Restored Hearts

David Helton

Deep Creek Baptist Church

Restoration: Our Ruins His Restoration • Sermon • Submitted 9 months ago • Presented 9 months ago

Revival

0 ratings

· 1 view

Notes

Transcript

Nehemiah 8 Page -474 in Pew Bible

he United States from 1920 to 1933, a nationwide constitutional lawprohibited the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages.[1] The alcohol industry was curtailed by a succession of state legislatures, and finally ended nationwide under the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified on January 16, 1919. Prohibition ended with the ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment, which repealed the Eighteenth Amendment on December 5, 1933.

Led by pietistic Protestants, prohibitionists first attempted to end the trade in alcoholic drinks during the 19th century. They aimed to heal what they saw as an ill society beset by alcohol-related problems such as alcoholism, family violence, and saloon-based political corruption.

Did prohibition bring relief from the scourges of alcohol maybe, some temporary relief, but it did not bring true relief. it may have changed behavior, it may have made it hard to get liquor, but it did not change the heart of those who were alcoholics.

The funny thing was that the president Wilson did destroy his wine collection he just moved it from the White House and moved it to a secret room at his house on S Treater.

Many times the physical doe s not mean the spiritual is good.

Broken walls mean broken hearts

They rebuilt the wall, but now they have to rebuild their hearts, their desire for God.

They way to revival is the regular practice of studying, applying, and living out of the Word of God.

Study the Word

Notice how they recognized the authority of God's Word. Over and over again, they referred to it as Law.

They told Ezra to bring the Book of the Law of Moses (1).

They considered that law what the Lord had commanded (1).

So Ezra brought "the Law" (2), and their ears were attentive to the Book of the Law (3).

Other priests mixed into the crowd to help the people understand the Law (7).

And they called it "the book, the Law of God" (8).

But the authority of the Bible is also seen in the way they treated the book.

There was the platform they built to elevate it above them—this wasn't only an aid to the audio-visual presentation, but a way to demonstrate their subservience to whatever God said (4).

This is reinforced with the statement, "Ezra was above all the people" (5).

And when Ezra opened the book, all the people stood (5).

As Ezra read and others explained, the people lifted up their hands, bowed their heads, and worshipped the Lord with their faces to the ground" (6).

And—on top of all this—the reading lasted around six hours, from early morning until midday (3).

That's two Lord Of The Rings movies—ultimate respect for the Word.

The people had an attitude of total respect for the Bible that day.

And if we want to experience God's best—his renewal—in our lives, we must have the utmost respect for his words. As Paul said:

2 Timothy 3:16–17 (ESV) — 16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

The book is beautiful and worthy of its authoritative position over us.

The truth is that God is the only one suited to be the master of our lives.

Everyone and everything else is flawed, imperfect, and lacking the best motives—this includes us.

God is the better master.

Hold a High View of the Word.

They had a high view of the word of God.

Today, if we’re going to talk about truth and God’s word we need to define what we mean.

There are basically 3 broad views of scripture.

1st is a low view of the Word of God. They view the Scriptures as below them.

These are the people that say there are no absolutes, no truth.

They view scripture as below them, to be used by them.

They walk on it, twist it; even use it to justify their own sin.

Or they disregard it altogether.

2nd are the people that view scripture as beside them.

This is often unintentional.

These are the folks ask “what does this scripture mean to you?”

And they go around the Bible study with everyone giving a different meaning for themselves of the same scripture and they’re all right; comes from opinion and circumstances.

What’s truth to you may not be truth to me.

Here’s the problem, scripture was written by an author with an intended purpose and meaning.

If we don’t read and interpret the word through the authors intended meaning,

its relativism, not truth.

And it empties scripture of its power in our lives.

The authors determine the meaning, not us and not culture.

The right view of scripture is that it’s above us;

absolute truth;

has all authority over our lives and submit to it;

it has one specific and intentional meaning for us.

Why is this so important?

The Word of God is our foundation and properly orients our lives.

Let me see if I can explain this.

People wonder around through life disconnected from reality;

disoriented and confused about what their purpose in life is;

aimlessly taking wrong turns, trying new avenues that only take them farther away from the creator who loves them.

The word of God anchors us in reality and gives us, not just a road map, but an eternal perspective.

If we understand this it will drive us to be hungry for the Word of God.

Be Hungry for the Word.

But we should also notice how they hungered for God's Word.

Ezra wasn't forcing anything on them.

They told him to bring the book (1).

They were willing to listen from early morning until midday (3).

Their ears were attentive to the Book (3).

They stood when the book was opened—for them, a sign of respect (5).

