Revived Living

Nehemiah 8:13–9:3 (NASB95)

13 Then on the second day the heads of fathers’ households of all the people, the priests and the Levites were gathered to Ezra the scribe that they might gain insight into the words of the law.

14 They found written in the law how the Lord had commanded through Moses that the sons of Israel should live in booths during the feast of the seventh month.

15 So they proclaimed and circulated a proclamation in all their cities and in Jerusalem, saying, “Go out to the hills, and bring olive branches and wild olive branches, myrtle branches, palm branches and branches of 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 The entire assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths and lived in them. The sons of Israel had indeed not done so from the days of Joshua the son of Nun to that day. And there was great rejoicing.

18 He read from the book of the law of God daily, from the first day to the last day. And they celebrated the feast seven days, and on the eighth day there was a solemn assembly according to the ordinance.

1 Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the sons of Israel assembled with fasting, in sackcloth and with dirt upon them.

2 The descendants of Israel separated themselves from all foreigners, and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.

3 While they stood in their place, they read from the book of the law of the Lord their God for a fourth of the day; and for another fourth they confessed and worshiped the Lord their God.

INTRO: Have you ever been on a mission trip and when you come back, you are absolutely on fire of the Lord? Or maybe you’ve had a time of personal revival- where God has revealed Himself to you in some spectacular fashion and you were renewed and felt a new passion for the Lord?

The problem is that we often fail to implement meaningful change that helps us keep our priorities straight.

ILL: I heard of a man who, at a fairly young age, suffered a massive heart attack. Thankfully, EMTs were able to resuscitate him and the subsequent surgery cleared up some problems. This fellow had a new lease on life.

In his hospital bed, surrounded by family, he vowed to change his life. He was going to exercise, eat healthy, and not take for granted what he had almost lost.

Do you know what he had to do? He had to get serious about his new life. It wasn’t always easy and it required great sacrifice.

For those who have been redeemed by Christ, we also have to take serious this new life. I believe that is what Paul is saying to the Philippian Church in Phil 2:12

12.... work out your salvation with fear and trembling;

As we return to our study in Nehemiah this morning, we see some efforts underway that were intended to do just that. While this is a descriptive account that entails obedience to the Scriptures, we can clearly see the strategy taken by the Jews in Jerusalem in order to be faithful to the Lord.

Now, you might be thinking: “A strategy to be faithful? Why do we need a strategy? Isn’t faithfulness produced by a sincere desire for God?” You might even think that a strategy is unspiritual.

Well, here’s the thing: We are all flawed, sinful humans.

Consider this: In our friends and family relationships, we have to be strategic- we plan time together (vacations, dates, etc.), we plan to express love through gifts, we strategize communication, discipline, and a schedule.

If it is necessary that we do these things to maintain our relationships in our families- with people we see every day - it’s necessary to be strategic in our relationship with God, whom we cannot physically see.

So in our time today, I want to pick out 3 strategic keys for us to live out the life that we are called to; 3 keys to Revived Living.

Revived Living is the title of the sermon. I encourage you to follow along in the sermon guide, located in the bulletin. Let’s dive in.

The first key to Revived Living is:

Biblical Leadership in the Home (13-14)

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Here we see that the heads of the households came together before Ezra in order to further understand God’s Word. They were not satisfied with just hearing his sermon last week, they went and asked questions and explored God’s Word together.

And you know what? They found (14) that there were commands of God that they had not known, much less observed. They found that there were expectations for God’s people that had been ignored for generations. Their lives, which they might have thought were pretty faithful, were in fact really disobedient.

Because the heart of any society is the family, that is where true change needed to begin. For each of the families in Jerusalem to be drawn into faithful, revived living, their home had to be renewed. The old way of doing things would have to change.

So the heads of the households had to step up- dads, husbands- that’s you. God has placed you in a role of responsibility to lead your home to glorify the Lord. You will be held accountable for your leadership, so let me expound on this key for you with some helpful application points:

Be intentional.

This won’t happen accidentally, nor will you drift into holiness and right leadership in your home.

You need to be intentional about knowing God’s Word.

There is so much biblical illiteracy and ignorance in both the church and especially in the American society. Men have gotten lazy and have not taken seriously the call to know God’s Word. How will you lead your family to glorify God if you do not know his word?

You need to be intentional about understanding God’s Word.

If you do not understand, you cannot apply what you know.

ILL: I can read a book and “know” the terminology about any number of subjects. But friend, you do not want me to be the one investing your money in Wall Street or programming your pace-maker!

Men, you and I need to understand God’s Word so we can apply it in our homes. This won’t happen without intentionality.

Be brave.

Knowledge and understanding are only as good as the implementation.

You need to take action and lead your family.

Be brave and INSTRUCT THEM! I get it, maybe this is unfamiliar territory for you. Don’t be afraid...

Lead them in prayer. Lead them in discipline. Lead them in integrity.

Model for them what it means to trust the Lord, to walk faithfully. Let your speech point to the wisdom of God.

Admit when you are wrong and demonstrate the forgiveness and redemption that God has allowed you to experience.

The men in Jerusalem, once they understood, they immediately and boldly made proclamation in order to be obedient to God’s Word. Do you think the people understood exactly why these men were telling them to get palm branches? Not likely, and your kids may not understand why you suddenly are taking an interest in leading them biblically.

