Nehemiah 7-8 - Six Steps to Personal Revival

shall we open our Bibles this morning to Nehemiah chapter 7 the first six chapters of this book of Nehemiah is really the report of God's reconstruction of the walls of Jerusalem that had been torn down 20 years into 70 years of captivity in 586 BC so the walls had been down a hundred and forty-one years the people had lived without one and yet in 52 days by God's grace God used Nehemiah and then the people to build this wall again the remaining chapters of this book beginning here in chapter 7 go from the reconstruction of the wall to the reocnstruction of the people because though they had a wall they still needed spiritual life and so in these next few chapters we will see the the focus turning from Nehemiah a little bit to Ezra the scribe he had arrived thirteen years earlier than Nehemiah he had brought a couple of thousands of priests and worship leaders his concern was specifically the well being spiritually of the people and so that's where we begin this morning the reocnstruction of god's people because it had been so long for generations 161 years really since the the place had been attacked and overthrown by the Babylonians there were generations of folks living in town who really were very ignorant of God's Word they had grown up or their parents had in captivity and idolatry there hadn't really Betty anyone on the scene biblically to to guide the people in the ways of the Lord very often and so they they knew very little about what God was going to do or what God had promised to do and so there was a city that now had a wall around it they had a temple in it but yet they had a spiritual kind of vacuum in their hearts during captivity through 536 or so BC most of the Hebrews in captivity lost their ability to speak and to read so they picked up the Chaldean language which was the language of the Babylonians and for the next 450 years between here and the time or so that that John the Baptist shows upon the scene the Jews had to rely almost exclusively on the scribes and the Pharisees to be taught the word which eventually lead led as you know to being misguided and misled by the people so by the time you get to the New Testament the teachers they are no longer representing God or is word but the people can't read it for the most part on their own so I guess we should learn before we even start that there's no better substitute for your spiritual well-being than your personal study of God's Word it is a safeguard that you will never be led astray by it is something a lot of churches are not teaching today they're not bothering to encourage you to study it or they aren't even bothering to study it themselves our hope is to get through chapter 7 and 8 this morning there's a lot of names in Chapter 7 we'll do that rather quickly and then beginning in verse 5 of chapter 8 since this is all about revival I want to give you six steps that God gives to us in this book so that we might think about our own personal revival because any kind of revival starts obviously with us individually verse 1 of chapter 7 says this and it was when the wall was built that I hung the doors and the gatekeepers in the and the singers the Levites had been appointed I gave charge of Jerusalem to my brother Hanna and I and to Hananiah that the leader of the Citadel for he was a faithful man and he feared God more than the mall and I said to them don't let the gates of Jerusalem be open until the Sun is hot and while they are stand guard and let them be shut and also the doors and aport appoint guards for the inhabitants of this city of Jerusalem one on his wash station and other in front of his own house because the city was large and spacious the people in it were few the houses had not yet been rebuilt so what the wall up nehemiah has set himself to make sure that the walls were secure it was a big city his brother Hanna and I is the same fella that is mentioned in Chapter one as having come back from here years earlier and said hey it's horrible you know what it's going on or she should say months earlier and made known to Nehemiah what was going on that seems to be the same fella and I love verse 2 the qualification of the hell of a head of the security was a man who was faithful to the Lord walking in a way that was fearful of the Lord more than others and that a great qualification he doesn't say that he was trained in police tactics or he wasn't good at hand-to-hand combat and he may have been all of those things but God is always interested in the heart and so they pick a guy that is faithful in the Lord that's the key right he is walking with God he is is a man that is representative of who the Lord is and he has chosen to be the head of security if you will they launched the gates they didn't open you know they controlled the borders if you will they watched over the people there weren't a lot of folks in town yet though houses hadn't been built second of all verse 5 Nehemiah said that he God put it in his heart to gather together the leaders that the nobles and the rulers and the people as well that he might register them by genealogy and finding a register of those that were in there they they found a list of the people that first returned there to Jerusalem and verse 6 says they came after the carrying away of the people by the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar and then they returned verse 7 with zerubabbel and later on with Joshua so a couple of things that Nehemiah does here before this revival begins spiritually he he provides security for the city but he also realizes that if there's going to be security for the people it was gonna have to be more than physical the people needed the Lord and so in his establishment of their religious practices the Old Testament had lots to say about who qualified to be