Nehemiah 8 The Great Revival
Growing up, my family had a business in Sanford. It was a building material center. Several blocks behind our store were the projects. Over the years we had trouble with some of the people from there. Until we had alarms installed and put guard dogs in the back lumber yard, the place would be burglarized somewhat regularly.
During the day, groups of boys would come in and we would catch them trying to shoplift. It was frustrating when you’re working countless hours trying to build a business and provide for your family, while others think nothing of stealing from you.
The city knew the projects were a problem. They were centers for violence, drug dealing, and crime. Their solution? Let’s move the people out of there. The buildings are getting to bad shape. They don’t look good. If we move these people out of here and put them into nicer housing, things will change. So, they moved the folks out of the projects, and with section 8 housing, began putting them up in some of the local apartment complexes.
You know what happened? Those apartment complexes became centers for violence, crime and drug dealing. Here is a lesson I wish our politicians would learn, you are not going to change the situation until you change the people, or at least until you change the peoples’ hearts.
That is a lesson we see amply demonstrated here in the book of Nehemiah. In the first 6 chapters of the book, God has led Nehemiah back to the city of his people, back to Jerusalem. The Lord has used him to lead the people to rebuild the city walls.
The walls are rebuilt. The rubble is cleaned up. The towers are constructed. The gates are repaired and rehung. In chapter 6 and verses 15-16 we read,”
> Nehemiah 6:15-16 The wall was completed in fifty-two days, on the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul. When all our enemies heard this, all the surrounding nations were intimidated and lost their confidence, for they realized that this task had been accomplished by our God.
God rebuilt the city.
In chapter 7, the people return to the city. The city is partially repopulated.
The people were now well-ordered, well-defended, and well-grounded. But in this community, even though its residents had nice homes, and good jobs, and were well-protected, there was still something missing. So God brings about one of the earliest, and one of the largest revivals recorded in the Bible.
- Read Nehemiah 8:1-18
Notice of you will, the ingredients of this great revival.
1. There is humility among the leadership.
- Read Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5
After Nehemiah had led the people to do the impossible, after he had led them to rebuild the city in a time frame that would have been impossible without the Lord, after he had led them to rebuild in spite of opposition and enemies, the people built a large platform and said, Ezra, come and read to us from the book of the law.
Wait a minute. Nehemiah led you to do the impossible but now you want to hear from Ezra and the other priests?
My friends, in ministry as in other places in life, people are equipped with different gifts and different abilities. We do not all do well at everything. God has called and equipped us differently, so we can work together as the Body of Christ.
Sometimes, the Lord just calls us to get a ministry going, because we have the gifts of organizing and the ability to head things in a certain direction, and the ability to get people involved who share a similar dream, but then the Lord calls someone else to take it to another level. Or, we work side-by-side, each doing what the Lord has specifically called and equipped us to do.
There is no room in life, and especially in ministry, for us to build tiny kingdoms where it is all about me, and what I have done, and what I want. There is no place for us to claim all of the spot light, or all of the attention or to think that we are the only person the Lord can use in a given situation.
When God needed the temple rebuilt, he called a priest, Ezra. When He wanted a city rebuilt, He called Nehemiah. When He wanted the people taught, He again called Ezra and the other priests.
Did Nehemiah wash his hands of the whole thing because he was no longer center stage and the only one being recognized? No.
- Read vs 9.
Nehemiah was still in the thick of things. He was still leading and instructing and motivating the people, but he recognized his gifts and his calling and he recognized the gifts and abilities of others as well.
You want to see God work, there had better be humility among the leadership. We are not here to glorify Brother Gene. We are not here to idolize Marc or Chris. We are not here to build ourselves fan clubs. There is only one Lord, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ, and it is our responsibility to point people to Jesus and then get out of the way.
As John the Baptist said, “He must increase and I must decrease.”
Keys to revival. Humility among the leadership.
2. Prayer among the people -
- Read verse 6
Ezra prayed and all the people said, “Amen, Amen.” You see, Ezra was not praying alone. The people were praying right along with him, that’s why they were able to say Amen. Amen. The word translate here as “Amen, and used in the Greek New Testament, is used the same way in English. The word means “verily, truly, amen, so be it.” The people are saying, “Yes, that’s our prayer as well. Lord, what Ezra just said, we mean that too. This is also our prayer.”
‘The great historian of revival J. Edwin Orr has made famous the statement, “No great spiritual awakening has begun anywhere in the world apart from united prayer — Christians persistently praying for revival.” This is what the disciples of Christ did before the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost (Acts 1:14). People with a burden recognize others with a similar burden, so they join in and pray. Many of the great revivals were preceded by united, persevering prayer by people who shared a similar burden for revival.’
My friend, God works in response to the prayers of His people.
3. There is worship.
- Read vs 6
Notice, this verse doesn’t say anything about music. It doesn’t say anything about instruments. It doesn’t say anything about hymnbooks, or choruses or anything like that. It says, “They worshiped.”
What is worship? It is attributing worth to something or someone else. It is bowing down and recognizing that Someone else needs to be on the throne. Someone else is Lord of all. It’s not all about me.
The Lord seems to think that we need to be reminded of that pretty regularly because He told us to set aside a day a week, one day out of every 7, to rest and worship.
It sure is easy to get busy and to think that everything will not be accomplished if I stop, if I take some time.
