September 15, 2013 Providence RECOVERING THE GLORY Nehemiah 8:8-12, 18 INTRODUCTION: Have you ever longed for the good ol days? I have watched several movies in my life which involved some kind of time travel as people wanted to go back and revisit some special moment in time. Although it makes for good entertainment, a few rational thoughts make it seem highly unappealing to people of today. As much as we might like to live in the Renaissance to see all the extraordinary art or in Victorian England with all the great churches and preachers or in some other era that captures our imagination the reality hits very quickly. No air conditioning no novocaine no antibiotics no indoor plumbing (as well as few baths per week) no easy means of travel limited entertainment options even more limited media and technology shortened life spans so if you think about it, maybe we are living in the better ol days! But then when I think of the great spiritual moments in history, I realize that I would love to have been there to experience the overwhelming sense of God s power and glory on display! The rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem the dedication of the temple in Jerusalem dawn in the garden on resurrection morning just to mention three such moments in Scripture! Even in many of our own spiritual lives, most of us have special times we recall that we would love to relive. Once again to know and feel what we did that day and hour would be wonderful beyond words. And even if you have no such experiences to look back on, you perhaps have heard, or read, of accounts that awakened a sense of envy in your heart to have been a part of something like that! THESIS: God wants to show His people that He still moves in power and shows His glory if we will confess our sins, renew our commitment to Him and praise Him with joy! The God who accomplished all those things is the same Covenant-keeping, Promise-making, Miracle-working Lord of heaven and earth He is in fact the same yesterday, today and forever! As His covenant people, what does this passage tell us today about the expectations and possibilities of our future with Him? Have we already peaked, never to rise again to the levels of wonder and awe that once blessed His people? Nehemiah gives us hope!! I. PATTERNS OF HABITUAL COVENANT-BREAKING A. THE BASIC SIN NATURE TENDS TO MOVE AWAY FROM GOD. --No matter what great things God has done, is doing or has promised to do, people tend to isolate themselves from Him and suffer the inevitable consequences. --Through the history of Israel, God had to deal with this tendency among His covenant people over and over again. Nehemiah s place and position were the result of the evil and rebellious history of God s covenant people. --First Israel, then Judah, were taken into exile and removed from the land promised to God s people. --This period found Nehemiah as cupbearer to the king during the Babylonian exile, serving in the city of Susa in what is present-day Iran. --Word came to him of the devastation in Jerusalem that had come as a result of the faithless people of the covenant, Israel and then Judah. Neh. 1:3 And they said to me, The remnant there in the province who survived the captivity are in great distress and reproach, and the wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates are burned with fire.
2 --Now, at this point, you should know that this situation has been repeated, to greater and lesser degrees, since the days the covenant with Abraham was first made by God. --Stepping outside of Nehemiah for a moment, perhaps some historical context will help you see what I mean. Cycles of Rebellion and Revival Israel continually stepped forward to say yes to God s covenant only to fall backward with every increasing frequency. --The book of Judges demonstrates how those cycles repeated themselves, in fact, recurring six times in that book alone: Peace and Prosperity Judg. 2:7 And the people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who survived Joshua, who had seen all the great work of the LORD which He had done for Israel. Rebellion and Rejection Judg. 2:10-12 And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers; and there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD, nor yet the work which He had done for Israel. 11 Then the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served the Baals, 12 and they forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed themselves down to them; thus they provoked the LORD to anger. Distress and Devastation Judg. 2:14-15 And the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He gave them into the hands of plunderers who plundered them; and He sold them into the hands of their enemies around them, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies. 15 Wherever they went, the hand of the LORD was against them for evil, as the LORD had spoken and as the LORD had sworn to them, so that they were severely distressed. Contrition and Crying Out Judg. 2:18 for the LORD was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed and afflicted them. Rescued and Restored Judg. 2:16 Then the LORD raised up judges who delivered them from the hands of those who plundered them. ILLUS. We face the same tendencies today. Churches can, and often do, go through cycles even individual Christians can go through these periods of faithfulness followed by unfaithfulness. The good news is that God always makes a way out if we will look to Him, cry out to Him, confess and repent before and trust Him to rescue us. B. TIMES OF CRISIS AND CONVICTION BREAK THE PATTERN AND AWAKEN HARDENED HEARTS. --People who have been living apart from any dependence on the Lord living carelessly and prayerlessly sometimes need a wake-up call before they will reverse course and seek the Lord again. ILLUS. It may take a personal crisis illness, financial setback, family trouble to get your attention. We know that we need the Lord but if we take our eyes off Him and suffer no immediate consequence, we may keep going in the wrong direction. One would hope that we are spiritually sensitive and biblically sensible enough to hear God s Word and let it do its work in our hearts.
