Introduction:
A. On a bright and clear morning in July of 1982, two amateur prospectors were dredging for gold in a cold California river.
1. Mike Astle was in the river and had on a wet suit to protect him from the icy water, while his friend Dave Burgess stood nearby on the riverside supervising the machinery that brought up the sediment as Mike guided the suction hose over the river bottom.
2. Suddenly, both men heard something that sounded like a distant thunder, and both men turned and looked toward the sound.
3. Crashing out of the thicket was a huge boulder that had rolled down the mountain side.
4. Before Dave could get out of the way, the boulder struck him in the chest, knocked him backward into the river, and pinned him in a sitting position with the boulder resting squarely on his legs.
5. His head was three inches below the surface – Dave groped toward the air and sunlight only inches from his face.
6. Mike quickly did everything he could to move the boulder, including using a crowbar under the stone, but it just sank into the soft sand and gravel.
7. Mike turned off the noisy dredger and called for help. Other prospectors working nearby came running to help, but they could not move the boulder.
8. One man who had been a volunteer life-saver for more than a decade started doing underwater mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
9. Using the dredger and other equipment, the group finally freed Dave, but he had been underwater for 15 minutes and had no pulse.
10. By doing CPR and mouth-to-mouth on Dave, they were able to get his heart going, and an ambulance arrived and rushed him to the hospital.
11. Two days later, hobbling on crutches, Dave Burgess left the hospital and today he is completely recovered, except for occasional soreness in his left hip.
12. This true story stands as an example of our ability to bring back to life someone who was near death.
B. Every year, many people have near death experiences and are revived from the brink of death.
1. Unfortunately, not everyone can be revived.
2. And what is true physically, is also true spiritually.
3. Every year, many people almost die spiritually, but are revived from the brink of spiritual death.
4. But unfortunately, many people who slip into spiritual death cannot or will not be revived.
C. For the last few months, we have been studying the Old Testament books of Ezra and Nehemiah.
1. As we have studied those books, one thing has become very clear – God’s people were in need of restoring and renewing.
2. The Jewish remnant was in need of revival.
3. After 70 years in captivity, God had allowed them to return to Jerusalem and rebuild.
4. And the first thing they rebuilt was the temple – it was completed in 520 B.C.
5. About 60 years after the rebuilding of the temple, Ezra arrived on the scene and began to rebuild the spiritual life of God’s people.
6. Then 13 years after that, Nehemiah arrived on the scene and inspired the people to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem – that task was completed in just 52 days.
D. So with the reconstruction project completed and the people having moved back into their homes, Nehemiah 7 provides a detailed description of just how well organized, well defended, and well governed the Jewish people were.
1. But even though God’s people were settled and safe, there was something missing.
2. There was a spiritual vacuum – the need for spiritual revival.
3. But God was about to do something about that through the leadership of Ezra and Nehemiah.
I. The Story
A. Our story for today begins with the last sentence of chapter 7, and then moves into chapter 8: When the seventh month came and the Israelites had settled in their towns, 1 all the people assembled as one man in the square before the Water Gate. They told Ezra the scribe to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded for Israel. 2 So on the first day of the seventh month Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, which was made up of men and women and all who were able to understand. 3 He read it aloud from daybreak till noon as he faced the square before the Water Gate in the presence of the men, women and others who could understand. And all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law. 4 Ezra the scribe stood on a high wooden platform built for the occasion. Beside him on his right stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah and Maaseiah; and on his left were Pedaiah, Mishael, Malkijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah and Meshullam. 5 Ezra opened the book. All the people could see him because he was standing above them; and as he opened it, the people all stood up. 6 Ezra praised the LORD, the great God; and all the people lifted their hands and responded, “Amen! Amen!” Then they bowed down and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground.
1. What a wonderful and amazing scene!
2. All the people assembled, and we must assume that Nehemiah and Ezra had called for the people to do this, and it appears that some preparations had been made, like the wooden platform built for the occasion (vs. 4).
3. Did you notice that the people requested that Ezra bring out God’s Word and read it to them?
4. So Ezra brought out the law and read to them from daybreak until noon (as many as 6 hours).
5. And don’t you love the respect they showed for God’s Word?
a. When Ezra opened the book, all the people stood up!
6. I also like the way they used a variety of positions as they worshiped – they stood up, they raised their hands, and they also bowed down.
a. It was all very natural and was not forced or ritualized.
B. The story continues: 7 The Levites--Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan and Pelaiah -instructed the people in the Law while the people were standing there. 8 They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people could understand what was being read.
1. Nehemiah doesn’t explain in detail exactly how Ezra read and explained God’s law to this large crowd that may have numbered somewhere between 30 and 50 thousand people (note 7:66-67).
2. Let’s use our imagination, perhaps Ezra read sections of the Law in the presence of all the people, and then perhaps, at certain points, the Levites circulated out among the people and interpreted and explained what Ezra had read.
