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Revival at the Water Gate · 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 8. And I'll read verses 1 through 12.
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Speaker 1: So please follow along. Nehemiah 8, beginning at verse 1.
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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 water gate, and they
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Speaker 1: asked Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the
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Speaker 1: law of Moses, which the Lord had given to Israel.
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Speaker 1: Then Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly
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Speaker 1: of men, women, and all who could listen with understanding
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Speaker 1: on the first day of the seventh month. He read
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Speaker 1: from it before the square which was in front of
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Speaker 1: the water gate from early morning until midday. in the
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Speaker 1: presence of men and women, those who could understand. And
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Speaker 1: all the people were attentive to the book of the law.
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Speaker 1: Ezra the scribe stood at a wooden podium, which they
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Speaker 1: had made for the purpose. And beside him stood Metathiah, Shema, Ananiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, Maaseah,
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Speaker 1: on his right hand, and Petaiah, Mishael, Melchizedek, Hashem, Hashmedana, Zechariah,
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Speaker 1: and Meshulam 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: worshipped the Lord and with their faces to the ground. Also, Yeshua, Bani, Cherubiah, Jamin, Akub, Shebathiah, Jodiah, Meshiah, Kelita, Azarita, Josabath, Hanan, Palilah,
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Speaker 1: and the Levites explained the law to the people while
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Speaker 1: the people remained in their place. They read from the book,
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Speaker 1: from the law of God, translating to give the sense,
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Speaker 1: so that they understood the reading. Then Nehemiah, who was
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Speaker 1: the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the
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Speaker 1: Levites who taught the people, said to all the people,
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Speaker 1: This day is holy to the Lord your God. Do
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Speaker 1: not mourn or weep. For all the people were weeping
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Speaker 1: when they heard the words of the law. Then he
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Speaker 1: said to them, Go, eat of the fat, drink of
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Speaker 1: the sweet, and send portions to him who has nothing prepared.
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Speaker 1: For this day is holy to the Lord. Do not
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Speaker 1: be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.
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Speaker 1: So the Levites calmed all the people, saying, Be still,
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Speaker 1: for the day is holy. Do not be grieved. All
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Speaker 1: the people went away to eat, to drink, to send portions,
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Speaker 1: and to celebrate a great festival because they understood the
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Speaker 1: words which had been made known to them. In every
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Speaker 1: genuine revival, there are always two major factors that play
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Speaker 1: important roles. First, there is always the proclamation of the Bible,
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Speaker 1: God's word. And second, there is always the mobilization of
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Speaker 1: God's people, the believers. Strange as it may sound, a
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Speaker 1: revival does not basically relate to the lost. You cannot
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Speaker 1: revive the lost. You revive the saved. The lost have
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Speaker 1: to be saved. So when we speak of revival, we
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Speaker 1: are not referring to the matter of one's ministry with
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Speaker 1: the lost. As much as we are talking about God's
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Speaker 1: ministry in his word to the saved, as he allows
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Speaker 1: his word to be proclaimed, and in the spirit and
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Speaker 1: excitement of that proclamation, how he mobilizes his people to
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Speaker 1: go and win the lost. Let me illustrate it from history.
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Speaker 1: Step back in the time tunnel some 450 years to Germany.
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Speaker 1: and gather around a candlelit room in which a small
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Speaker 1: body of men prayed much over God's direction for their lives.
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Speaker 1: As that ministry and vision began to grow, it wasn't
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Speaker 1: long before such greater lights as Savonarola and Melanchthon and
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Speaker 1: Calvin and Zwingli and, of course, Luther began to carry
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Speaker 1: the torch to the Germans. The Bible came into the
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Speaker 1: language of the people of Germany, and by and by
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Speaker 1: the old formalism of the church was replaced with living,
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Speaker 1: vibrant Christianity. There is an old Bohemian Psalter that's been
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Speaker 1: dug up by a lover of old literature, and there's
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Speaker 1: a front piece in it that is a picture of
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Speaker 1: Wycliffe striking the spark, Huss kindling the coves, and Luther
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Speaker 1: brandishing the flame. It is saying, in effect, that's the Reformation.
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Speaker 1: Revival has broken out. That Psalter is dated 1572. And
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Speaker 1: then they realized what God was doing. Travel not too
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Speaker 1: many miles away to the land of Scotland a few
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Speaker 1: years earlier, and you come across an interesting character by
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Speaker 1: the name of John Knox. Now, Knox was a fiery preacher.
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Speaker 1: a pungent writer. In fact, at one time he said
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Speaker 1: of the Mary Queen of Scots, she is an old Jezebel.
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Speaker 1: And Mary Queen of Scots responded when she heard of it,
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Speaker 1: I fear his tongue and pen more than the armies
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Speaker 1: of England. For she knew that Knox carried a real
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Speaker 1: sway in the minds of the people. He took God's word,
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Speaker 1: trusted in its promises. and mobilized the people of the
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Speaker 1: Scots into what came to be known as the Scottish Revival.
