[re]vival
Nehemiah 9:1-6
John Hyde went to India as a missionary a little over a 100 years ago. He felt a strong calling to the nation of India and began to spend hours learning the local language. In 1892 he boarded a steamer in New York bound for India. In route, John received a telegram from a close family friend. He opened it hurriedly on the deck of the ship. The only words of the telegram were, "John Hyde, are you filled with the Holy Spirit?" John’s response was one of heated anger. He crumpled the paper, put it into his pocket and went to bed. Unable to sleep, he tossed and turned all night. He woke in the early morning hours, took the piece of paper and read it again. He thought, “The audacity of somebody to ask me that question, ‘Am I filled with the Holy Spirit?’ Here I am a missionary, sincere, dedicated, leaving my home and going to another country. How dare they ask me if I am filled with the Holy Spirit?” Wasn’t he equipped for his call? After all he had received a B.A. degree, studied the language, was even on the way and was determined to pursue his destiny. Yes, he was on his way, but Hyde was challenged by the note. After much soul searching, he fell to his knees before the Father. “O God,” he cried out, “the audacity of me thinking that I could pray or preach or witness or live or serve or do anything in my own strength and power. Fill me with your strength. Fill me with Your power.” And as a result, John Hyde became one of the great missionaries of all time.
If you were with us in our messages on Chapter 8, you will remember that the Jews upon hearing the Law of Moses read were convicted in their heart. Yet they were told to stop mourning and start rejoicing. They celebrated the Festival of Booths and each built their booths which served as a reminder of God’s deliverance from slavery out of Egypt. This was the first time they celebrated the festival as such. The Israelites had come home after their long captivity in Babylon, had rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem but now they wanted to feel and experience the presence of God in the lives and their nation once again. For they knew they could do nothing which lay ahead of them without the presence of God in their midst. And so they were determined to do whatever it took to make that happen.
Though the Festival of Booths was over; revival was just beginning. Today’s message can be summarized like this: if we are ever going to rebuild New Orleans, if we are ever going to rise above what we once were and if we are ever going to reclaim this city for God, then it’s going to take revival. What we see in our Scripture today is the steps to revival of the nation of Israel and the revival of Gods people. Revival means “to recover or return from a state of neglect.” Lord knows we were the city of neglect: Our streets have been neglected. Our sewer and water system had been neglected. Our educational system had been neglected. Our poor had been neglected. The integrity of our public officials had been neglected.
And if we’re honest, our spiritual life had been neglected. We need revival when families and spouses are not praying together. We need revival when we have to beg people to participate to serve. We need revival when we only know truth in our heads but are not practicing it in our lives. We need revival when we would rather make money than give money. We need revival when our concerns are only about ourselves and making us happy and not the millions that are dying without Jesus. We need revival when our lives are like the walls that were around Jerusalem in Nehemiah, they lie in ruins. We need to be renewed and to be more active in our faith and relationship with Jesus and our work to bring His kingdom here on earth. You and I need revival too. James Packer in his book, “Your Father Loves You” writes “Revival is the visitation of God which brings to life Christians who have been sleeping and restores a deep sense of God’s near presence and holiness. Thence springs a vivid sense of sin and a profound exercise of heart in repentance, praise, and love, with an evangelistic outflow.”
So what did Israel have to do to see and experience God in their midst once more? First, I want to go back to chapter 8 and mention one key we learned. Revival started with the Word of God. When you have a desire for God and seek him in His word, it has the power to convict but also to redeem. It helps us claim our identity and purpose as servants and followers of Jesus and moves us to doing the work of Jesus in establishing the kingdom of God. It was the pursuit of God through His word which started the revival in the hearts and minds of the Israelites. Revival never comes apart from the Word of God.
Second, revival always comes in the midst of God’s people. In other words, revival never comes to individuals alone. Chapter 8 begins with the people gathering and calling out for the Law of Moses to be read to them. It also ends with the people gathered together in a holy assembly. And then chapter 9 begins with the Israelites gathered together again some weeks later. Revival can only come when the people of God gather together. On the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came upon the New Testament church, all the disciples were gathered together in one place. Acts 2:1 Time and time again God’s spirit of renewal and revival come when the church gathers together seeking Him. Jesus said where two or three are gathered together in my name that he would be in their midst. That’s why the Bible commands us in Hebrews 10:25 not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together. ”Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” And that leads us to our third point.
Third, revival comes when grounded in prayer. The people responded in prayer with genuine sadness about their sins. Listening to God through His word and through prayer are twin aspects of every believer’s experience and the keys to revival. And in Chapter 9, Nehemiah begins to pray to God. Dr. A. T. Pierson says that there has never been a revival in any country or locality that did not begin with united prayer. Toward the middle of the 18th century the glow of earlier religious awakenings had faded. America was prosperous and felt little need to call on God. But in the 1850s … Secular and religious conditions combined to bring about a crash. The third great panic in American history swept the giddy structure of speculative wealth away. Thousands of merchants were forced to the wall as banks failed, and railroads went into bankruptcy. Factories were shut down and vast numbers were thrown out of employment. New York City alone had 30,000 idle men. Hunger and despair were everywhere. In October 1857, Jeremiah Lampheer began a small prayer meeting in Manhattan. The next week there were 14, then 23. By February of 1858 every church and every public building were occupied by noon prayer meetings. One reporter could only get to 12 meetings and counted 6100 men. 10,000 per week were being converted in New York. One million were converted in a year. The greatest revival in New York’s history swept the city, and the whole nation took notice. There was no fanaticism, no hysteria, simply an incredible movement of the people to pray.
