REVIVAL in the Book of Nehemiah.
What is Revival? Nehemiah 8 shows that real revival is a Revival of the Word. The people asked the preacher to “bring the book”. Nehemiah and Ezra gathered the people. And they were all ears.
The people stood, in unity and reverence. Verse 8, So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading. The Word was understood and received (Acts 8:30-31).
A Biblical revival is when God’s people return to the Word. God blesses and grants salvation. Our world is becoming a ‘post Christian’ culture… There’s a famine of God’s Word (Amos 8:11).
We have need of an appreciation of the authority of God’s Word. A thirst for Biblical knowledge and understanding.
We can experience personal spiritual renewal as we develop a genuine reverence for the Word of God. Will we receive with meekness the Word of God that is able to save our souls? James 1:21.
Today we see a lot of Biblical illiteracy. God and the Bible are no longer regarded and revered in modern culture. And now the results of this unbelief are all around us. It’s increasingly a world with no authority. Morality is a matter of choice. No wonder the Holy Spirit is grieved.
We must do as Israel did in Josiah’s day. We must rediscover the Word.
Real revival is a Revival of the Worship of our God… Nehemiah 8:6 And Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands: and they bowed their heads, and worshipped the LORD with their faces to the ground.
As God’s people received the Word of God, they were led to worship the God of the Word.
Their worship was a heartfelt response… It was worship in spirit and in truth. It was sanctified worship. Worship based on Biblical truth. They got on their faces before God. The people were humbled and reverent.
Also, we need a revival of the Weeping… A revival of repentance before God… In Verse 9, they wept. How we need a prayerfulness, a brokenness… As with King Josiah… 2 Kings 22:11 And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes. "If we put off repentance another day, we have a day more to repent of, and a day less to repent in."
It was a holy time (Verse 11). A time of very great gladness (Verse 18). The people loved to assemble – they were hungry to receive the Word of God (Verse 18). They were obedient to the Word of God, as they kept the feast and the solemn assembly.
The people regarded the day as “holy,” separated to God and for the worship of God. The day of worship is meant to be treated as “holy unto the LORD your God” (v. 9). In verse 11, the day of worship is described as holy. The day of worship is set apart to the Lord – it is His day – a special day and a day of worship. When we experience genuine revival we will honour the Lord’s Day, as His day.
May the Lord bring spiritual renewal to His people in our land.
A message from 7 October 2018, at Church For You, Elizabeth Park, South Australia. www.cforu.net
[0:00] It's an account of a biblical revival, of God's people being revived.! And the first thing we see is the Word. The Word was central.
[0:11] They asked the preacher to bring the book. They were all ears. In verse 3 they just hung on to every word. And in verse 7 it says that the Word was taught. The Word was understood and it was received.
[0:24] The people were receptive. This should be a model for us of what revival looks like. It means that the Word of God is brought to the people of God.
[0:35] That the people of God return to the Word. They obey its teachings. And God blesses and He brings genuine joy and salvation. Our people today, the sound preaching of God's Word, in some circles it's becoming a rarity.
[0:52] It's becoming less common. It's becoming less prevalent. Not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the Word of the Lord. God says His people will be destroyed for a lack of knowledge.
[1:07] Revival starts when the people find God's Word. There's a renewed love for the Gospel. The Gospel message. We just can't get enough of it. We want to encourage others to attend, to hear it.
[1:20] To be blessed by the Gospel. The good news of salvation. And how we need a revival of the Word of God. When there's a fresh reviving, a fresh hungering of the faith, of the scriptures for the inerrancy of the Word of God.
[1:35] God, this Word is inerrant. It's infallible. Our hearts should cry in that longing, that searching, that wanting, that appreciation of the authority of God's Word.
[1:48] Now this is not just some book penned by men, or some fanciful accounts. This is truth. This is infallible. It's undeniable authority.
[2:00] And it's for our lives. It's God's personal message that we need to get an appreciation of. And a reverence for. As the people displayed, they had a reverence for God's Word. So the people stood when Ezra began reading to show their reverence, their honouring of the Word.
[2:17] The Bible is God breathed. It's God inspired. Inspired of God. It's given for our profit. It's given by inspiration. It's called the Holy Scriptures. And we can experience that spiritual revival at the personal level.
[2:32] As we each can take that moment with the Book day by day. That spiritual renewal, that genuine reverence for the Word that we can find. That we'll receive with meekness.
[2:44] That Word that we planted, that was able to save our souls, we'll receive it meekly and humbly and receptively, with humility, with a teachable spirit, and with obedience.
[2:56] We can lie down with it. We can walk by the way with it. We can teach our children it. The Book of God. We can't take it too carelessly. The Word of God, we need to take it seriously.