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Speaker 1: And then came the Wesley brothers. Remember those boys? In
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Speaker 1: England in the 1700s. Born in a unique home, sons
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Speaker 1: of an old English rector, and perhaps the greatest mother
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Speaker 1: England has ever known, Susanna. John preached in his 50
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Speaker 1: years of preaching ministry some 40,000 sermons to some audiences
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Speaker 1: as great as 20,000 people without public address assistance. He
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Speaker 1: traveled 225,000 miles, most of it on horseback, proclaiming the
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Speaker 1: word of God. His gifted brother, Charles, left in the
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Speaker 1: lap of the church a magnificent legacy. Before he died,
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Speaker 1: he had left 8,000 hymns in the hymnal of the church.
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Speaker 1: Among them were, and can it be. Oh, for a
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Speaker 1: thousand tongues to sing. And you could add others that
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Speaker 1: you love. Hark the herald angels sing. Ye servants of God,
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Speaker 1: your master proclaim. Christ for the world we sing. Arise,
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Speaker 1: my soul arise. A charge to keep I have. Jesus,
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Speaker 1: lover of my soul, and on and on and on.
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Speaker 1: The people not only got a Bible, they got a hymnal.
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Speaker 1: These were the two strokes that Luther wished to leave
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Speaker 1: in the minds of the Christians. They need a Bible
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Speaker 1: they can understand and a hymnal from which they can sing.
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Speaker 1: And then let them go, as he put it. Let
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Speaker 1: them loose. The flame will spread on its own. That's revival.
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Speaker 1: When the word of God is proclaimed and the people
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Speaker 1: of God are mobilized, revival has occurred. Now, believe it
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Speaker 1: or not, tucked away in the old, stuffy, dusty book
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Speaker 1: of Nehemiah is a revival. And of all places, it
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Speaker 1: took place at the water gate. According to chapter 8,
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Speaker 1: all the people gathered, says verse 1, and in the
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Speaker 1: setting of these first two verses, We have the most
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Speaker 1: exciting experience that transpired since the wall was completed. You see,
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Speaker 1: at this time, there was a spiritual vacuum in the city.
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Speaker 1: The project had been completed. They had moved into their
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Speaker 1: own dwellings, and according to chapter seven, which is a
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Speaker 1: detailed chapter of organizational structure, the people were now well organized,
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Speaker 1: well defended, well governed. And in this city, though they
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Speaker 1: had those nice homes and good jobs and a well
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Speaker 1: defended city with its walls, there was a spiritual dimension
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Speaker 1: that was missing. Nehemiah sensed it, as did the people.
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Speaker 1: And so they came together in one place, in front
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Speaker 1: of the water gate. And the Bible tells us that
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Speaker 1: they met at the square. The Hebrew word means a
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Speaker 1: great expanse, a large opening, a plaza. And so just
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Speaker 1: inside the water gate, there was this area where there
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Speaker 1: were no buildings and And so the people came, I
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Speaker 1: take it, on their own, voluntarily. Perhaps someone realized what
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Speaker 1: time of the year it was. Some Jew with a
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Speaker 1: good memory would know that at that time, the first
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Speaker 1: day of the seventh month, they needed to assemble. Somebody
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Speaker 1: had read Deuteronomy 31, which talks about the Feast of Booths, B-O-O-T-H-S,
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Speaker 1: the place of Where they would come and build out
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Speaker 1: of little pieces of timber their own homemade booths. And
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Speaker 1: they would live in that for seven days. The first
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Speaker 1: day would be a day of the reading of the scriptures.
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Speaker 1: And the next several days would be a day of
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Speaker 1: reminding themselves that God had preserved the people. As they
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Speaker 1: had left Egypt and gone into the land of promise.
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Speaker 1: It was a visible promise. tangible reminder. It was an
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Speaker 1: object lesson of God's truth. And it was to take
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Speaker 1: place every seventh year, the first day of the seventh month.
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Speaker 1: And at this time they gathered. What did they do?
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Speaker 1: Who was there? Why did they meet? Those questions are
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Speaker 1: answered for us in these two verses. First of all,
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Speaker 1: who was there? We read that it was Ezra the
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Speaker 1: scribe that was asked to bring the book of the
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Speaker 1: law of Moses. What is a scribe? We don't have
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Speaker 1: scribes today in our system of worship. What did it
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Speaker 1: mean to the Jew to have a scribe? A scribe
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Speaker 1: was a man who had expertise in two areas. First
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Speaker 1: of all, he was an expert in the realm of
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Speaker 1: legal matters. He acted as both judge and jury when
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Speaker 1: he stood before his people. Seldom was his judgment questioned. Second,
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Speaker 1: he was an expert in the field of the scriptures.
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Speaker 1: He was the one, you might remember, who copied the
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Speaker 1: scripture by hand before there were such things as printing processes.
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Speaker 1: The scribe was known for his expertise in the scriptures.
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Speaker 1: He was an interpreter of the law. So it fell
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Speaker 1: his lot to stand before the people. They called him
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Speaker 1: to be the scribe. and to give them the word
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Speaker 1: of God. He's called a priest in verse 2. As
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Speaker 1: a priest, he was able to go into the temple
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Speaker 1: and represent them before the Lord God. This all took
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Speaker 1: place before Jesus came and made every one of his
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Speaker 1: followers his own priest. But Ezra filled these two purposes
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Speaker 1: as a man. He was a stout-hearted Christian man. He
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Speaker 1: wasn't afraid to stand alone. And so he read the
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Speaker 1: scriptures before the people. That's why they came together. That
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Speaker 1: was the reason. And the time is given to us
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Speaker 1: in the last part of verse two. Now we come
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Speaker 1: in verse three to one of the most interesting and
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Speaker 1: clearest presentations of all the Bible of what is called
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Speaker 1: the ministry of exposition. What does it mean to have
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Speaker 1: the ministry of the word in a church? I ask
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Speaker 1: that question because it is a question asked all over
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Speaker 1: the land, especially in our day when God's word is
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Speaker 1: always under attack. What does it mean to sustain an
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Speaker 1: expository ministry? In verses 3 through 8, we have it
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Speaker 1: in a nutshell. First of all, it includes reading the scriptures.
