FIVE HOURS FOR PREACHING
Nehemiah 8-10
"This morning's message will be five hours long." A preacher's dream (and a parishioner's nightmare!)
I told my wife that this morning's message would be five hours long.
She warned me I would be preaching to empty pews. She probably wouldn't be there either! (Absentees!)
Contemporary situation faced: Famine of the Word of God-Amos 8:11-12 “The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign LORD, “when I will send a famine through the land— not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD. 12 Men will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the word of the LORD, but they will not find it.
People searching for the Word of the Lord and not finding it.
Do we have that problem? It's real in many parts of the world.
But what about places where Bibles are plentiful and God's Word proclaimed faithfully?
Society has struggling with new illness. Some young people don't eat enough. Mothers provide tasty, nourishing meals. They choose not to eat— though food is available in abundance. => “spiritual anorexia!”
Once physical reconstruction was dealt with, spiritual issues became focus.
People needed to renew their commitment to follow God.
3 STEPS TO RENEWAL—THE 3 “R”S OF RENEWAL
READING OF GOD’S WORD 8
People gathered to hear God's Word They asked him to bring Law —their idea, not his!
After 14 years of discouraging efforts to motivate them to follow God.
1)IT ALL BEGAN WITH PRAYER/WORSHIP 8:6 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.
His prayer awakened expectation: God was about to do something.
2) THE WORD OF GOD WAS READ 8:3 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. For 5 hours!!
Ezra’s commitment: Ezra 7:10 NAS: He set his heart:
to study the law of the Lord to practice it to teach His statutes
Response wasn't based on greatness of the man, dynamic message, nor appealing presentation.
They responded because they were hearing God's voice.
3)THE WORD OF GOD WAS EXPLAINED 8:7-8 The Levites ... 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.
-No entertainment -Nothing especially “cool”
-Stood outdoors, in the sun, with about 30,000 people and no P.A.
People wanted to know what God had said.
People understood God's Word, many wept—Reading brought conviction
Leaders instructed them NOT to weep.
This was a time for rejoicing
They are to be HOLY, not tearful.
Obedience, not tears, is appropriate response to God's Word.
They were to rejoice because God was restoring them!
Bumper sticker: "God is back and boy is He mad!" BUT, God never left. AND HE wasn't the one who was angry. He wants us to come back to Him; He rejoices over our return!
People gathered for 8 days straight to listen to the law—God’s Word
They responded spontaneously-from heart 8:6
Answered: "Amen! Amen"Lifted hands
Bowed low Worshipped with face to the ground
You don't get the idea people were watching watches impatiently.
God was talking and they were listening!
93% of people in U.S. own a Bible. Among born-again Christians polled:
* 18% read the Bible every day * Another 18% read it 3 to 6 days a week, outside church
* 37% read it once or twice a week* 23% never read it.
Christians who read the Bible spend about 22 minutes at each sitting.
Man severely injured in explosion, face badly dis-figured; lost sight and both hands. One disappointment: he could no longer read Bible. He heard of a lady who read Braille with her lips. He sent for some books of the Bible in braille. Discovered nerve endings in lips had been destroyed also. One day, as he brought a page to his lips, his tongue touched a few raised characters and he could feel them. “I can read the Bible using my tongue.” At last count, he had read the entire Bible 4 times!
[2nd step to renewal: 2nd “R”] REPENTANCE BY GOD’S PEOPLE 9:1-37
Essential element of any revival: RECOGNITION OF SIN
Part of Welsh revivals of 19th C.Wesleyan revival in 18th C.the Reformation,
and the revival in Nineveh in response to Jonah's preaching (Jon. 3:7-9)
1st evidence of HS’ work: awakened conscience, leading to sorrow for sin.
REPENTANCE -"Changing our mind"
Israel's view: We're pretty good. God has gone far away.
Correct view: Only God is Good We've gone far away
Until we change our mind about God and about ourselves,
There will never be renewal!
After reading God's Word 3 hours a day, and praising Him 3 hours a day for 3 weeks,
NOW, they are ready to do business with God.
Last Day-3 hours reading + 3 hours praising and confessing sin
Then, they came to the place where they were ready to change their mind
Conclusion: We've got a great God! We've got a big problem!
9:1-4 On the twenty-fourth day of the same month, the Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth and having dust on their heads. 2 Those of Israelite descent had separated themselves from all foreigners. They stood in their places and confessed their sins and the wickedness of their fathers. 3 They stood where they were and read from the Book of the Law of the LORD their God for a quarter of the day, and spent another quarter in confession and in worshiping the LORD their God.
Fasting demonstrated serious commitment to doing business with God.