And as the Word went out, they said "Amen," lifted up their hands, bowed their heads, and worshipped (6).

This was no passive audience but an engaged congregation.

They craved the Word and were hungry to have it declared to them.

No one sat disengaged and listless while Ezra read from and explained the book because the people were hungry to consume all God had said.

There are, of course, practical and external things we can do to give the Word a high chance of success in our lives.

They built a wooden platform—we can mute notifications on our phones or set the temperature, lights, and sound at helpful levels.

Ezra and his team were prepared—and pastors and teachers should be ready to declare the Word.

But none of this matters much if the heart is not prepared and hungry for God's Word.

When we come with an attitude of hunger, a humble heart, and a high view of Scripture,

God's Word has a better chance of impacting our lives.

They were hungry for the truth of God’s Word.

Church, are you/we hungry for God’s Word?

Why would we not want to live under its authority?

Why would we not hunger for the Word?

Apply the Word

See the Truth

But beyond recognizing its authority and hungering for it, we should also notice how hard they worked to understand the Word.

The only people there that day were men and women and all who could understand what they heard (2).

The wooden platform was meant to make the work intelligible—everyone wanted to hear Ezra read.

And a team joined Ezra and helped the people understand the Law (7).

The people remained in their places while these teachers came to explain the Bible to them (7). They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense so that the people understood the reading (8).

And since understanding was the goal, the people were radically and substantially changed.

This is seen in the way the Word impacted their bodies.

In the sixth verse, the people answered with their mouths,

lifted up their hands,

bowed their heads, and worshipped the Lord with their faces to the ground(6).

But their feet and mouths and hands and faces were moved because they first understood with their ears.

Before anything else, their ears were attentive to the Book (3).

This passage certainly presents a strong case for Biblical exposition—

teaching the Bible in a way where it is clearly presented to God's people.

This method of reading and then explaining the text (in order) has New Testament backing as well. Paul told Pastor Timothy:

1 Timothy 4:13 (ESV) — 13 Devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching.

And:

2 Timothy 4:2 (ESV) — 2 Preach the Word...

Paul didn't want Timothy to preach from the Word, around the Word, or even about the Word, but the Word.

It is the Bible that must be declared to God's people.

There is power in the simple presentation of God's Word.

There is power in expositional and theological teaching.

But when sermons are reduced to life hacks, comedy hours, or dramatic stories, and the Bible is not presented, what true change can come?

We need to understand the Word.

This is one of the reasons why Ryan and I preach they way we do. EXPOSITORY PREACHING.

We believe the healthiest way to feed you as a church is to feed you pure Word of God,

not opinion,

not 7 steps to a healthy spiritual life.

But pure delicious meat of the word.

I want to not only teach the word to you , but I want to how you how I got there.

Think about sausage for a minute.

When you buy it at Walmart it is presented in a nice little package with a pretty and eye-catching label

and ready to put it in a pan to cook or microwave to heat up.

Most of us do not want to know how the sausage is made,

we just like the presentation it makes us fell God.

But when we look at the ingredients it may not be a s good for you as you though.

I want to teach you the truth but i also want to show you how I got to the truth. (sometimes i have to show you more of the sausages making process, when you just want the pretty packing.

Is it wrong to preach topically,

no there are times when I will preach topically,

but I always allow the verse to form the points and not look for verses to teach the points I want to teach you.

I always start with the Scriptures and not an idea.

It is not wrong to eat cake or fast food, but if it is regular diet then its a problem.

But if we want God's renewal, we should never expect to find it without God's Word.

As for me, I am grateful to pastor here, because this church has allowed me time and space to devote myself to teaching the Word.

See the Theme

One thing I hear a lot is-

I know I should read it,

I want to read it,

I know I need to read it but it’s boring;

I can’t figure it out or understand it-I don’t know what it means.

There can be many reasons for this (not entertainment, engage heart/mind)

but let me tell you why I think people think the bible is boring;

because they fail to read scripture through the lens of the gospel.

The cross is the centerpiece of history and all of scripture.

The Cross It’s the central context of all of scripture.

This book is the historical story of God’s redemptive plan to rescue sinful, broken humanity;

not about Abraham, Noah, Moses and David;

it’s about God using these characters to accomplish His great and amazing plan of salvation.

It’s all about Jesus!

Jesus coming to earth in flesh to live with sinful man,

to die the sinner’s death and to conquer sin and death in His resurrection

so that He could rebuild what had been broken down

and redeem and restore a people who would gather

as one to be a blessing to the nations and worship Him forever.

That’s what the bible is about; every book, story and chapter.