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Speaker 1: Verse 3 says, He read from it before the square
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Speaker 1: which was in front of the water gate from early
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Speaker 1: morning until midday. He read from the Bible from dawn
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Speaker 1: till noon. Oh, for the good old days. What a
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Speaker 1: day that must have been in the presence of the
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Speaker 1: men and the women. The Bible tells us in verse
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Speaker 1: 3 that they were attentive to the book of the law.
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Speaker 1: The scriptures tell us in this passage that not only
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Speaker 1: were they attentive, but when the book was opened, they
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Speaker 1: stood to their feet. Now, we can't appreciate the emotion
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Speaker 1: of that moment. We can't possibly understand what it must
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Speaker 1: be like not to have the scriptures or someone to
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Speaker 1: teach them. I would venture to say that not anyone,
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Speaker 1: perhaps one, maybe two, in a congregation this size has
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Speaker 1: ever known the experience of being forced away from his Bible.
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Speaker 1: Captivity is an unknown thing to our generation. We are fat,
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Speaker 1: well cared for, easily and constantly fed the word of God.
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Speaker 1: We don't know what it's like to have someone slam
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Speaker 1: the door and lock it with the Bible on the inside.
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Speaker 1: These people had been born and raised in that context.
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Speaker 1: They had been raised in captivity. Their whole cultural foundation
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Speaker 1: had shifted from Hebraistic to Chaldean. Though they were Jews
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Speaker 1: by birth, they were Chaldeans by tongue and culture. So
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Speaker 1: that this generation had not known the Lord Jehovah as
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Speaker 1: had their forefathers known him. And then of all things,
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Speaker 1: they had been shifted from this land of Chaldea, Babylon,
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Speaker 1: over into Jerusalem. They had built a wall and suddenly
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Speaker 1: were making a living. But there was no ministry of
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Speaker 1: the word. And for the first time, I want you
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Speaker 1: to imagine it. They had a man stand before them
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Speaker 1: and open the scriptures, the Torah, the law of God.
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Speaker 1: And he began to read from the scriptures verse by verse.
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Speaker 1: It was an incredible experience of emotional movement in the congregation.
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Speaker 1: We have our Bibles in all sorts of texts, all paraphrases,
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Speaker 1: all size prints, all color covers, and we know nothing
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Speaker 1: of being absent from our Bibles. And I'm afraid that
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Speaker 1: this familiarity has certainly bred a contempt and a skepticism,
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Speaker 1: even a cynicism, in places where it was once loved
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Speaker 1: and obeyed. They read the Bibles. You might be interested
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Speaker 1: to know in passing that verse 4 is the first
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Speaker 1: mention in all the Bible of a pulpit being used
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Speaker 1: for the purpose of the Word of God. They had
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Speaker 1: a practical problem. No public address, no beautiful amphitheater like
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Speaker 1: the Hollywood Bowl, no built-in setup where they could hear easily,
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Speaker 1: and so they apparently fixed a platform of some kind
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Speaker 1: in an area that was easily seen. And then they
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Speaker 1: erected a wooden podium, a pulpit, and they placed behind
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Speaker 1: it a man, Ezra, with a book, the law of God.
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Speaker 1: And then he opened this book because it was the
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Speaker 1: source of all truth. And he read from it. And
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Speaker 1: they stood up. First of all, there was the reading
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Speaker 1: of the scriptures. In verse 6, there was praise for
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Speaker 1: the scriptures. Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God. I
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Speaker 1: don't know what that means, really. I can't manufacture in
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Speaker 1: my mind, to my satisfaction, what he must have said.
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Speaker 1: I can imagine what he could have said or done.
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Speaker 1: He could have set aside the Bible for a moment
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Speaker 1: and looked up and expressed verbal thanks and praise to
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Speaker 1: the father for the giving of the word. Maybe he prayed.
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Speaker 1: Maybe he led them in singing one of the songs.
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Speaker 1: But he expressed to God his praise and gratitude for
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Speaker 1: what God had said and revealed to them. That was
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Speaker 1: a moving moment. What did the people do in response
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Speaker 1: to this? I think it is interesting because so much
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Speaker 1: of my time is spent before congregations. I think it
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Speaker 1: is interesting what they did in response to To what
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Speaker 1: they had heard. Verse 6. All the people answered. Amen. Amen.
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Speaker 1: That's a rare sound these days. Isn't it? I am
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Speaker 1: fully aware. That in many churches. It is overworked. It
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Speaker 1: is in fact an interruption. To the ministry of the word.
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Speaker 1: Having to wade through all the verbalisms. That come from
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Speaker 1: the pews. But every once in a while. Every month
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Speaker 1: or so. It's sort of like saying sickum to a
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Speaker 1: bulldog to say amen to a preacher. Every once in
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Speaker 1: a while, a quiet little amen would just fracture some things.