a priest and who could lead in worship and who could meet at the temple and all and so he began to register folks that were in town in such a way that we could do this in the Lord's way or do it the way that would honor him you know there's that scripture in Psalm 127 that says unless the Lord protect the city the watchman stays in wake for nothing and so he realized that it was more than just you know some big guys on the door that they were gonna have to do things God's Way so they went back to a list that went all the way back to 536 BC and that list is what you have in these names represented all the way through to verse 66 so jump there good job you did well and the total number of the folks in that list numbered 49,000 942 so we know that Ezra brought a couple of more thousand a few 79 or 80 years later and so they went through this list to see who qualified genealogically who could track their descendants II to Aaron which is the only folks that could serve at the temple first 464 says this there were some who through the listing in the genealogy were not found and so they were excluded from the priesthood and as defiled in the governor or Nehemiah said to them they shouldn't eat of the most holy things until a priest could be consulted with the urim and the film so the folks that they found listed they allowed to begin to minister to the congregation as priests the ones they couldn't Nehemiah didn't say you can't he just said let's hold off until the Lord makes all of this clear and so his desire was that he wanted to do things in a godly manner Nehemiah the leader spiritually in terms of worship and service to the Lord he wanted to establish that their practices would be biblical as this life in the city began protection but more importantly a relationship with the Lord that God would honor which brings us to chapter 8 way to go chapter 7 chapter 8 is the first recorded revival amongst the people after the return from captive ninety-one years earlier let me say this to you about revivals all biblical revivals in fact for that matter all true revivals always begin amongst believers never a bunk unsaved folks and not usually among young Christians but almost always among those who have been with the Lord for quite some time and they need to re-energize their hearts to be thrilled with what God is doing to renew a hunger for God in their hearts and that's true here it's true under the you know the revival under Josiah it is true in the Bible under the revival that Zechariah led and Hezekiah as well there's just this move of God upon among the hearts of the people who have been there for a while so that's really what is recorded here as God had brought them into town put a wall around them but there was a little life inside it was a structure without a heart so to speak and there are churches like that they are well-oiled systems they they carry out programs that are in place but the holy spirit seems to be missing it is a machine that runs well but it's going nowhere and so we don't need that right we don't want that machine that has no fruit or makes no progress but here we find something very interesting very different the people themselves individually and collectively are running to the Lord to know him better they've experienced God's hand upon the work of the wall it has left them with a hunger for God that they hadn't seen in quite some time and so the revival begins like I said always amongst the heart of the people that know the Lord usually among those who have known a long time and it is always first started by a return to God's Word as having value first one says this now all of the people gathered together as one man in the open square in front of the water gate and they told Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses which the Lord had command did Israel for the first time in maybe a long time everyone was able to gather without fear they were protected Nehemiah as a good leader saw that the next step in certainly their growth was to be able to begin to teach the people the Bible that they probably hadn't learned much of but he also recognized that that's not his gift that wasn't really him and so he steps out of the way if you will kind of steps aside realizes that's not his gift and Ezra comes to the temple with a Bible in hand his call is to teach it reminded me of Acts chapter 11 where Barnabas goes to Antioch you know he was the encourage Rand in encouraging people in the walks with the Lord people are getting saved right and left and and Barnabas said man these people need to be taught that's not my gift and he's the guy that goes finds Paul who's really disappeared from the scene for years and says come with me there's a church there's people they need to learn you're a gifted teacher and Paul was reintroduced if you will to kind of public ministry through that whole work of God through me Barnabas realizing that that wasn't his gift notice in verse one here that all of the people gathered that this was a moving of God they'd seen his hand upon the building of the wall they came away from it hungry to know the Lord better they gathered tens of thousands of them with one heart it certainly is a hugely different picture from just three chapters ago where everybody wanted to quit and they were all afraid of their lives but revival is coming my prayer has been and I grew up in the 60s 70s with early seventies I got saved but when I was a young Christian during the time of the Jesus Movement revival there was a hunger for the Bible that I have yet to see since we literally I taught Sunday nights for years and there were 1,500 people that would come on Sunday nights it wouldn't be unusual to see 200 people get saved now it can be difficult to get 200 people to church there is a distinct difference between what happened then and what