3 Or one could hope that seeing the damage done by walking away from the Lord would be sufficient to break our hearts, set us back in pursuit of God. For Nehemiah, all it took was the report of the state of Jerusalem for the church, all it should take is a look at the anemic condition of her people, the ineffectiveness of her witness and the breaking down of the walls separating us from the threats of ungodliness from the world around us. --But the truth is that we can become so preoccupied with our own agenda that we pay no attention to the condition of the church. --Broken people don t get that way easily best case scenario is that the Word of God cuts through but often they must endure hardship or even suffering to turn their eyes back to the Lord. --But there are no short cuts! If we would be restored to the full blessings of God s covenant promises to us, we must return to Him with our whole heart. II. PROMISES TO THE PLEADINGS OF A BROKEN-HEART --Unless the heart breaks in the face of our sin and its consequences, there can be no restoration. A. FEELING THE IMPACT OF A BROKEN COVENANT --Hearts that feel nothing when they are made aware of the impact of sin leave God s covenant people hardened and cold. --Feeling nothing when we should be broken-hearted by sin should grieve us and cause us to wonder what is wrong with our hearts. --In this passage, two factors break the hearts of God s people Nehemiah by the news of the condition of Jerusalem, the people by the hearing of the Word. 1. Consider the Woeful Condition of God s Covenant People Neh. 1:4 Now it came about when I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven. --The picture of Nehemiah weeping at the news about the condition of the city he loved should prompt each of us to ask ourselves what God has given us that has been destroyed by our unfaithfulness. --It has been a long time since I have seen people weeping with grief over their sin and its consequences. NOTE. Plenty of people are ready to blame someone else when things break down ready to complain when sin s consequences take their toll ready to get angry when we don t get what we thnk we deserve. But where is the grief for the sake of the name of our Great God? mourning over what our sin has caused? --Nehemiah recognized in the burned and broken walls of Jerusalem that the name of the Lord had been dragged down in the eyes of the surrounding nations and it broke His heart. Where is our outrage when the church dishonors the name of the Lord, dirties the bridal gown of the bride of Christ? Where is the weeping that the dark shadows of sin has cast deep shadows on the glory of God? 2. Hearing the Convicting Words to God s Covenant People
4 --Once the walls had been rebuilt, the people asked that Ezra the scribe read and give them understanding of the Word of God. Neh. 8:5-6 And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people for he was standing above all the people; and when he opened it, all the people stood up. 6 Then Ezra blessed the LORD the great God. And all the people answered, Amen, Amen! while lifting up their hands; then they bowed low and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground. --For seven days, they listened and understood what the Bible told them about the character of God and the nature of their sin and on the eighth day, they knew what they had to do they called for a Solemn Assembly. --Consider for a moment the order they followed: The Word (truths about God and an understanding of what holy living should be, making honest judgments about themselves) Prayer (responding to the truth confessing sin as a starting point), Worship (lifting up their voices in joyful praise and thanksgiving) --Truth conviction godly sorrow confession forgiveness gratitude and worship! --In the church today, where is the godly sorrow when we are willing to settle for lives stripped of any real longing for holiness any deep passion for godliness any life-changing commitment to be shaped by the Word? --And for our part, we are all too happy to accept the grace and offer nothing of ourselves in return not as an attempt to pay Him back, but just as an acknowledgement of His sacrificial, unconditional love and mercy! --Nehemiah wept and mourned and fasted because of what someone else had done the people fell down and wept when they learned of their sin and modern days find that we seldom do any of that for the damage we ourselves have done! --May God give us hearts to feel His pain when we fall short of His glory and act independently of His lordship! B. EMBRACING THE PROMISES OF A FORGIVING GOD --How did they get from broken hearts to rejoicing hearts? From being crushed by sin to being lifted up by grace? --The covenant God makes with His people recognizes the reality of our failures and offers promises of forgiveness. 2 Chr. 7:14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. --Nehemiah did all of that and the Lord showed him amazing favor. 1. The walls were restored --Do you think that God wanted to see Jerusalem restored? And do you believe that He longs to see His covenant people, the church, revived and built up in holiness?
