
  Speaker 2: wouldn't expect it with people living in little old homemade
• 41:36
  Speaker 2: booths having a good time.
• 41:38
  Speaker 3: But they did.
• 41:39
  Speaker 2: Why?
• 41:40
  Speaker 3: Because they were obedient. Obedience breeds happiness.
• 41:51
  Speaker 2: I traveled, as I mentioned earlier, up to Wisconsin and
• 41:55
  Speaker 2: never ceases to amaze me what I run into along
• 41:59
  Speaker 2: the way. On the way back, it was a Friday
• 42:04
  Speaker 2: and I was pressed for time. For Sunday's message. And
• 42:08
  Speaker 2: so I had my Bible open on my knee. In
• 42:11
  Speaker 2: the O'Hare airport. And a guy was sitting a seat
• 42:15
  Speaker 2: away from me. He looked over there and he said.
• 42:18
  Speaker 3: Hey. What are you doing?
• 42:26
  Speaker 2: I said I'm reading. What's that thing you're reading? You
• 42:32
  Speaker 2: could tell he was a rather intelligent kind of a
• 42:34
  Speaker 2: fella and. I said, it's a Bible.
• 42:38
  Speaker 3: And about three or four of the people kind of
• 42:39
  Speaker 3: did like this. And he said, what are you reading
• 42:45
  Speaker 3: that for?
• 42:46
  Speaker 2: I never could get anything out of that. How come
• 42:49
  Speaker 2: you got that Bible there? I said, well, I'm glad
• 42:54
  Speaker 2: you asked. And he just moved over a seat. And
• 42:59
  Speaker 2: I just put my notes aside and had the delightful
• 43:01
  Speaker 2: experience of telling him about the most marvelous individual that
• 43:05
  Speaker 2: ever came to this earth. And when I got through,
• 43:09
  Speaker 2: he looked at me and his mouth was kind of open.
• 43:11
  Speaker 2: He said, I never heard that in my life.
• 43:14
  Speaker 3: You get that out of that book? I said, yeah,
• 43:17
  Speaker 3: sure did. And he reached over and he thumbed through it.
• 43:24
  Speaker 3: You get that out of that book? I said, yes,
• 43:27
  Speaker 3: I did. It's right there. He said, do you have
• 43:29
  Speaker 3: a Bible?
• 43:31
  Speaker 4: Uh-uh.
• 43:34
  Speaker 3: You ever read it? Yeah, I tried. It's a lot
• 43:37
  Speaker 3: of begats and these and thousand. I didn't get anything
• 43:40
  Speaker 3: out of it. Said his reason is because you don't
• 43:44
  Speaker 3: know the author. Yeah, I guess that's right. Time to
• 43:48
  Speaker 3: catch the plane, isn't it?
• 43:50
  Speaker 2: Check this watch. Sure enough, they took off. He was
• 43:54
  Speaker 2: in one part and I was in another. The guy
• 43:56
  Speaker 2: that sat right next to me. We were flying, took
• 44:00
  Speaker 2: off and looked out the window, and a different fellow,
• 44:03
  Speaker 2: and I said, hey, isn't that a pretty skyline of Chicago?
• 44:08
  Speaker 3: And he cursed two or three times. Yeah, you should
• 44:10
  Speaker 3: have seen it last week. It was miserable. Smoggy, foggy.
• 44:14
  Speaker 3: And I said, yeah, but isn't it pretty now? And
• 44:17
  Speaker 3: he said, I didn't say it quite like that. I said,
• 44:20
  Speaker 3: isn't it pretty now? And he said....
• 44:24
  Speaker 2: He said, well, yeah, I guess it depends on how
• 44:25
  Speaker 2: you look at it. I said, well, I look at
• 44:27
  Speaker 2: it like it's pretty, man, it's terrific. And I could
• 44:29
  Speaker 2: not get him to look at life from the bright side.
• 44:34
  Speaker 2: The entire time was spent negativism. He did not have
• 44:38
  Speaker 2: the joy.
• 44:39
  Speaker 3: Why? Because he had no personal relationship, no spiritual dimension,
• 44:43
  Speaker 3: no meaningful goal in life.
• 44:46
  Speaker 2: He was on a trip to take him to some
• 44:48
  Speaker 2: business encounter and back to that miserable place where he
• 44:52
  Speaker 2: lived again. Back and forth, back and forth. As he said, Milwaukee, Chicago, Dallas,
• 44:57
  Speaker 2: and he named several other places. He was just one
• 45:00
  Speaker 2: miserable being. And I want to tell you something. That's
• 45:03
  Speaker 2: why the Christian needs to be mobilized. And the word
• 45:09
  Speaker 2: of God needs to be proclaimed. You know, that is
• 45:12
  Speaker 2: the single reason I was driven to the ministry. And
• 45:14
  Speaker 2: I mean driven. Because everybody had the problems and nobody
• 45:19
  Speaker 2: had the answers. At least that I encountered. And I thought, hey,
• 45:23
  Speaker 2: I'd rather be in that smaller group. I'd rather be
• 45:27
  Speaker 2: in the group that says, hey, there is a brighter
• 45:30
  Speaker 2: way to look at the skyline of Chicago. There is
• 45:34
  Speaker 2: a reason for living and looking forward to that next trip.