is happening now we need revival there needs to be that move of God's Spirit in our lives again and around our lives and and it is certainly like I said there there were standing room people would show up early for Bible study now they'll show up early if you have a concert or a comedian they'll want to sit in the front row but when it comes to the teaching of the Bible it works its way quickly down the list well not here there was a revival and and people were lining up and crying out bring us the Word of God bring us the Word of God my prayer is what we could see that kind of revival again we needed the church needs that the world needs so as reversed to the priests brought the law before the Assembly of the men and women and all who could understand the hearing or hear with understanding brought it on the first day of the seventh month he read in it in the open square before the water gate from morning until midday that would be six hours by the way before the men and women who could understand and the ears of the people were attentive to the law to the book of the law now the first day of the seventh month is the Jewish New Year it's Rosh Hashanah right it is the Feast of Trumpets it it's almost like a new beginning a new year that is beginning and they'd seen what the Lord had done and they wanted him to do more now I want you to notice something because it's mentioned twice here and will be mentioned twice in a couple of verses that the the reading and the teaching took place before people who could understand what was being said we sometimes that people complain why they can't bring their kids to church and they'll say well can't we just bring our kids and we said well they're not gonna like it the adults have a hard time understanding me just the kids what are you gonna do with that so we have classes for the kids so they can learn at a level that that makes sense to them and and I we find it to be important that they can learn that they're like I said at their own level so for different times you'll point out that this revival began as the people came hungry to know and the teaching was to those who could hear with understanding they were hungry to hear I like the fact that Ezra did not need to win the attention of the people by telling great stories he didn't need to win them too meeting because he had a strong personality no no they came with hungry hearts and they wouldn't be satisfied with anything less than an overflow of God's Word to them some of them hadn't heard it in years some of them had never heard it most of them could not have read it on their own hunger I remember as a young Christian going to Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa from Bellflower where I lived four days a week to listen to Pastor Chuck teach and and he would go on Sunday nights he'd started at 7:00 and he'd go to a quarter to 10:00 and we loved it we would say fluff like this one more chapter about is that you can do it now if I even sound like I'm quitting hello Milly's yeah for for dinner breakfast like there's like an immediate willingness to get out we had such an initial hunger unfortunately that hunger can die in your hearts we need revival and revival starts with you and and and Ezra is anointed and he stands up to read God's Word and it begins to fill the hearts of the people Jeremiah said you will seek the Lord and you'll find him when you search for him with all of your heart you don't always find that all hearted kind of pursuit for the Lord and we need to first-floor tells us that Ezra the scribe he stood up on a platform of wood made for that purpose and beside him at his right hand stood and I'm not gonna try to these names 13 guys and Ezra opened the book in the sight of all of the people he was above all of them and he opened it and the people stood up Ezra stood on a platform hits 13 guys that would read with him he would have got pretty tired yelling I think the thousands of people for six hours but they put God's word in the center and made sure that everyone could hear well beginning here in verse five and down to the end of the chapter we get these these six important steps I think the personal revival I'd like to give them to you so you can examine your own heart but it starts you in verse five with a great respect or reverence for the word of God if you want to have revival in your heart your attitude about the word of God has to change you have to revere it as it is God's Word notice that the people when he opened the book stood up they didn't sit back they didn't half asleep they weren't griping about how long he was going I think there's a good way to determine how hungry you are for the Lord is to determine how sad you are when the Bible study is over or how happy you are if it's over they stood they stood for six hours now in our mind you I read they go really just sit down but they didn't there is a habit to this day in the Jewish synagogues for worship that when the teacher teaches the teacher sits the people stand I don't know where we went wrong in that whole process it makes more sense that one guy stand everybody sit down I guess that's what we've done but but in the days of Jesus that's how it went so these people stood in having a great reverence for God's Word he opened the book the people stood at verse five now I understand that in those days scripture scrolls were hard to come by nobody owned their own you had very little access to the Word of God you know we take it for granted when we have seventeen versions of the Bible on our iPads or on our phones but in the middle of Ages before printing presses you know Bibles were chained to pillars at the church and people would stand in line for hours if they could even read a to reader or have someone read it to them I have a use a Thompson chain reference Bible it means you know