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Speaker 1: It's remarkable what it does. They said it, but they
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Speaker 1: didn't stop there. They lifted up their hands. Now, wait
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Speaker 1: a minute. Wait a minute. Let's back off a few
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Speaker 1: paces and let's look at this. Did they really? Yes,
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Speaker 1: they did. All the people answered, Amen. Amen. And they
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Speaker 1: lifted up their hands. Why did they do that? The
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Speaker 1: only reason I can discover, technically, is because the Psalms
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Speaker 1: often speak of expressing praise with the uplifted hands. And
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Speaker 1: here again, I say, and I say it to a
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Speaker 1: measure of our embarrassment, that this is the sort of
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Speaker 1: thing that is often misread. We are a very structured people.
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Speaker 1: Our congregational form of worship is always done in the
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Speaker 1: sitting position. sometimes standing, never kneeling, never laying down, never
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Speaker 1: with our hands up, very, very rarely with an amen.
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Speaker 1: Isn't it interesting that we find these people in their
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Speaker 1: response to God relaxed enough to respond without embarrassment? Now,
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Speaker 1: I'm not advocating a great breakthrough in all of these
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Speaker 1: areas for us. I think there's a principle here, however.
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Speaker 1: I think there's a spontaneity that is often missing in
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Speaker 1: a worship service. Just the singing of a hymn in
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Speaker 1: a cappella is a beautiful change from the standard. Adjusting
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Speaker 1: worship services and arrangement of things so that it comes
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Speaker 1: across in a fresh new way. I find personally encouraging
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Speaker 1: and delightful. Believe me, I have preached in churches that
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Speaker 1: were icily regular and silent as a church mouse. You
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Speaker 1: could drop your notes on the pulpit and it would
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Speaker 1: sound like a bombardment in the church. There's something about
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Speaker 1: a responsive congregation that is beautiful to behold. You are
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Speaker 1: a responsive audience, including the choir. That's a responsive group
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Speaker 1: of people. You're the reason we have long sermons at
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Speaker 1: this church, not me. I try often to stop earlier,
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Speaker 1: but you won't let me do that. And it says
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Speaker 1: after they lifted up their hands, they bowed low and
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Speaker 1: they worshiped the Lord. How? With their faces to the ground.
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Speaker 1: Our size and our setup won't allow us to do it.
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Speaker 1: But I'm going to encourage you when you get away
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Speaker 1: on a vacation this summer and you get under the
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Speaker 1: starry skies. Believe me, there are stars up there. I
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Speaker 1: saw them in Wisconsin. I guarantee you there are stars
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Speaker 1: up there. You lay on your back some night and
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Speaker 1: you look up. And you will worship in a way
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Speaker 1: that you haven't worshipped for months, perhaps years. You turn
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Speaker 1: over with your face to the ground. And there is
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Speaker 1: a feeling, a sense of worship that is something to experience.
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Speaker 1: You fall on your knees and you lift up your
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Speaker 1: hands to the Lord God and you talk to him.
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Speaker 1: And there's something refreshing about it. Break the structure. Get
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Speaker 1: away from the ritualism. of Christianity and get locked into
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Speaker 1: a whole brand new creative approach to knowing the Lord
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Speaker 1: God of heaven. That's part of the reason the youth
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Speaker 1: of our day are turning us off. They're weary of
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Speaker 1: the structure that means nothing more than the empty sacrificial
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Speaker 1: system and sacrament system of the Roman church in the
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Speaker 1: mid-15 and 1600s. They're sick of it. And I'll tell you,
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Speaker 1: these people, when they came before God, were not even
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Speaker 1: told to do it. They heard the word and they
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Speaker 1: refreshingly worshipped God. And by the way, sometimes the very
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Speaker 1: best response is silence. I honestly believe my most meaningful
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Speaker 1: times of worship are times that I have absolutely run
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Speaker 1: out of words and I have gone before God with
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Speaker 1: not a thing to say. After the word of God
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Speaker 1: was read, after praise was given for the reading of
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Speaker 1: the word and its marvelous revelation, there was insight into
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Speaker 1: the scriptures. Before I dig into verses 7 and 8,
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Speaker 1: which form the real nucleus of this passage, I want
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Speaker 1: to warn us against two extremes. Churches fall into these
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Speaker 1: extremes all the time. The larger we get, the easier
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Speaker 1: it is to form an extreme. The extreme of nothing
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Speaker 1: but emotion. And the extreme of nothing but teaching. There
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Speaker 1: is a beautiful balance I find in these verses. They
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Speaker 1: had emotion and it was an emotion that was spontaneous.
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Speaker 1: They expressed their love and praise to God not caring.
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Speaker 1: Thinking only of the Lord God and of how much
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Speaker 1: they loved Him. But at the same time There was
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Speaker 1: the teaching ministry of the word. As you will see
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Speaker 1: in a moment, it was intensive teaching. Not just a
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Speaker 1: neat little ditty that filled up the rest of the time.