The Lord says, “No. You need to take some time and remember it’s not all about you. This world does not revolve around you.
> Revelation 4:11 Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.”
Who’s worthy to receive glory? God. Who’s worthy to receive glory? God. And for who’s pleurae were all things created? They were created for the Lord.
We just celebrated Good Friday, when jesus went to the cross to pay the price for our sins! What a great loving Savior. For God so loved the world, say it with me, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish but hath everlasting life.
God did a great thing for us. But we need to remember, in the end it’s not about us, it’s about Him.
One day every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that WHAT? Jesus Christ is Lord! They’re not gonna be talking about Gene. They’re not gonna be singing the praises of Tom.
Thou art worthy, Thou art worthy,
Thou art worthy, O Lord.
Thou art worthy to receive glory,
Glory and honor and power.
For Thou hast created, hast all things created,
For Thou hast created all things.
And for Thy pleasure they are created;
Thou art worthy, O Lord.
Life would be so much better, and our relationships would be so much sweeter is we could only remember that it’s all about Him.
4. There is an emphasis on scripture.
- Read 8:1
Read to us from the scripture. Read to us from the law. Tell us what the Bible says.
And Ezra responded. He and the other priests read to them from the law
Notice how this emphasis on scripture played out.
1) There was a reading of the Word. This revival did not come with someone having some ideas of their own. It didn’t come by some preconceived ideas about God. It came about by first examining the Word of God.
That’s a good place to start, by spending some time reading God’s Word.
2) There was respect for the scripture -
- vvs 5-6
They did not come to the scripture trying to read into it was they wanted it to say. They respected this as the actual Word ion God.
Lord give us more people who respect Your Word, and who study it with a desire to learn and obey, instead of searching it for loophole, to try and figure out who worldly they can live and still get to heaven. Give us more people who place themselves under the authority of Scripture, instead of trying to explain it away, so they can do whatever they want to.
There was a reading of the Word. There was respect for the scripture.
3) There was an explanation of the scripture
- Read v 8
These people were Jewish. They were Hebrew, but they had been living among the Babylonians for a generation. They had a Chaldean mentality and lifestyle. These people were hearing the Hebrew scriptures through Babylonian ears so they needed someone to explain the scriptures to them.
You can read something, and understand the meaning of the words you read and yet not understand how they apply or what it really means.
> 2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for instruction, for conviction, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
This is true, but the Bible also tells us,
> 2 Peter 1:19-20 We also have the word of the prophets as confirmed beyond doubt. And you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture comes from one’s own interpretation.”
My word, Jesus spent the largest part of the Sermon on the Mount correcting the misunderstanding the Pharisees had about the Old Testament.
So there was an emphasis on Scripture.
- Read Psalm 119:1-16
My friend, we cannot over emphasis the importance of spending time in God’s Word. I cannot over emphasize how important it is to read your Bible.
You want to know how your walk with the Lord is going, may I suggest that one of the best indicators is how much to look forward to reading your Bible and hearing from the Lord.
Do you remember in the early days of your courtship, when you and your sweetie were just starting out. You’d hang on that other person’s every word. You were excited about the little notes you’d get. Now, some of you, when your spouse talks to you it almost sounds like Charlie Brown’s teacher. Waw, waw, waw, waw.
Let me suggest that if that’s what your Bible reading or your Bible study has become, that there needs to be revival in your life.
Marks of Revival. Humility among the leadership. Prayer among the people. There is an emphasis on scripture. There are hearts stirred.
5. Hearts stirred
- Read verse 9
The people were crying. Now, the leaders told them to stop because it was supposed to be a time of celebrating because of what the Lord was doing, but when the people realized how short they had fallen from what expected, they couldn’t help but weep. They couldn’t help but cry. They were disappointed in themselves because they knew they had disappointed God.
None of us a perfect. None of us do perfectly what we know to do. There is a little bit of hypocrite in all of us. That’s why Paul cried,
> Romans 7:14-24 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh,[c] sold as a slave under sin. 15 For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not practice what I want to do, but I do what I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want to do, I agree with the law that it is good. 17 So now I am no longer the one doing it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it. 19 For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do. . . . 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
My friend, we all fall short, but if the Holy Spirit is living and working in you, you will not be content in that sin. You will not be happy in that rebellion because your goal will be to serve and to please the Lord.
There is humility among the leadership. “Lord, it’s all about You. In true revival, there will be prayer among the people. In true revival there will be an emphasis on scripture and hearts will be stirred.
Fifth, there will be obedience.
6. There will be obedience
- Read vvs 13-19
The people had not celebrated the festival of Booths, commemorating when the Lord had led them through the wilderness, in years. The people realized how disobedient they had been, and they decided to do something about it immediately.
My friends, it isn’t knowing the word of God that brings about change. It isn’t knowing the Word of God that marks you as a follower of Jesus Christ. It’s when you begin to put into practice what you know that things begin o change.
Do you remember what Jesus said in Matthew 7? “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”
Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them. It is obedience that brings about a change. That’s why James tells us to be doers of the Word and not hearers only, otherwise you are deceiving yourselves.
Do you notice the overarching theme of this whole chapter? The whole spirit that permeates this chapter is unselfishness. It is a community where people are not seeking attention or recognition. They are not seeking to have things their own way. They are working in conjunction with others, each using their spiritual gifts for God’s glory.
Lord send revival.