• 45:38
  Speaker 3: And by and by, the guy finally looked at me
• 45:40
  Speaker 3: and he said, you religious? And I said, no, I
• 45:47
  Speaker 3: really hope not. And that just threw him.
• 45:49
  Speaker 2: He couldn't understand what that meant. And then I told
• 45:51
  Speaker 2: him about a relationship with Jesus Christ.
• 45:55
  Speaker 3: He couldn't get it together.
• 45:57
  Speaker 2: In the fog of no spiritual dimension. And I was convinced,
• 46:02
  Speaker 2: sermon prepared or not, that's what God wanted us to
• 46:05
  Speaker 2: hear today.
• 46:08
  Speaker 3: Every great revival includes two things. One has been done.
• 46:16
  Speaker 3: It's your turn. Let's bow together this morning.
• 46:25
  Speaker 2: Maybe you haven't the gifts of a Charles Wesley to
• 46:29
  Speaker 2: put the hymns together in such impressive fashion. You couldn't
• 46:35
  Speaker 2: preach if your life depended on it. The truth renowned,
• 46:40
  Speaker 2: you really don't have the courage of a John Knox.
• 46:45
  Speaker 3: Or the raw.
• 46:48
  Speaker 2: Boldness of a Luther. But you know Jesus Christ. And
• 46:56
  Speaker 2: you've heard the truth. And it's got to be shared,
• 47:03
  Speaker 2: my friend. If you keep it, it sours. If you
• 47:09
  Speaker 2: give it, it stays fresh. You've got to give it.
• 47:14
  Speaker 2: You can't stay silent. If you've never trusted the Lord
• 47:19
  Speaker 2: Jesus Christ, maybe you haven't been that miserable. If the
• 47:25
  Speaker 2: truth were known, maybe you've been pretty successful. But you've
• 47:29
  Speaker 2: got to admit that the dimension in your life that's
• 47:32
  Speaker 2: missing has left you feeling awfully lonely and empty at times.
• 47:41
  Speaker 2: So for your sake, we close the service by giving
• 47:44
  Speaker 2: you an opportunity right where you're sitting to change your mind.
• 47:51
  Speaker 2: That's what repentance means, to change your mind. Believe on
• 47:56
  Speaker 2: the Lord Jesus Christ with all your heart, soul, and mind,
• 48:03
  Speaker 2: and you have repented. Christian here today carrying the burden,
• 48:09
  Speaker 2: looking more like the lost than the saved.
• 48:12
  Speaker 3: You're part of the problem. God says, let's celebrate. I'm
• 48:21
  Speaker 3: not back. You're back. and neither of us is mad.
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: Lord, we need the reminder today of the importance of
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: the spiritual dimension in life. We acknowledge the fact that
• 48:40
  Speaker 1: life is not complete without it. Furthermore, we couldn't have
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: that if we were without spiritual input. We need the
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: truth of your Word. So thank you for giving us
• 48:54
  Speaker 1: your Word, which gives us that spiritual dimension. And we
• 48:59
  Speaker 1: also acknowledge, Lord, that this calls for personal obedience. You
• 49:04
  Speaker 1: haven't given us your word to satisfy idle curiosity. You've
• 49:07
  Speaker 1: given us your word to change our lives. So find
• 49:11
  Speaker 1: in us obedient hearts, willing to do what you tell
• 49:15
  Speaker 1: us to do. And then may there be great rejoicing.
• 49:20
  Speaker 1: not only through the understanding of your word, but the
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: application of it. May it make a difference. For those
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: who've never met Christ, we pray that your invading their
• 49:31
  Speaker 1: lives will change the darkness to light and turn the
• 49:36
  Speaker 1: gloom and despair into joy and hope. And for those
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: of us who know the Savior, may it make a
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: difference in the way we live our lives before those
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: who have never met him. Thank you for the privilege
• 49:48
  Speaker 1: of doing that, for leaving us in a world not
• 49:50
  Speaker 1: to isolate us, but to insulate us, so that we're
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: not absorbed by the way of the world, but we
• 49:58
  Speaker 1: become for them salt and light. Thank you in advance
• 50:02
  Speaker 1: for what will come as a result of the hearing
• 50:05
  Speaker 1: of your word today And again, for the strong reminder
• 50:09
  Speaker 1: of the value of biblical exposition, may we who enjoy
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: such revel in it, give you thanks for it, and
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: continue to be faithful to it. I ask all of
• 50:21
  Speaker 1: this in the name of Jesus, our Savior, our Lord.
• 50:25
  Speaker 3: Amen.
• 50:27
  Speaker 4: The preceding message, Revival at the Watergate, was copyrighted in 1974, 1983, 1990,
• 50:36
  Speaker 4: 2007 and 2016. And the sound recording was copyrighted in
• 50:42
  Speaker 4: 2016 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc.
• 50:45
  Speaker 3: All rights are reserved worldwide.
• 50:48
  Speaker 4: Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.