3. Keep in mind that Ezra was reading from God’s Word in the Hebrew language, and because of the exile and because many had inter-married with foreigners, many of these Israelites may not have been fluent in Hebrew.
a. So they were Jewish by birth, but not by tongue or culture – they had grown up in Persia.
4. That’s why some translations of verse 8 say: “They read from the book, from the law of God, translating to give the sense so that they understood the reading.”
C. The story continued: 9 Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to them all, “This day is sacred to the LORD your God. Do not mourn or weep.” For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law.
1. Those who heard the Word of God, responded appropriately to the message.
2. The people began to weep because they knew they were guilty.
a. They realized that they had lived for so many years without God’s spiritual guidance.
b. They also likely recalled the sins of their forefathers that had caused them to be sent into captivity.
c. The depth of their grief brought tears.
3. Many times weeping over our guilt and grief is a good thing.
a. Not all guilt is bad or wrong.
b. Sometimes God uses guilt to bring people out of sin and into a saving relationship with Jesus.
D. But on this occasion, Nehemiah wanted them to experience a different emotion.
1. The story continues: Nehemiah said, 10 “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.” 11 The Levites calmed all the people, saying, “Be still, for this is a sacred day. Do not grieve.” 12 Then all the people went away to eat and drink, to send portions of food and to celebrate with great joy, because they now understood the words that had been made known to them.
2. Nehemiah wanted them to realize the mercy and forgiveness of God.
3. He wanted them to know God’s joy and to celebrate.
4. To their credit, the people who heard Nehemiah put his message into practice, because they had understood what had been explained to them that day.
E. And that’s the essence of revival.
1. God’s Word was preached.
2. The people respectfully received the Word and allowed it to touch them.
3. Then the people obeyed the Word and put it into practice.
F. Now look what happened next: 13 On the second day of the month, the heads of all the families, along with the priests and the Levites, gathered around Ezra the scribe to give attention to the words of the Law. 14 They found written in the Law, which the LORD had commanded through Moses, that the Israelites were to live in booths during the feast of the seventh month 15 and that they should proclaim this word and spread it throughout their towns and in Jerusalem: “Go out into the hill country and bring back branches from olive and wild olive trees, and from myrtles, palms and shade trees, to make booths” - as it is written. 16 So the people went out and brought back branches and built themselves booths on their own roofs, in their courtyards, in the courts of the house of God and in the square by the Water Gate and the one by the Gate of Ephraim. 17 The whole company that had returned from exile built booths and lived in them. From the days of Joshua son of Nun until that day, the Israelites had not celebrated it like this. And their joy was very great. 18 Day after day, from the first day to the last, Ezra read from the Book of the Law of God. They celebrated the feast for seven days, and on the eighth day, in accordance with the regulation, there was an assembly.
1. So now that God’s people had renewed their hunger for God’s Word, they came the next day to have Ezra read to them again.
2. What they discovered in the reading that day was that they were to be observing the Feast of Tabernacles in the 7th month…and guess what month it just happened to be at that time? YUP.
3. So what did God’s people do? They immediately obeyed the Word of God and observed the Feast of Tabernacles.
4. And what else did they do each day? They listened to Ezra as he read from the Law of God.
5. What a changed people they were!
6. They had been touched by God. A fire had been rekindled. They experienced revival.
G. We won’t read all of chapter 9, but we learn that toward the end of that same month, God’s people came together for another sacred assembly.
1. In this assembly they wore sackcloth and ashes and fasted and confessed their sins.
2. Again they stood and listened to the Word of God for a quarter of the day, and spent another quarter of the day in confession (9:3).
3. Most of chapter 9 is a prayer that is stunning in its scope and vision – not since Solomon’s prayer at the opening of the Temple (2 Chron. 6) has such a prayer been uttered.
4. The prayer leads into a binding agreement signed by Nehemiah, the priests and Levites, and the rest of the people – who bind themselves to keep the Law of Moses.
H. This prayer in chapter 9 can be divided nicely into four distinct movements.
1. The first movement is “Looking Up”
a. “Blessed be your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise. 6 You alone are the LORD. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.” (9:5-6)
b. As Jesus taught us, prayer should begin with genuine praise and adoration of God – praise for His attributes, and for His activity.
2. The second movement is “Looking Back”
a. “You are the LORD God, who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and named him Abraham. 8 You found his heart faithful to you, and you made a covenant with him to give to his descendants the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Jebusites and Girgashites. You have kept your promise because you are righteous.” (9:7-8)
b. Those two verses are essentially the story of the book of Genesis.
c. The looking back is a review of God’s activity in the life of His people.
d. This review of God’s activity starts with Abram, then goes on to the Exodus, and the Law being given to Moses, then on to the wilderness wanderings, then on to the building of the nation of Israel, then on to the decline of the nation, and the eventual exile.
e. In prayer, we need to regularly review God’s past faithfulness.