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Speaker 1: It was intense. Look at verse 7. It says that
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Speaker 1: these men explained the law to the people. After Ezra
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Speaker 1: had read the law, Then these men mingled among the people,
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Speaker 1: for it says in verse 7 that the people remained
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Speaker 1: in their place. So there was no other area in
27:33
Speaker 1: which to meet. So apparently Ezra dispatched from his side
27:38
Speaker 1: a number of these men and they met in cells,
27:42
Speaker 1: perhaps in smaller groups. I take it that there would
27:46
Speaker 1: have easily been a few thousand people there. And they
27:49
Speaker 1: sat down together as the man who was qualified to
27:53
Speaker 1: teach the word taught. It wasn't the old S.Y.I. Bible study,
28:00
Speaker 1: which stands for share your ignorance. That kind of Bible
28:04
Speaker 1: study does not honor the Lord God. You've all been
28:07
Speaker 1: in such groups where nobody's given the second thought of
28:10
Speaker 1: what's going to be read. And suddenly the Bible is
28:13
Speaker 1: open and some inane idea is given along with another
28:16
Speaker 1: shallow thought. I'm not putting down personal Bible study. In fact,
28:21
Speaker 1: I'm a great advocate of it. I'm putting down ignorant
28:24
Speaker 1: Bible study. Opinionated Bible study with no forethought. These men
28:31
Speaker 1: were trained. They were capable. They were respected. So as
28:36
Speaker 1: they opened the book and taught the word of God,
28:39
Speaker 1: it was a marvelous thing. Look at what they did. First,
28:44
Speaker 1: they read from the Bible. Verse 8. They read the book.
28:49
Speaker 1: The Hebrew word means to recite, to read aloud. And
28:53
Speaker 1: so there was the oral reading of what God had written.
28:56
Speaker 1: The second thing I notice is that they translated the scriptures.
29:02
Speaker 1: Paras is the Hebrew word. It means to make something distinct,
29:06
Speaker 1: to separate it from something else so as to make
29:10
Speaker 1: it flow together in a meaningful fashion. They separated the words,
29:15
Speaker 1: the verses, the passages so that it fit it into place.
29:21
Speaker 1: It was a system of thought that was presented in
29:25
Speaker 1: an intelligent fashion, clear, understandable. Now the question that must
29:32
Speaker 1: come into the mind of any thinking person is why
29:35
Speaker 1: did they translate it? Why did they bother to translate
29:38
Speaker 1: the scriptures? Remember now, these were people who were Jews
29:43
Speaker 1: by birth but not Jews by tongue or nature or culture.
29:49
Speaker 1: These Jews who had come from Chaldea or Babylon over
29:54
Speaker 1: into this land of Jerusalem had brought with them their
29:58
Speaker 1: whole mindset of the Chaldean lifestyle. That means that they
30:03
Speaker 1: spoke Aramaic, not Hebrew. The Bible that was read to
30:08
Speaker 1: them was a Bible that was Hebrew. They heard a
30:11
Speaker 1: Hebrew Bible through Aramaic ears and there was a breakdown.
30:18
Speaker 1: And so these trained scribes, these men, took the Hebrew
30:23
Speaker 1: text And broke it down so that it became meaningful
30:27
Speaker 1: into the ears of the Aramaic listeners. That's what happened.
30:33
Speaker 1: That's important. That's important for men that are training for
30:38
Speaker 1: the ministry of the word. I find all over people
30:42
Speaker 1: loving insights into the original languages. Not to dangle it,
30:47
Speaker 1: to impress. But to open it up. To give it
30:51
Speaker 1: meaning and character and color. And so they did. And
30:57
Speaker 1: after they translated it says they gave the sense. Verse 8.
31:02
Speaker 1: They translated it to give the sense. The word means
31:07
Speaker 1: to give insight. The ability to see into something beneath
31:12
Speaker 1: the surface. They gave the in-depth meaning of words and
31:18
Speaker 1: passages so that what resulted understanding. They understood what they heard.
31:27
Speaker 1: Amos 8, 11, and 12 refers to a famine that
31:30
Speaker 1: was to come in the land. Not a famine of
31:33
Speaker 1: bread or water, but a famine of hearing the Word
31:36
Speaker 1: of God. I want to pause right here in this
31:40
Speaker 1: passage and in this message to say that we are
31:42
Speaker 1: in such a famine today. You can get into your
31:46
Speaker 1: automobile and drive miles and miles and stop off at
31:53
Speaker 1: most any town or city. And frankly, it's difficult to
31:58
Speaker 1: find exposition of the scriptures. I do not say that
32:06
Speaker 1: out of judgment. I say that out of an ache
32:08
Speaker 1: in my heart. I find the people of God not
32:11
Speaker 1: revived because the word of God is not revived. It
32:18
Speaker 1: is just a pedantic or empty, shallow kind of teaching ministry.
32:25
Speaker 1: And I find people all over the country longing for
32:29
Speaker 1: the teaching of God's word. I wish there were some
32:33
Speaker 1: possible way. Got a letter this past week from Zululand,
32:38
Speaker 1: wherever Zululand is. We got a letter from there. And
32:42
Speaker 1: these dear people that wrote said, we are brand new
32:45
Speaker 1: missionaries on the field. No place around to hear the scriptures.
32:52
Speaker 1: She said, suddenly there was deposited into our lap a
32:55
Speaker 1: stack of tapes. We don't even know you, she says.
33:00
Speaker 1: And she says the tapes were on Nehemiah and discipleship.