[3:08] We need to regard it and revere it, whilst our culture may not, and see what God can do through us. Australia is not a Christian country. It's a world today with no authority, with no hierarchy, with no valid rules.
[3:24] Just set your own. With obeying what you feel is right for you. Morality is a matter of choice. Sadly, the Church has let this happen.
[3:36] That we've lost our moral compass. And God's precious truth has been neglected. And no wonder! The Holy Spirit is grieved! It's a society a lot like Israel was in King Manasseh's day.
[3:49] And according to 2 Kings 21 verse 9, King Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than the nations whom the Lord had destroyed. And God's people were at their lowest point spiritually.
[4:03] But the next generation came. As they were cleaning up the temple one day, they found the precious Scriptures. They found the Word of God in the temple. And revival started as they started to hear the Word of God.
[4:17] Do we let the Word of God change us and renew us? Is it that we come, as the song goes, Just as I am, but leave just as I came?
[4:29] Certainly come just as I am. But don't stay the same. Let God change you. Let the Word transform you and revolutionize you. How do we turn things around?
[4:40] By having the Word of God. By returning to it as Israel did. By recovering it. By joining in studying God's Word. In Bible studying.
[4:51] In faithfully reading the Bible. As you have opportunity. Dedicate time to the Word of God. We need a revival of the Word of God. That is revival.
[5:03] That is what we need to return to. To the edifying. To the building up of our faith. As we get fed and strengthened by receiving it. And letting it work within us.
[5:14] Meditating in it. Chewing it over. That fresh commitment to training. To equipping God's people. What they are calling revival today. Is just a Mad Hatter's Tea Party.
[5:26] It is just a complete and absolute mockery of the things of God. Where the preacher gets up and staggers around like he is drunk. And the people are scattered on the floor.
[5:38] Groveling and slobbering like the mouth just about. As people call that revival. But the Word is not there. It is not present. It is not essential.
[5:49] It is not being exhorted and exposited and expounded to the people of God. It is a stray from the Word of God. That is not revival. That is a mockery. And a shame and a reproach to the people of God.
[6:01] That God's people could be so deluded and deceived. Like the Word says that he will send a strong delusion. We need a revival. And revival starts with. And is thoroughly evidenced by the Word of God from start to end.
[6:17] In verse 6 we see of Nehemiah chapter 8. Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God. The preacher led the people in praise.
[6:28] There was heartfelt praise. It was praise. It was worshipping in spirit and in truth. There was sound doctrine. There was sound preaching. There was sound worship. The worship of the God of the Word.
[6:41] And the people worshipped the God who was, who is and who is to come. They started to get serious about their adoration. About their love for the Master. Of their heartfelt response in spirit and in truth.
[6:54] It was sanctified worship. There was a holy presence. There was a holy nature to the worship. It wasn't some mad carry on. There was a holiness there.
[7:06] There was a moving of God there. From the heart of man. As God worked in lives. And it was a worship based on spiritual truth. The preacher Vance Havner said of revival.
[7:18] Revival is the church falling in love with Jesus all over again. There was praise. There was amens. There was a responsiveness. There was postures of prayer and of humility.
[7:32] They got on their faces before God. A revival of the Word of God. A revival of the worship of God. And thirdly we see a revival of the weeping before God.
[7:45] They wept. They saw their great lack. They saw the great fear of God. The great majesty. The great brokenness of their own hearts. Of their own inadequacy.
[7:57] Of their own unworthiness. And there was a prayerfulness. There was a repentance there. As the Word of God convicted and stabbed and pricked their hearts. And cut them to their hearts.
[8:09] As we know in the scriptures when the preachers spoke. It cut them to their heart like a knife. Like a sword. A two-edged sword. As we get conviction. As God's Word touches and hits the nerve.
[8:22] And strikes that sensitive spot. That is our sin. That is our lack. That is our lack of grace. If we put off repentance another day.
[8:33] We have a day more to repent of. And a day less to repent in. It came to pass. When the king had heard. The words of the book of the law.
[8:44] That he read his clothes. He just had to tear himself up. Physically. As he was torn up. Within. As the Word of God.
[8:56] Penetrated his life. They were obedient to the Word of God. As they kept the feast and the solemn assembly. And there was joy and rejoicing. There was very great gladness.
[9:07] As they continued in the Word of God. In the worship of God. There was revival. Revival. How he wants it. We long for revival. We long for that reviving again.
[9:19] Just as I am. We can't. But let's not leave just as we came. Let us leave different. Let us leave stirred.
[9:30] Challenged. Provoked. Annoyed if necessary. That God would be glorified in us. Let us. Let us. Let us. Let us.
[9:41] Let us. Let us. Let us. Let us. Let us. Let us. Let us. Let us. Let us. Let us. Let us.
[9:52] Let us. Let us. Let us. Let us. Let us. Let us. Let us. Let us.