there's a chain of the Father or subjects that go through them but but the initial word for a chain Bible referred to the Middle Ages and a Bible that was chained to a church for everyone to get gather hold it now think about the revival that would have you standing with thousands of others and for six hours because you couldn't wait to hear what God had to say or that you would stand in line for hours just to get it in your own hands you know every year and we will again in January hand we hand out simple reading outlines so that you can read through the entire Bible by just reading 10 or 15 minutes a day and you'll be surprised how many people can't do it well I'm only 47 books short wait a minute I'm gonna try again next year that says not hungry that says not Reverend for God's Word you can make any excuse that you want but we always find time to do what we want to do what we believe is valuable the the people began with a tremendous reverence in their heart for the things of God we try very hard to get all of you to go to church during the week we think that that that there is a value to you in the middle of the week stopping your schedule and going back to church and getting through God's Word and it's a hard sell I've heard excuses after excuse here's my determination most people are not here because they don't want to be here I know there's some folks that work then and you know the difference between half two and want to but but the want to is often missing and that's where revival starts will not want to is there you don't have to tell somebody I've never had to say to my kids eat your ice cream now eat your vegetables yes because there was not a want to there but eat your ice cream that was the one don't tell me I'll eat mine yours and theirs if you like I will use another person spoon to finish their foot because I like ice cream same thing with the Bible I listened to people's excuses or I can't make I got this going I got here's your church you've chosen tonight like it you want to do something else because value is value there's really no way to excuse a lack of hunger for God's Word and unfortunately that's where a revival always starts when you see God's Word as that valuable second of all verse 6 we should approach the Lord with great reverence or worship in our hearts notice Azra blessed the people for the lord where he blessed the Lord the Great God and all of the people said amen and amen and they lifted up their hands bowed their heads and they worship the Lord and their faces went to the ground that's an amazing picture isn't it they they here people are the leader praising the Lord and they fall on their faces in their hands go up to heaven and they humble themselves and they begin to worship God considering who they were serving we we believe in it strongly enough to during the week and other services spend a half an hour before the service in worship those are those worship songs are not placed there so that you can be late or that you can hang around in this foyer and visit or make a deal next to your car in the parking lot they are determined to be there because we have to learn to worship God and it can be difficult in a world where just everything just runs in to just humble yourself before the Lord but revival comes when God gets his rightful place and you see the people here clapping and raising their hands and and it is acceptable to the Lord not the kind of music I know we all have our our favorites God's only favored is how your heart looks when you're singing and what he sees beyond the noise it was a worship that came from the heart a reverence for God's Word a worshipful approach to the Lord thirdly verse seven and eight you have to learn the Bible for yourself notice what it says and Joshua and these other 13 guys helped the people to understand the law and they and the people stood in their places they read distinctly from the book and the law of God they made sense for it they helped them to understand the reading expositional teaching or inductive Bible study as it is called is essential for you why do we tell you to go to church often so that you might know the Word of God that you might have an answer for the hope that lies within you notice the formula they read it they give sense to it they help the people to understand it and there was a whole pastoral staff verse seven to aid Ezra in his work two more times those who understand the real key to study is is reading and then understanding what you read there isn't a tremendous need in the church today to have people taught the Word of God if you go to our bookstore you will find CDs on every book verse by verse of the Bible now you will not find that in most churches most churches will skip books like Leviticus or numbers or Deuteronomy which is by the way what they were reading these are that's what these guys are reading the law not exactly the most exciting but they saw the Lord in a man hungered to know him they will set aside a lot of places the the major prophets the Minor Prophets the book of Revelation is often not taught at all yeah we don't know it's a mystery it's not a mystery if in the Bible does the mystery god help us Calvary chapel's has always been distinguished by the fact that they want to teach the Word of God and allow the Holy Spirit to teach that look not every church has that confidence lots of churches want to grow quickly they highly are emotional that they practice entertainment to bring people in it just doesn't last look in your paper on a Sunday morning if you even get a paper you know there are revival weeks there are philip unites there's a back to church month there's a bingo things there's a raffle there's guest speakers there 40 days of purpose but then day 41 rolls around now what are you gonna do the program is over it's common it's