Sackcloth- a coarse material made of goat's hair, worn to indicate mourning.
Dust thrown on the head served same purpose.
Remainder of book deals with need for total commitment to God.
Prepares for it by rehearsing past in prayer of confession (9:6-37).
3 ELEMENTS INCLUDED IN PRAYER:
They recognize God's faithfulness
They recognize their (our) failure
They recognize their dependence on the faithful God
Prayer outlines historical development of the O.T.
God has been faithful to keep His promises
In contrast to God's faithfulness, they confess unfaithfulness.
Every act of love by God's was met by one of disloyalty by His people.
Newton's Third Law of Motion: "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction."
Throughout their pilgrimage in the wilderness,
“they lacked nothing” 21
and appreciated nothing 17 “They refused to listen and failed to remember”
[3rd step toward renewal--3rd “R”] RESTORATION OF COVENANT 9:38-10:39
Aware of where they’ve come from, they make a binding agreement with God.
Restoration never comes, until preceded by reading God's word and repentance!
Boice: "Thousands of people visit counselors every week...." Yet their problems persist! Why?
Asked psychologist: "Why is there so little change?" "Because people do not really want to change."
At times we might even be moved to tears by our failures.
We don't progress because we want to keep doing what we have been doing."
God's people made commitment to obey Him; they put it in writing.
Significant agreements today put in writing.-PROSPECTUS FOR LOANS
All their leaders sign and seal the agreement. Signers listed by name.
They are willing to "sign on the dotted line!"—serious commitment.
3 facts concerning those who make commitment:
1) They made a commitment to separate themselves from the world.
2) They made a commitment to follow God's Word.
3) They knew what they were doing.
Whether anyone else went along or not, they would follow God's standards.
Demonstrate their desire to live by the spirit of the law, not just its letter.
Opposite of Pharisaic legalism—They weren't looking for loopholes! They wanted to obey God!
Their Commitment: TO OBEY WHATEVER GOD SAYS!
THREE SPECIFIC APPLICATIONS: What this commitment meant to them:
1. SEPARATION (from intermarriage) 30-Godly Family Lifestyles
“We promise not to give our daughters in marriage to the peoples around us or take their daughters for our sons.”
NOT racial prejudice! People of other races were always among them. Rahab and Ruth ancestors of Christ!
"Peoples of the land" were pagans who worshiped other gods and seduced God's people into idolatry.
Ex. 34:12-16; Deut. 7:3-6; Josh. 23:11-13; (Ezra 9-10; Neh. 13:23-27) Do not intermarry with them. Do not
give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, for they will turn your sons away from following me to serve other gods. ... For you are a people holy to the Lord your God.
2 Cor. 6:14-16 Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? ... What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? ... For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”
They were surrounded by pagans marching to a different drummer.
Conformity test: Multiple choice question: identify longest line. Divided them into groups of 10. 9 out of 10 were told to select the next to the longest. 75% of those who weren’t in on secret gave in and chose wrong line.
That's how world operates. Truth isn't most important criteria.
We need to maintain our identity as God's people—especially in the home.
2. SABBATH OBSERVANCE 31-Godly Business Practices
“When the neighboring peoples bring merchandise or grain to sell on the Sabbath, we will not buy from them on the Sabbath or on any holy day. Every seventh year we will forgo working the land and will cancel all debts.
Walking in God's way meant doing business by God's standards.
No business deals permitted on the Sabbath
They weren't working on Sabbath, but were permitting sellers and buying.
They were encouraging others to disobey God's law while living in God's land.
Keith Miller: "It has never ceased to amaze me that we Christians have developed a kind of selective vision which allows us to be deeply and sincerely involved in worship and church activities and yet almost totally pagan in the day in, day out guts of our business lives and never realize it.
3. STEWARDSHIP 32-39-Godly attitudes toward worship “We assume the
responsibility for carrying out the commands to give a third of a shekel each year for the service of the house of our God: ... 39 ... “We will not neglect the house of our God.”
Worship would bind them to each other and to God.
They survived without it in captivity; they could survive without it.
But they didn't love Him enough to go back to His Word and obey it.
What this commitment means to us today:
Our issues aren't the same.
Things in our lives we know God has said to change, but we don't want to change.
We need to make a commitment—that we will do whatever He says!
Central Issue: Commitment to do whatever God says!
What does God want YOU to do about that commitment?
PUT IT IN WRITING-MAKE A WRITTEN AGREEMENT WITH GOD.
Sign general affirmation of commitment?
Make a specific commitment to do whatever God says?
Write your agreement and bring it as an offering next week? [Basket up front?]