BUT- If we are going to live a revived life, then it must start with biblical leadership in our homes.

The second key to a revived life is:

Biblical Admonition in the Church (15-18)

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What we are seeing in this passage is a festival known as the festival of booths or tabernacles. You can read about it more in Leviticus 23:33-39.

The purpose of this festival was a remembrance of God’s faithfulness as Moses led the Israelites out of captivity in Egypt. In the desert, they lived in booths and relied fully on God’s leadership to bring them to the promised land.

For the Jews in Nehemiah’s day, this festival was intended to admonish the people to trust in the Lord; to put themselves in absolute dependency upon God. You see, in the desert, God provided food and water, healing and guidance. Even the shoes and clothing of the Israelites did not wear out in the 40 years they wandered the desert.

Here in Jerusalem, the wall was built and a new life was beginning for thousands of Jews. The admonition was to live as God’s chosen people- trusting Him for provisions, for wisdom, for strength and protection as they took steps of obedience.

You know, we often get caught up depending upon ourselves… I’m guilty of this. In fact, I often will get impatient and try to take over what I have already asked God to do. We think that somehow we have to power through in our own ability. But the reminder here is that God is faithful.

Church, God has placed us here at this time and in this place. He has given us a job and has promised to provide for our needs as we follow Him. And our role is to ask “What does God desire to do in us and through us?”

Has God called us to a new ministry? Has he called us to stop trying to do things the way they’ve been done for generations and to trust His leadership? Have we been so comfortable in our traditions that we have forgotten to look to God?

Remember, in both Moses’ day and Nehemiah’s, the people were used to being slaves and fitting in with the culture around them. That sounds not too different from the story of the American church.

Yet, the admonition to the church is to be different. We have died to that old life; now we live in Christ! We must live to reflect His light to the world; not hide it under a bushel.

My goal in preaching each week is not to step on your toes, but to bring you to the truth of the Scriptures. Folks, if you leave this place comfortable with living with one foot in the church and one in the world, then I have failed to show you God’s Word.

Revived living requires biblical leadership in the home and biblical admonition in the church. Finally, as we observe in our passage, the third key to Revived Living is:

Biblical Candor in the Heart (1-3)

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Candor simply means telling the truth.

Biblical candor means that our lives are confronted with the truth of Scripture directly and honestly.

The Jews in Jerusalem got real honest with themselves and one another. Here we see that they separated themselves from the culture and confessed their sins and failures.

They faced straight on the reality that their lives had been lives of rebellion. The text does not say what all they said, but I believe that they were specific confessions as God’s Word was understood:

Confessions about how they had lived in apathy or in fear.

Confessions about how they had not prioritized God, but instead had ensured their own personal comfort.

Confessions of idolatry, dishonesty, lust, adultery, theft, blasphemy, etc.

Not only their individual confessions, but that, as a people, they had disregarded the Lord from the time of Joshua. This was a pattern that needed to stop.

The generational sins had made them a calloused people but on this day, they had a candid examination of their lives in light of God’s Word.

You see, I believe that the health of the church and even the health of our nation would be greater if we had more biblical candor. If Christians would stop excusing our sins and instead would get honest about God’s Word… honest about our worship, our service, our devotion... Can you imagine if we were not calloused about our sins?

Paul tells the churches to “live in a manner worthy of your calling” -Eph. 4:1, That means being honest about God’s desire for your life.

And before you get excited and call me a legalist, let me just tell you, as many theologians have noted, “The indicative precedes the imperative.” IOW- Jesus’ words that declare “You are my branches” precedes “Go therefore and bear fruit” You will know a tree by its fruit.

Because we are in Christ, we are a new creation and if that is true, then we must get real honest about who Christ has said we are!

And folks, I know that when we do that, we will be forced to deal with sins that keep us ashamed and disobedient because we feel like hypocrites when we try to live like a child of God...

According to Scripture, “There is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus...” (Rom. 8:1) Thus, we have the invitation to confess the sins that we try to hide-

That is the beauty of the Gospel! If you have repented and believed in Jesus as Lord and Savior, then you ARE A CHILD OF GOD!

God desires that we come to him with our guilt and shame! And folks, when we get honest before God, confessing our sins and His holiness, ONLY THEN we can embrace the forgiveness and redemption of the cross. Biblical candor is the way we keep from being hypocrites. That is why confession and worship are coupled together.

It was the people’s confidence in God’s character and promises that they could both confess their sins and worship in joyful authenticity.

That can only happen when there is biblical candor in our hearts; when we both have an understanding of our Lord through examination of God’s Word and have allowed our lives to be examined by God’s Word.

So, here’s my plea to you today: as God does a work in your life to bring you to repentance and restoration, let us live revived in our home, our church, and in our hearts.

If you are listening and have not experienced the life-changing Gospel of Jesus Christ, I encourage you to respond to God’s word and come. I’d love to share with you how you can find forgiveness and joy in our Lord.

[PRAY]

Discuss: How is the leadership in your home? What steps can you take to improve this?

Discuss: Describe a time when you truly had to trust God. What areas of life are you neglecting to trust God?

Discuss: In your own words, describe the beauty of the Gospel.