Revival can come to churches too. Jim Cymbala, in his book “Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire”, details the miraculous growth of the Brooklyn Tabernacle because of its dedication to prayer. In 1972 he was asked to pastor part-time a small church in a shabby two-story building on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn. The location was bad. The people were few. The facilities were falling apart. In fact, he tells about how a pew broke one Sunday night, spilling several people onto the floor as he preached. As he prayed one day about what to do, Cymbala writes that he sensed God speaking: “If you and your wife will lead my people to pray and call upon my name, you will never lack for something fresh to preach. I will supply all the money that’s needed, both for the church and for your family, and you will never have a building large enough to contain the crowds I will send in response.” He went back to the church and told them from that moment on, the health of the church would be measured by its Tuesday night prayer meeting. That first night 15 people came. God began to move. The church grew. The prayer meeting became larger. They were forced three different times to seek larger facilities. By 1985 they were running 1600 each Sunday service. Hundreds came to the Tuesday night prayer meeting. God brought miraculous conversions. The weekly prayer meeting, not the Sunday worship, became the focal point of the Brooklyn Tabernacle. Jim’s belief that "God can’t resist those who humbly and honestly admit how desperately they need him" (p. 19) guides his work. It is Prayer, not preaching that brings Revival.
Leonard Ravenhill in his book “Why Revival Tarries” writes, “No man is greater than his prayer life…Poverty–stricken as the church is today in many things, she is most stricken here, in the place of PRAYER. We have many organizers, but few agonizers; many players and payers, few PRAYERS.”
Fourth, you have to acknowledge your sins. Before God can redeem, bring you revival and use you for a greater purpose, you have to acknowledge your sins. When the Israelites heard the word of God, they immediately began to acknowledge their sin and the fact they had fallen short of God’s will. They knew they had missed the mark. The way they acknowledged their sin was through fasting and wearing sackcloth and putting ashes on their head. This was a time of mourning because they realized they had fallen short of God’s purposes for their lives. Fasting denoted an attitude of total dependence on God, who gives new strength. They also wore sackcloth. Sackcloth was made of hard goat’s hair, and it was uncmfortable to wear, but it was a reminder of the pain we have caused God. In addition, they placed ashes on their foreheads as a further symbol of personal abhorrence and chagrin. They acknowledged their sins, because they knew God wanted to use them for a greater purpose. But for God to be able to do that, they have to stand rightly and blameless before God and that started first with acknowledgement.
Romans 3:23 says that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” So, if you’ve missed the mark, you’re in good company. Because we’re human, we all will fall short of God’s will. It’s only when we acknowledge we’ve messed up, we’ve fallen short, that God can use it and turn it around for a greater purpose. Many of us have to get out of denial. I believe many of us have failed to receive transformation and revival in our lives because we won’t be honest with ourselves. We hide behind our jobs, our possessions, our relationships, drugs and alcohol - and many of us even hide behind religion. We don’t want to come clean and say, "God, I’ve messed up." But, it is only when I acknowledge my faults that God can begin to revive us for a greater purpose. But that can be very scary proposition.
Larry Schoonover tells of a very good friend who recently shared that on one occasion she, out of sincere concern over sin and desire to be what God wanted her to be, prayed, "God, show me the sin in my life. Show me what I really am." She said that in a couple of weeks she began to pray, "Lord, I’ve seen enough! Please, Lord, don’t show me any more. I can’t stand myself!" As difficult as it may be - this is exactly what we need to do today. If we are to have revival, if we are to remedy the problem of our unholy affections, we must pray such a prayer as the Psalmist. “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” Psalm 139:23-24
Fifth is confess your sins. The Word was read for several hours it began to cut the Israelites to the deepest places of their soul. They came to know they had fallen short of the will of God and out of that, came confession. They began to cry out to God with a loud voice., "God, forgive us for our sins. We can’t, but you can." For three hours they confessed their sins. When was the last time you allowed the word to rend your heart? When was the last time you said, "God, I’ve messed up? I need you to use me in spite of me." In the word was revealed heir brokenness, and they knew at that moment how faithful God was.
Four preachers met for a friendly gathering. During the conversation one preacher said, “Our people come to us and pour out their hears and confess certain sins. Let’s do the same. Confession is good for the soul.” And all agreed. One of them said that he had a problem with losing his temper. The second confessed to liking to telling tall stories. The third one confessed to liking golf so much that he would fake being sick so he could play on weekends. When it came to the fourth pastor, he wouldn’t confess. The others pressed him saying, “Come now, we confessed ours. What is your vice?” Finally he answered, “It is gossiping and I can hardly wait to get out of here.” It’s not just about confessing, it’s also about changing your ways.