Without the context of the gospel

all we have is information…without transformation-meaningless, and up for interpretation.

But Jesus gives the Bible meaning.

We need to read scripture in full view of the gospel.

Why? Because that’s how Jesus interpreted scripture. In Luke 24 He said “all the Law and Prophets are fulfilled in my death, burial and resurrection.”

He viewed all of scripture through the lens of the gospel.

If we don’t, we will view, read, interpret and preach scripture with us at the center (moralism).

So a sermon out of Nehemiah might be 4 ways to be an effective leader…with God’s help.

Be like Nehmiah or David.

Without a gospel view we see scripture through our story, not God’s story.

Or we remove our story and Gods story and scripture becomes purely academic and ultra boring.

But reading scripture in full view of the gospel puts Christ at the center of the story and gives hope to our story.

And produces in us humility and hope;

Humility because it convicts us that we’re great sinners,

hope because it comforts us that we have a great Savior;

Humility because it calls us to submit to authority of the word

and hope that it will redeem and restore the brokenness of our lives.

John Piper: “I love the bible the way I love my eyes. Not because my eyes are lovely but because without them I can’t see what is lovely.”

Without the Word of God we can’t see the light of the gospel or the riches of Christ;

we wouldn’t know that we’re great sinners who have rebelled against God and deserve death and we wouldn’t know that God’s mercy and grace has been extended to us through Jesus and His gospel!

When we read scripture like this it gives us the knowledge of God that leads us to fear Him and the wisdom of God that leads us to salvation so that we can see and know Jesus and enjoy Him forever.

Don’t we want to experience the bible like that? You can, just read every word in full view of the cross and let it permeate your soul.

Live the Word

It is spiritually dangerous to study the Word without the goal of obedient response.

Knowledge apart from obedience leads to pride

1 Cor. 8:1 “1 Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up.”

Our aim, as Calvin put it, should always be to transform our lives by Scripture. There are five responses here:

The Word Leads to Worship

So Ezra read the Word to all the people and look at what Ezra does in vs. 6. He Blesses the Lord, the great God.

Nehemiah 8:6 “6 And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people answered, “Amen, Amen,” lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.”

The main purpose of reading and preaching scripture is always to worship God;

that we would have our view of God expanded and respond by blessing the Lord.

The Word of God, rightly viewed and interpreted,

will be focused on God (how great He is)

and will produce worship of God.

The most important thing for us to know every day is how great God is because our view of God shapes the way we live.

We we’re created to be worshipers,

we can’t change that;

we’re always worshiping.

And our default, because of sin is to make ourselves big and worship us.

But scripture reorients us to the truth that we are very small but God is GREAT;

He is worthy of ALL our worship.

Then we can live our lives appropriately in response to who God declares Himself to be.

This is what all preaching is about-magnifying God.

That’s what Ezra did and look at how the people respond: vs. 6-“Amen, Amen!”

What are they saying? “It’s true! Let it be so in my life!”

Some of you are surprised, you didn’t know there were Pentecostals in the OT.

We have like 1.5 people in the church that occasionally give up an amen.

But I’m guessing there are more than that who believe the word is true and want it to impact their lives.

Am I right? Yes, the word of God is true!

May it be so in my life!

They also responded by lifting their hands…during the preaching.

The Word Leads to Repentance:

Nehemiah 8:9 “9 And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, “This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep.” For all the people wept as they heard the words of the Law.”

This is incredible! Ezra is reading the Law and the people are moved to tears.

What’s happening here?

Ezra’s telling them about Adam and Eve, how they rebelled against God-that’s us, we rebelled. Noah and how God wiped out the wicked with the flood-we’re wicked; we need to be rescued from destruction.

Then he reads Exodus and the people realize,

that’s us too, we’ve been exiled and we need to be redeemed and set free.

And then He gets to Leviticus-we’re not keeping any of these laws, we break them every day.

We’re guilty, we’re not adequate to obey all of these,

we’re doomed if someone doesn’t help us.

This is a gospel moment.

As the word is read the people see how great and holy God is, and they’re in awe and worship Him.

And at the same time in they see the great depth of their sinfulness and their need for a savior and begin to mourn and weep for their sin.

They’re seeing what they hadn’t been able to see before-

that there is a huge gap between how great God is and how lowly and needy they are.

And this conviction leads them to repentance.

The gospel always demands a response, always changes the heart.

It either leads us to repentance or pride.

But there is no neutral response to the gospel.

You can’t be exposed to unattainable/infinite gap that exists between us and God and walk away saying “

I’ll just try harder,

I’ll do better.”

Every time we read the word

we encounter a great and holy God who demands perfection.