gone but instead of these short-lived kind of fireworks we should be shining stars you should have an answer year by year you should be growing and what God has to say lots of churches read a Bible verse and put the Bible away so others don't have you bring a Bible at all if that's your church get out of there because revival comes when you begin to read and understand and give sense to and certainly that is our commitment to use that we want to to come to church and leave here knowing God's Word true hunger is for God's Word Hosea said in chapter 4 there's a famine in the land for the Word of God people are not hungry our confidence has to be in the scripture job and all of his discretion Lord I haven't departed from the commandments of your lips and I have treasures of the word of your mouth more necessarily than my than my necessary food Paul said to the Romans faith comes by hearing hearing comes by the Word of God it'll make you wise the entrance of your word gives light it is God's plan it is God's will his voice we're never goes out void it always accomplishes what he wants so if revival is gonna happen in your life it's gonna have to start with what your attitude is toward God's Word what your attitude is as you come before the Lord and what your plan is which is to to get into the scriptures and know them well so that you might know the the heart of God healthy sheep pasture Chucky's as they will give birth to other healthy sheep we don't have any programs here at the church we have a lot of Bible studies because that's where life is found that's God's Word that's all we have to go on and we're happy with that a fella that used to pastor moody church Karl a burden in the write-ups about him in the newspaper in Chicago and he first took the poplar he'd been there a year or so they said of him he's not a very he's not a very good preacher comma all he does is teach the Bible and I think well gosh if you can write that of any of us we would be thrilled so I'm inviting you to church during the week I hope you want to 1 2 3 4 first 9 you have to if you're going to grow in the Lord in terms of revival apply the scriptures to your own life verse 9 says this and and Nehemiah who was the governor and and Ezra who was the priests and the scribes and the Levites who taught the people said to the people look today is a holy day to the Lord your God do not mourn or weak for all the people wept when they heard the words of the law here's the problem with reading the word clearly and understanding it it will convict you of your sin it convicted these folks and if you begin to apply what ear to you then you'll have revival here's what we usually do we come to church and we listen for information oh that's a good point well that's a cute story I'm gonna tell that one or we we listen and we analyze presentation well he sure rocks a lot he sure looked at my way and not to their way not all that good of a preacher you'd be right but but here's the deal you can't come to church listening like that you can't even come to the church and say oh that is a great message for my uncle I'm gonna go buy that for him God isn't speaking to you to speak to your uncle yet he's speaking to you so you can speak to you and revival comes when you listen for you and when the Word of God is applied to you that's when you know the Word of God is powerful and Living and sharper than any two-edged sword and able to pierce between the soul and the spirit and the mirror of your bone and all that that happens as it discerns your thoughts on the intents of your heart it has to happen to you the people began to weep when they heard the law and realized they had sinned against God they'd fallen short of his glory here's what most folks do to avoid conviction they go to churches that don't preach it because if I can go to a church and leave feeling good and you look around the country and you'll see there are churches that have 20,000 people in them without a Bible because you go and you feel good and you leave feeling good but God's intention isn't for that he's you're in a good place when you laid open before him and you depend upon his grace George Bernard Bernard Shaw catgirl Pygmalion had his Bible sold at auction four years after his death and in the cover of his Bible it said except for a curiosity this book is good for nothing it's a most undesirable possession I really can't bear it in my house why because it convicted him you know it's right in front of my Bible this book will keep you from sin and thin will keep you from this book it has to be personally applied the people hearing the the promises of God realising the wasted years and what their sin had done wept oh god we've failed and it was nehemiah who stood up along with the freezes that all right wait wait it's a good thing that you've come to that place but God wants you joyful which is our fifth point once God had convicts you you're gonna find great joy and forgiveness and grace faith leads to repentance which leads to joy quit crying verse 10 go your way eat the fat of the land drink the sweets and portions too though for those for whom nothing is prepared this day is holy to the Lord don't sorrow the joy of the Lord is to be your strength the Levites quieted all the peoples and you'd be still today's holy don't be grieved and so the people went their way to eat and to drink sending portions and rejoicing greatly because they understood the word which had been declared to them if you'll allow the Word of God apply to your heart it'll lead you to repentance but it'll replace sorrow with joy because God wants to forgive your sins it'll keep you in a good place man the devil will have no place the saying of you you're a failure you're a loser your Center because you've dealt all with that with God you have his word on that I know but I'm