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

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