And every time we’re reminded that we’re sinful and,

on our own, we’re unable to meet His standard, to keep the Law.

Every time we’re faced with our great need to be rescued, our need for a Savior.

And every time we see Jesus; strong and mighty to save,

the love of God incarnate; our only hope.

Look at vs. 9-10. You no longer have to weep. The joy of the Lord is your strength! Your hope rests in God, your redeemer. Your rescue and redemption rests with the strong arm of the Lord.

Nehemiah is giving hope to the people.

And the same is true today. Our hope and our salvation rests on the strength of the Lord;

not in our character but in His character.

We can rejoice and rest because of the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross.

This is a revival in the heart.

the more the light of God’s holy Word shines into our hearts, t

he more we will see areas where we do not conform to His righteousness.

Spiritual renewal always involves repentance.

The Word Leads to Obedience:

Really quickly, let me unpack the last section of chapter 8.

Nehemiah 8:14-17 “14 And they found it written in the Law that the Lord had commanded by Moses that the people of Israel should dwell in booths during the feast of the seventh month, 15 and that they should proclaim it and publish it in all their towns and in Jerusalem, “Go out to the hills and bring branches of olive, wild olive, myrtle, palm, and other leafy trees to make booths, as it is written.” 16 So the people went out and brought them and made booths for themselves, each on his roof, and in their courts and in the courts of the house of God, and in the square at the Water Gate and in the square at the Gate of Ephraim. 17 And all the assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths and lived in the booths, for from the days of Jeshua the son of Nun to that day the people of Israel had not done so. And there was very great rejoicing.”

They continue to read the word and they realize that they’re supposed to be celebrating the festival of Booths.

This was something the Lord instituted to be a reminder…of the harvest/God’s provision and their rescue out of Egypt and journey through the dessert (very relevant).

Here’s the point, they read the word and they did what it said.

They obeyed the word and the effect (vs. 17) was “very great rejoicing”.

The Word leads to Joy

It was because of all this that Nehemiah made a brief speech (9-10). He said.....

Nehemiah 8:10 “10 Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.””

Nehemiah 8:17 “17 And all the assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths and lived in the booths, for from the days of Jeshua the son of Nun to that day the people of Israel had not done so. And there was very great rejoicing.”

This was a timely word—the people could have easily been crushed.

Jesus, in Matthew said, "A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoking flax he will not quench" (Matthew 12:20).

Nehemiah lived out Christ's nature here—he would not let a bruised and smoldering people be broken or extinguished.

But what did Nehemiah mean when he said, "The joy of the Lord is your strength"? (10).

This was not a flippant statement,

a Hallmark card or cat poster sentiment.

Nehemiah wasn't delivering an empty platitude.

Instead, he told them to be strong in the joy of God's gracious work in their lives.

They had read the book.

They had come face to face with their imperfections.

But God had not eliminated them. He was reviving and drawing them.

They should've had joy that God was working in and on their lives.

God's grace toward them should have given them a joyful strength.

Some people have the grace of joy.

What I mean is that some of us are more—for thousands of reasons—naturally joyful than others.

But that natural grace of joy is not what Nehemiah referred to that day.

He was referring to the joy of grace—

the ecstatic gladness that though we continually fall short,

God's grace means he is still at work in us.

And that knowledge of his grace should bring us intense joy.

Perhaps as we've journeyed through Ezra/Nehemiah up to this point, you have been challenged.

Maybe you've seen the gaps in your life,

the distance between what is and what should be.

And perhaps this knowledge has caused despair and mourning in you.

While I would never want to discourage godly sorrow, remorse, or mourning,

I would also remind you to have joy that God is still working in you.

As long as you are alive and the gospel is true, his grace is sufficient for you.

Repent, turn to him in obedience, and have joy that he is still shaping your life.

Isaiah 64:8 (ESV) — 8 But now, O LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.

He is at work!

Don't allow your sense of conviction to outweigh the knowledge God is working in you.

Don't allow the knowledge of your sin to outweigh the experience of Christ as your Savior.

Instead, let the conviction and sin turn into the strength of joy that God is working to reform and reshape and renew you.

Be glad that he still has a plan for you if you will submit yourself to it! He is not done with you!

If the joy of the Lord had not become Peter's strength, he would have quit forever after he had denied Jesus.

Even Christ's restorative work could not have turned him.

If the joy of the Lord had not become Paul's strength,

he would have forever thought himself disqualified because he'd partaken in the murder of Christians.

Even the bright light on the road to Damascus would not have turned him.

But we praise God that these men allowed sorrow to turn into the joy of God's work in their lives.