forgiving my name is in the book of life those sins are as far away as the east is from the west God remembers them no more and you go away with great joy the people went away holiness equaled joy and the reason for their joy in verse 12 was they understood not only what God's Word had said about sin they also understood what God's Word had said about forgiveness and pardon and grace and knowing those things Kempe them and they were encouraged by the leadership in them the Lord wants you happy his joy is your strength his forgiveness keeps us going the enemy has no place then finally verses 6 to 13 down through the end of the chapter the last thing for great personal revival is you have to find in your heart just willing obedience to what you learn in other words I'm gonna do what God says we read in verse 13 that on the second day that the heads of the father's houses of all the people that priests the scribes they gathered together with with Ezra in order to understand the words of the law and they found written in there that in the commands of monism that the children of Israel should sit in booths in a feast on the seventh month and and so they go verse fifteen declaring to all of the people hey we got to sit in booths right we got to gather them and sit outside verse 17 and so the whole congregation they returned from the captivity they made booths they sat under them for since the days of Joshua this is the guy that replaced Moses the son of nun even to this day the children visitor hadn't done so and they were I like this very great gladness not just great gladness that should be enough no very great gladness and day after day from the first day until the last they read out of the book of the law of God they kept the feast for seven days and on the eighth day proclaimed a solemn or a sacred assembly according to the prescribed man now here's the first day on the first day General Assembly on the second day that the leadership got together they wanted to make policy based on Scripture they discovered in the scriptures that on the seventh day a month on from the 15th through the 22nd there was to be a feast called sukhov or booths it was held to commemorate how God kept the nation for forty years in the wilderness there was a camp outside all right they were to build these booths out of tree branches and all and they would live a week outside to say God provided for our ancestors now this was one of the major holidays and what's interesting in verse 16 is the heart of the people is clearly seen they discover what God wants and they said let's do it why are you gonna do it because God said so we're gonna sit outside under branches now there's no instruction in the Bible of how the thing how these things were to be to be built and if you're like I was when I used to be in school and they give us projects my mom and dad and I were horrible at all over my project would lean and the sticks wouldn't ice cream sticks I don't remember it was just horrible and then there was always a kid whose dad was an engineer it was brought like the the three story did and everyone thanks dad look at this thing yeah I imagine that's how this one there was there was a couple of those 3-bedroom 2bath kind of you know outside living quarters and then a guy you know sitting under a rock or the branch it didn't matter how it looked what mattered to the Lord was the heart of the people they were willing to do what he said there was simple obey obedient kinda like baptism baptism doesn't doesn't make any sense unless God places value on you come to me and go hey pastor yeah could you stick my head into the water for a while then let me have as the Lord wants me to do it only makes sense because the Lord wants us to do it same thing here well the people didn't notice in verse 17 this is the first time they had kept this in over 800 years that's revival revival when the people act upon the scriptures they keep God's Word obediently it wasn't a huge accomplishment all they were doing was sitting under some sticks but they were doing it out of obedience because simple obedience will bring revival to your heart and it produced great very great gladness because verse 18 they did it in the prescribed method they did it God's Way a reverence for the scriptures is important a worshipful heart before God so that you value that time as is vital understanding what you read inductively so paramount applying the word to yourself it has to happen faith will lead you to repentance would also bring great joy when you realize the forgiveness God has offered you and ultimately day by day as verse 18 says simple obedience to God's words will make you you will not only thrill your heart it will keep you close six steps father we thank you this morning as we sit together see how I snuck up on the end let's try that for a while father we thank you this morning for your goodness to us and for the revival that you desired to bring into our hearts it is certainly our prayer that that in our midst in our generation in this church there will be revival amongst the hearts of those who've been around a long time they've heard it all they've seen it all and yet that hunger that once was is no longer in Lord we need that hunger in us it's one thing to have to demand godly behavior it's another thing to just witness it in the hearts of the people because God has spoken to them and we certainly see this in that industry bottle that all of the people came they cried out for the word of God they stood for six hours listening to it they they applied it to their own selves they practice what they learned they humbled themselves they repented they found joy and very great gladness and obeying the Lord made that be our story revive us again O God we pray

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Published: Wed Nov 01 2017