5 ILLUS. In every age, there is a simple, unspoken hope in the church that God will do something extraordinary to revive us and bring a glorious spiritual awakening. After all, none of us is willing to believe that all the great days of spiritual awakening and vitality are behind us. So we wonder what it would take as we plod along. Most of us are familiar with the story of the frog in the kettle. If you throw him into a kettle of boiling water, he leaps right back out. But if you put him in cool water and gradually raise the temperature, he is likely not to notice and realize what is happening too late to do anything. --In God s covenant faithfulness, the moment we realize that we are in hot water and want to get out, He promises that when we call out to Him He will hear and rescue us! 2. The people were made whole --Not only did the walls go back up, but the eyes of the people went back up looking up to the Lord and finding that He is wholly capable of doing it all over again! --In every age, He is ready to awaken us, revive us and restore us to spiritual wholeness, power and joy! --The promises of God are there for the people who cry out and lift up our plea for Him to make all things new again!! III. PEOPLE WHO RENEW COVENANT FAITHFULNESS --As we read the accounts in Nehemiah, three simple truths to take away with us that will bring us hope and encouragement. A. BROKEN-DOWN WALLS ARE RESTORED --No matter how bad off you think things are no matter how much rubble surrounds you from the fallen walls of your life no matter how long it has been since you last had hope, God can restore broken lives just as surely as broken walls! B. ONCE-FALLEN HEARTS ARE REVIVED --When we are inclined to give up and assume what we now know is as good as it will ever be, God reminds us of His promises to empower and refresh us and give us inexpressible joy if we will return to Him. Acts 3:19 Repent therefore and return, that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; --No matter where you have been, what you have done, if God can revive spiritually dead people like Israel, do we lack the faith to trust Him to do His work in us? Believe it He promises He will do it!! C. LONG-LOST JOYS ARE RENEWED --What will be our response when He does? --Once God shows up and acts with His love and grace, we can no longer be satisfied with status quo church life, mediocre Christianity or mundane faith! Neh. 8:10 Then he said to them, Go, eat of the fat, drink of the sweet, and send portions to him who has nothing prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength. --Then as the reality of their new life begins to soak their hearts with the rivers of living water from the Lord, they could not contain their joyful praise.
6 Neh. 12:43 and on that day they offered great sacrifices and rejoiced because God had given them great joy, even the women and children rejoiced, so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard from afar. --And all of God s people today hear the resounding praise coming across the ages and want to cry out together: GOD, DO IT AGAIN! CONCLUSION: What would you like to see the Lord do among His covenant people, the church, in our day? Granted, He is under no obligation except to keep His own Word and we cannot manipulate Him or manufacture experiences with Him. But as we embrace our calling as His people, may we refuse to settle for low expectations and powerless faith may we never be satisfied with empty memories and joyless futures not when God wants to make all things new! Closing thoughts: 1. No matter how far we have moved away, God promises to forgive and restore all who return to Him. 2. Keep short accounts of your sin be ready to come to Him, confess your sin and return to the Lord so that He may forgive and refresh you. --Spiritual maturity can be measured by our sensitivity to sin, and willingness to give your whole-hearted devotion to the Lord. 3. Ask the Lord to use His Word in your life to shape your heart and conform you to the image of Christ. 4. Come join your heart and voice in prayer tonight as you join the Solemn Assembly and wait for God to restore and refresh, empower and encourage, us His covenant-keeping people! Let s come together and wait on the Lord, confess our sins and ask Him to purify us as a people for His own posession. September 15, 2013 Providence Baptist Church David Horner, 2013 Sermon outlines are copyrighted in the event of future publication. They may be used for preaching and teaching purposes but may not be published or sold.