3. The third movement is “Looking In”
a. “Now therefore, O our God, the great, mighty and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love, do not let all this hardship seem trifling in your eyes - the hardship that has come upon us, upon our kings and leaders, upon our priests and prophets, upon our fathers and all your people, from the days of the kings of Assyria until today. 33 In all that has happened to us, you have been just; you have acted faithfully, while we did wrong. 34 Our kings, our leaders, our priests and our fathers did not follow your law; they did not pay attention to your commands or the warnings you gave them. 35 Even while they were in their kingdom, enjoying your great goodness to them in the spacious and fertile land you gave them, they did not serve you or turn from their evil ways. 36 But see, we are slaves today, slaves in the land you gave our forefathers so they could eat its fruit and the other good things it produces. 37 Because of our sins, its abundant harvest goes to the kings you have placed over us. They rule over our bodies and our cattle as they please. We are in great distress.” (9:32-37)
b. Did you notice how honest this prayer is? In essence, they prayed: “It’s all our fault…we are getting what we deserve…we are in great distress!”
c. In these verses there is only one petition or request: “do not let all this hardship seem trifling in your eyes.”
d. When the suffering we endure as a consequence of our own sin bears down, it’s natural to wonder how much the Lord cares about our pain.
e. The good news is that God does care, and He wants us to pray honestly and express our true feelings.
4. The final movement is “Looking Ahead”
a. Having looked upward, backward, and inward, now God’s people looked forward.
b. The final sentence of the prayer is a simple statement of intent.
c. They prayed, “In view of all this, we are making a binding agreement, putting it in writing, and our leaders, our Levites and our priests are affixing their seals to it.” (9:38)
d. Real revival leads to changed lives.
II. The Application
A. So how does today’s sermon apply to our lives?
1. Let’s wrestle with some probing questions.
B. Questions about God’s Word
1. Am I giving God’s Word its proper place in my life?
2. Do I have a hunger for God’s Word? What am I doing to satisfy that hunger? Am I devoting myself to the study of God’s Word?
3. Do I have a proper respect for God’s Word? Is it a priority? Is it my authority?
4. Do I allow God’s Word to prick my conscience when it points out my sin?
5. Do I take seriously the need to obey God’s Word and put it into daily practice?
6. Does something need to change about my involvement with God’s Word? What will I do about it?
C. Questions about Prayer
1. Am I giving prayer its proper place in my life?
2. Do I long to spend time in prayer with God?
3. Do I make prayer a priority?
4. Do I believe that prayer makes a difference?
5. Do I pray with honesty and authenticity?
6. Do I need to learn to have a well-rounded prayer life so that praise, and thanksgiving are as much a part of my prayer time as confession and petition?
7. Does something need to change about my prayer life? What will I do about it?
D. We won’t experience revival and transformation until prayer and the Word of God have their proper place in our lives.
E. Allow me to end with a story told by Chuck Swindoll in his book Hand Me Another Brick.
1. One time Swindoll spoke at a family conference.
a. He noticed a young couple with several small children. Although they looked and sounded like a Christian family, it was evident to him that they were very miserable.
b. He could tell that divorce was on the back burner of their minds.
2. But as the week progressed, he saw that couple change as they listened to the teaching of God’s Word.
a. The husband hung on every word.
b. The wife had her Bible open and followed the messages closely.
c. At the end of the week, this couple came up to Swindoll and his wife and said, “We want you to know that this week has been a 180-degree turnaround experience for us. When we came, we were ready to separate. But we’re going back stronger than we have ever been in our marriage.”
3. Unfortunately, another story from that conference is just as heartbreaking as that first story is heartwarming.
4. At the same conference with the same speakers, the same truths, the same surroundings, the same schedule, another father was turned off.
a. He wasn’t open. He attended the first few sessions, but by and by the guilt became so great and the conviction so deep that he went home.
b. He had stayed awake the entire night and reached the decision to leave and not come back.
c. His family left hurting—perhaps even more than when they came.
5. What was the difference? Swindoll says, “attitude.”
a. The couple who benefited had teachable hearts. The other man did not.
6. The same thing happens here in our congregation.
a. Some people come to church with reverence for God and His Word, saying, “God, teach me! I want to know You more!” Like sponges, they soak it up and can’t get enough.
b. They are ready to respond to the Word. They profit from the teaching.
c. But others come to the same service with sin in their hearts that they don’t want to deal with.
d. They are turned off by the very same message that helps others to grow.
7. If we want spiritual renewal, then we must check our hearts.
8. When it’s dead, revive it!
a. For revival to occur, we must have hearts that are responsive to God and His Word.
F. So let me ask you: what kind of state is your heart in today?
1. Is it strong and healthy? Or is it weak and struggling? Or is it dying and near dead?
2. If you need revival today, then I pray you will ask God to do something in your heart and life.
3. Let God do His spiritual CPR and spiritual respiration in you.
4. Then give serious attention to the Word, and to prayer – looking upward, backward, inward, and foreword.
Resources:
Nehemiah, by Gene Getz, Broadman & Holman, 1995.
Excellence in Leadership, by John White, InterVarsity Press, 1986.
Hand Me Another Brick, by Charles Swindoll, Word, 2006.