33:06
Speaker 1: And then she went on to say, you will never know,
33:09
Speaker 1: or he went on to say, whoever wrote, you will
33:11
Speaker 1: never know what that has meant in our beginning time
33:17
Speaker 1: as missionaries. That could be duplicated all over from other
33:21
Speaker 1: men that are teaching the word, from other churches that
33:24
Speaker 1: are involved in an expository ministry. The saints, when they
33:28
Speaker 1: are revived by the revival of the word, do a job.
33:34
Speaker 1: It's a beautiful thing when it fits together, when there
33:37
Speaker 1: is understanding. Let me say one more thing. The real
33:41
Speaker 1: test of exposition is is when you leave and you're
33:45
Speaker 1: back on your own in your apartment or in your home,
33:48
Speaker 1: and you go back to the passage of Scripture, can
33:51
Speaker 1: you understand it on your own? That's the test. Those
33:55
Speaker 1: of you that teach the Bible in Sunday school, you
33:57
Speaker 1: might wonder, how do I know if I'm really coming through?
34:01
Speaker 1: Ask your pupils. Ask those that are under your tutelage.
34:03
Speaker 1: When you go home, do you understand what that says?
34:06
Speaker 1: Can you get that on your own? If they say
34:09
Speaker 1: to you, I haven't got the slightest idea what that says,
34:12
Speaker 1: then Either they weren't listening. Or you weren't teaching. It's
34:17
Speaker 1: that simple. Every ministry of teaching. Hangs on three wires.
34:26
Speaker 1: Is it accurate? Is it clear? Is it practical? Is
34:33
Speaker 1: this what God actually said? Have I taught it in
34:37
Speaker 1: a way that's clear? And when these people leave. Do
34:42
Speaker 1: they understand in their practical everyday life what it means
34:46
Speaker 1: to them? Those are the very important tentacles of truth
34:53
Speaker 1: that hang from what I would call genuine exposition. How
34:58
Speaker 1: do we know that these people really heard? How do
35:00
Speaker 1: we know that there was a genuine revival? Look at
35:03
Speaker 1: verse 9. Nehemiah, who was the governor, that was something.
35:09
Speaker 1: The governor was right in the middle of the revival.
35:11
Speaker 1: the governor was there, Ezra the priest and scribe, the
35:15
Speaker 1: Levites who taught the people said to all the people,
35:19
Speaker 1: this day is holy to the Lord your God. Do
35:22
Speaker 1: not mourn or weep, for all the people were weeping
35:26
Speaker 1: when they heard the words of the Lord. Why were
35:28
Speaker 1: they crying? They were guilty. They were thinking back to
35:33
Speaker 1: those years they had spent with no spiritual dimension. The
35:38
Speaker 1: the sin of their forefathers that caused them to land
35:42
Speaker 1: in captivity. And the depth of their guilt brought weeping.
35:47
Speaker 1: And that's a good sign, by the way. At times,
35:50
Speaker 1: guilt is an excellent motivational factor. Not all guilt is wrong.
35:55
Speaker 1: Guilt is one thing that God uses to bring many
35:57
Speaker 1: people to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. In this guilt, however,
36:02
Speaker 1: the men stood and said, now listen, stop that. God's forgiving.
36:09
Speaker 1: Let's move on. This is a holy day. This is
36:12
Speaker 1: a day not to cry, but to celebrate. Verse 10,
36:17
Speaker 1: they said, Go and eat of the fat and drink
36:20
Speaker 1: of the sweet. Send portions to him who has nothing prepared.
36:26
Speaker 1: For this day is holy to our Lord. Don't cry
36:28
Speaker 1: on a holiday. Celebrate on a holiday. Don't be grieved.
36:33
Speaker 1: The joy of the Lord is your strength. Verse 11 says,
36:36
Speaker 1: the Levites calmed all the people, saying, be still. The
36:41
Speaker 1: day is holy. Do not be grieved. You see, they
36:46
Speaker 1: were living in an era that's a little bit like
36:49
Speaker 1: our previous era, in which God was declared to have
36:53
Speaker 1: been dead. Technically, this is known as radical theology. Radical
36:58
Speaker 1: theology got its roots way back in the higher critical theory,
37:02
Speaker 1: and it just bore its fruit in in our day
37:05
Speaker 1: and age in which there was a God is dead concept.
37:10
Speaker 1: But it's a marvelous thing to notice how there is
37:14
Speaker 1: a revival taking place, not simply as far away as Indonesia,
37:20
Speaker 1: not just in Latin America, but it's beginning, it seems,
37:25
Speaker 1: to come across our own land. Reminds me of a
37:29
Speaker 1: bumper sticker I saw when I was driving down to
37:34
Speaker 1: Palm Springs. We were with some friends, and on the
37:37
Speaker 1: back of a camper, a great big sign, it said,
37:42
Speaker 1: God is back, and boy, is he mad. There's only
37:52
Speaker 1: one problem with that. It's wrong. God never left. Man left,
37:57
Speaker 1: and God isn't mad. Man's mad. God's never left. These
38:05
Speaker 1: people were thinking, God's gone and he's come back and
38:09
Speaker 1: he's mad. And Nehemiah and the men said, uh-uh, no,
38:14
Speaker 1: you celebrate today. This marvelous God of heaven comes back
38:18
Speaker 1: with open arms and he says, I'm ready to forgive.