Sixth is repentance. To repent literally means to go the opposite direction. Pieter Botes tells about Wabush, a town in a remote portion of Labrador, Canada. It was completely isolated until recently, a road was cut through the wilderness to reach it. Wabush now has one road leading into it, and thus, only on one road leading out. If someone would travel the unpaved road for 8 hours to get into Wabush, there is only way he or she could leave---by turning around. And then he writes, “Each of us, by birth, arrives in a town called Sin. As in Wabush, there is only one way out--a road built by God himself. But in order to take that road, one must first turn around. That complete about face is what the Bible calls repentance, and without it, there’s no other way.” So the first Israelites separated themselves from foreigners. Now you will recall that one of the very first charges for the Hebrew slaves before they entered the Holy Land was not to intermarry with the Gentiles. Because if you do, you will become like Gentiles, in how you live, speak, eat and even worship. And that is not how God wants His chosen people to live.
Now revival can only happen when you begin to separate yourself from anything or anybody that would stop you from pursuing your life purpose and being in relationship to God. In order to move forward in your spiritual journey, you have to acknowledge and confess your sin, but you also have to repent and change your ways. That means to separate yourself from bad habits, from past mistakes, or from people who will stop you from moving forward to fulfill God’s purpose in your life.
Seventh, you have to forgive others. The Israelites realized their ancestors had missed the mark and they had a choice: to play the victim and say it wasn’t their fault or confess the sins of their ancestors and forgive them. True revival doesn’t come unless there is also reconciliation. The reality is many of us are messed up because of the stuff of our ancestors have done or said to harm or hurt us. Receiving God’s forgiveness is critical, but it is also important to forgive others who have sinned against you so that God can redeem your pain for greater purpose. Revival always comes with reconciiation.
Eighth, a complete and utter dependence on God. And the Levites said: "Stand up and praise the LORD your God, who is from everlasting to everlasting. "Blessed be your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise. You alone are the LORD.” It was in that moment of worship that they understood who God was, what he had done in their lives and what he was calling them to do. It was then that they knew they couldn’t do it alone. I love what Jim Cymbala said: "God can’t resist those who humbly and honestly admit how desperately they need him"
John Killinger tells the story of a man who is all-alone in a hotel room in Canada. He was in a state of deep depression, so much so that he can’t even bring himself to go downstairs to the restaurant to eat. He is a powerful man, the chairman of a large shipping company, but at this moment, he is absolutely overwhelmed by the pressures and demands of life… and he laid there on a lonely hotel bed far from home wallowing in self-pity. Filled with anxiety and completely immobilized by his emotional despair, he moans out loud: “Life isn’t worth living this way, I wish I were dead!” And then, he wonders, what God would think if he heard him talking this way. Speaking aloud again he says, “God, it’s a joke, isn’t it? Life is nothing but a joke.” Suddenly, it occurs to the man that this is the first time he’s talked to God since he was a little boy. He is silent for a moment and then he begins to pray, just talking out loud about what a mess his life was in, and how tired he was, and how much he wanted things to be different in his life. And then he heard a voice! say, ‘It doesn’t have to be that way!’ The man sat straight up and turned around… he laughed at myself. He thought he must be hearing things. But then he was absolutely certain that he had heard those words: ‘It doesn’t have to be that way!’ He went home and talked to his wife about what happened. He talked to his brother who was a minister and asked him: “Do you think it was God speaking to me?” The brother said: “Of course, because that is the message of God to you and everyone of us. That’s the message of the Bible. That’s why Jesus Christ came into the world to save us, to deliver us, to free us, to change us… and to show us that ‘It doesn’t have to be that way,’ … You don’t have to be anxious or depressed or selfish or hopeless. Jesus Christ can turn your life around. If you will welcome Him into your heart, He will make you a new person.” A few days later, that man called his brother and said, “You were right. It has really happened. I’ve done it. I’m a new man in Christ, He has turned it around for me.”
Lord, send revival as a mighty flood-tide;
Send streams of blessing to sweep far and wide.
Send them engulfing like waves of the sea; Sweep through our lowlands and work mightily. Send the outpourings of God’s Holy rain. Send mighty cloud-bursts again and again
Strike holy lightning at home and abroad;
Speak in your thunder, O Spirit of God!
Fill all our churches with rivers of pow’r.
Flood man’s embankments in this holy hour!
Sweep away rubbish and all the debris;
Sweep all the hindrances out to the sea.
Things long unmoved by our normal smooth way
You can remove by Your flood-tide’s full sway.
Unsightly jumble that littered each side
Sweep to obliv’on by Your holy tide
Lord, send revival to flood all around;
Flood by Your blessing all low parched ground.
Sweep on in power; oh, sweep, mighty flood!
Sweep in all fullness, O river of God!