38:21
Speaker 1: I'll take everyone that will repent. Come to me as
38:25
Speaker 1: he is. I'll take you. And so verse 12 says
38:30
Speaker 1: they got the message. Here's a mobilized people. We have
38:35
Speaker 1: a proclaimed Bible and we have a mobilized people. All
38:40
Speaker 1: the people went away to eat, to drink, to send portions,
38:45
Speaker 1: to celebrate a great festival. Why? Because they understood the
38:52
Speaker 1: words which had been made known to them. I want
39:01
Speaker 1: to say in the last few minutes I have with
39:05
Speaker 1: you this morning, I find in these 12 verses four
39:09
Speaker 1: very practical lessons that I think are worth noting by
39:15
Speaker 1: way of review today. And they are as follows. Number one,
39:23
Speaker 1: no life is complete without the spiritual dimensions. I get
39:31
Speaker 1: that from the first two verses. No life is complete
39:35
Speaker 1: without the spiritual dimension. I say that on behalf of
39:40
Speaker 1: young couples that marry and drift away from the things
39:43
Speaker 1: of God. I say that on behalf of college students
39:46
Speaker 1: that have come back for the summer. And look back
39:49
Speaker 1: on a time of spiritual loss, not gain. Your life
39:54
Speaker 1: has been incomplete without the spiritual dimension. I find it
40:00
Speaker 1: all around when I travel. I find men and women
40:03
Speaker 1: trying to live a complete life without the spiritual dimension.
40:07
Speaker 1: It's impossible. It is for the Christian a temporary time
40:13
Speaker 1: of insanity. There's another example. lesson I see in this passage.
40:19
Speaker 1: No spiritual dimension is complete without scriptural input. You can't
40:26
Speaker 1: go from one emotional high to the next without scriptural input.
40:30
Speaker 1: That's not the spiritual life. The spiritual life is sustained
40:35
Speaker 1: by the scriptural input, the Word of God, into the life.
40:41
Speaker 1: Separate a person from the teaching of the Bible and
40:44
Speaker 1: the input of scripture long enough, and his life suffers,
40:48
Speaker 1: suffers measurably. And there's a third. No scriptural input is
40:57
Speaker 1: complete without personal obedience. These people not only heard and
41:03
Speaker 1: received the scriptures, they responded, as we will see the
41:06
Speaker 1: next time we're together, by building the booths, and by
41:10
Speaker 1: coming together and doing something that must have appeared to
41:12
Speaker 1: be ludicrous. In the eyes of the people. No scriptural
41:18
Speaker 1: input is complete without obedience. And the fourth I see
41:22
Speaker 1: is there is no personal obedience complete. Without great rejoicing.
41:29
Speaker 1: They had the time of their lives. You wouldn't expect
41:34
Speaker 1: it with people living in little old homemade booths having
41:37
Speaker 1: a good time. But they did. Why? Because they were obedient.
41:43
Speaker 1: Obedience breeds happiness. I traveled, as I mentioned earlier, up
41:53
Speaker 1: to Wisconsin and never ceases to amaze me what I
41:58
Speaker 1: run into along the way. On the way back, it
42:03
Speaker 1: was a Friday and I was pressed for time for
42:07
Speaker 1: Sunday's message and so I had my Bible open on
42:10
Speaker 1: my knee in the O'Hare Airport And a guy was
42:14
Speaker 1: sitting a seat away from me. He looked over there
42:17
Speaker 1: and he said, hey, what are you doing? I said,
42:27
Speaker 1: I'm reading. What's that thing you're reading? You could tell
42:32
Speaker 1: he was a rather intelligent kind of a fella. I said,
42:37
Speaker 1: it's a Bible. And about three or four of the
42:39
Speaker 1: people kind of did like this. And he said, what
42:45
Speaker 1: are you reading that for? I never could get anything
42:47
Speaker 1: out of that. How come you got that Bible there?
42:52
Speaker 1: I said, well, I'm glad you asked. And he just
42:57
Speaker 1: moved over a seat. And I just put my notes
43:00
Speaker 1: aside and had the delightful experience of telling him about
43:03
Speaker 1: the most marvelous individual that ever came to this earth.
43:08
Speaker 1: And when I got through, he looked at me and
43:09
Speaker 1: his mouth was kind of open. He said, I never
43:13
Speaker 1: heard that in my life. You get that out of
43:15
Speaker 1: that book? I said, yeah, sure did. And he reached
43:19
Speaker 1: over and he thumbed through it. You get that out
43:25
Speaker 1: of that book? I said, yes, I did. It's right there.
43:28
Speaker 1: He said, do you have a Bible? Uh-uh. You ever
43:34
Speaker 1: read it? Yeah, I tried. It's a lot of big
43:37
Speaker 1: gets and these and thous and I didn't get anything
43:40
Speaker 1: out of it. Said his reason is because you don't
43:44
Speaker 1: know the author. Yeah, I guess that's right. Time to
43:48
Speaker 1: catch the plane, isn't it? Check this watch. Sure enough,
43:52
Speaker 1: they took off. He was in one part and I
43:54
Speaker 1: was in another. The guy that sat right next to me.
43:59
Speaker 1: We were flying, took off and looked out the window
44:02
Speaker 1: and different fellow and I said, hey, isn't that a
44:05
Speaker 1: pretty skyline of Chicago? And he cursed two or three times. Yeah,
44:10
Speaker 1: you should have seen it last week. It was miserable. Smoggy, foggy.
44:14
Speaker 1: And I said, yeah, but isn't it pretty now? And
44:17
Speaker 1: he said, I didn't say it quite like that. I said,
44:20
Speaker 1: isn't it pretty now? And he said.
44:24
Speaker 1: He said, well, yeah, I guess it depends on how
44:25
Speaker 1: you look at it. I said, well, I look at
44:27
Speaker 1: it like it's pretty, man, it's terrific. And I could
44:29
Speaker 1: not get him to look at life from the bright side.
44:34
Speaker 1: The entire time was spent negativism. He did not have
44:38
Speaker 1: the joy. Why? Because he had no personal relationship, no
44:42
Speaker 1: spiritual dimension, no meaningful goal in life. He was on
44:47
Speaker 1: a trip to take him to some business encounter and
44:50
Speaker 1: back to that miserable place where he lived there. Back
44:53
Speaker 1: and forth, back and forth, as he said, Milwaukee, Chicago, Dallas,
44:57
Speaker 1: and he named several other places. He was just one
45:00
Speaker 1: miserable being. And I want to tell you something. That's
45:03
Speaker 1: why the Christian needs to be mobilized and the word
45:09
Speaker 1: of God needs to be proclaimed. You know, that is
45:12
Speaker 1: the single reason I was driven to the ministry, and
45:14
Speaker 1: I mean driven, because everybody had the problems and nobody
45:19
Speaker 1: had the answers, at least that I encountered. And I thought, hey,
45:23
Speaker 1: I'd rather be in that smaller group. I'd rather be
45:27
Speaker 1: in the group that says, hey, there is a brighter
45:30
Speaker 1: way to look at the skyline of Chicago. There is
45:34
Speaker 1: a reason for living and looking forward to that next trip.
45:38
Speaker 1: And by and by, the guy finally looked at me
45:40
Speaker 1: and he said, you religious? And I said, no, I
45:47
Speaker 1: really hope not. And that just threw him. He couldn't
45:49
Speaker 1: understand what that meant. And then I told him about
45:52
Speaker 1: a relationship with Jesus Christ. He couldn't get it together.
45:57
Speaker 1: In the fog of no spiritual dimension. And I was convinced,
46:02
Speaker 1: sermon prepared or not, that's what God wanted us to
46:05
Speaker 1: hear today. Every great revival includes two things. One has
46:13
Speaker 1: been done. It's your turn. Let's bow together this morning.
46:24
Speaker 1: Maybe you haven't the gifts of a Charles Wesley to
46:29
Speaker 1: put the hymns together in such impressive fashion. You couldn't
46:35
Speaker 1: preach if your life depended on it. The truth renowned,
46:40
Speaker 1: you really don't have the courage of a John Knox
46:45
Speaker 1: or the raw boldness of a Luther. But you know
46:53
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. And you've heard the truth. And it's got
47:01
Speaker 1: to be shared, my friend. If you keep it, it sours.
47:09
Speaker 1: If you give it, it stays fresh. You've got to
47:12
Speaker 1: give it. You can't stay silent. If you've never trusted
47:18
Speaker 1: the Lord Jesus Christ, maybe you haven't been that miserable.
47:25
Speaker 1: If the truth were known, maybe you've been pretty successful.
47:29
Speaker 1: But you've got to admit that the dimension in your
47:31
Speaker 1: life that's missing has left you feeling awfully lonely and
47:36
Speaker 1: empty at times. So for your sake, we close the
47:43
Speaker 1: service by giving you an opportunity right where you're sitting
47:48
Speaker 1: to change your mind. That's what repentance means, to change
47:53
Speaker 1: your mind. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ with all
48:01
Speaker 1: your heart, soul, and mind, and you have repented. Christian
48:07
Speaker 1: here today carrying the burden, looking more like the lost
48:11
Speaker 1: than the saved. You're part of the problem. God says,
48:16
Speaker 1: let's celebrate. I'm not back. You're back. and neither of
48:27
Speaker 1: us is mad. Lord, we need the reminder today of
48:33
Speaker 1: the importance of the spiritual dimension in life. We acknowledge
48:39
Speaker 1: the fact that life is not complete without it. Furthermore,
48:44
Speaker 1: we couldn't have that if we were without spiritual input.
48:49
Speaker 1: We need the truth of your Word. So thank you
48:53
Speaker 1: for giving us your Word, which gives us that spiritual dimension.
48:59
Speaker 1: And we also acknowledge, Lord, that this calls for personal obedience.
49:04
Speaker 1: You haven't given us your word to satisfy idle curiosity.
49:07
Speaker 1: You've given us your word to change our lives. So
49:11
Speaker 1: find in us obedient hearts, willing to do what you
49:15
Speaker 1: tell 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 have never met Christ, we pray that your 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 light. 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. Amen.
50:27
Speaker 2: The preceding message, Revival at the Watergate, was copyrighted in 1974, 1983, 1990,
50:36
Speaker 2: 2007 and 2016. And the sound recording was copyrighted in
50:42
Speaker 2: 2016 by Charles R.
50:44
Speaker 1: Swindoll, Inc.
50:45
Speaker 2: All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for
50:50
Speaker 2: commercial use is strictly prohibited.