Welcome

Good Morning! I’m Pastor Wayne and I’d like to welcome you all to the gathering of Ephesus Baptist Church.

Psalm 119:48 ESV

48 I will lift up my hands toward your commandments, which I love, and I will meditate on your statutes.

Why do we gather? We gather to worship and exalt the name of the one who has become our salvation. The right hand of the Father, our Lord Jesus Christ! Worship is about adoration. If we truly adore Jesus, we will not be ashamed of Him! Worship matters!

If you are visiting with us this morning, we want you to who we are here at Ephesus...

We are all one family of faith: “giving our all to love God, love people, proclaim Jesus, and make disciples in our generation.”

That is our mission, our purpose, why we exist as a church.

We have a connect card in the pew in front of you. I invite you to take one and fill it out! If you have prayer needs, you can let us know about those as well.

I promise, our prayer team will lift you up soon. You can place those cards in the offering plate when it comes around.

Who’s Your One?

Scripture Memory

Romans 8:36–37 ESV

36 As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

Opening Scripture Reading

Ephesians 6:1–9 ESV

1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), 3 “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” 4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. 5 Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, 6 not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, 7 rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, 8 knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or is free. 9 Masters, do the same to them, and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with him.

Prayer of Invocation

Revival of Repentance

If you have a copy of God’s Word, we are going to be back in the book of Nehemiah today. Find your way to Chapter 8 and join me in standing in honor of the reading of God’s Word. We will begin reading in verse 9.

Nehemiah 8:9–12 ESV

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. 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.” 11 So the Levites calmed all the people, saying, “Be quiet, for this day is holy; do not be grieved.” 12 And all the people went their way to eat and drink and to send portions and to make great rejoicing, because they had understood the words that were declared to them.

Prayer of Illumination

Last week, we watched as a Revival of Worship broke out behind the newly restored walls of Jerusalem as Israel heard the Lord speak to them through His Word in a powerful way.

The result was a Revival of Worship that moves the people into some true soul searching.

A true Revival of Worship will lead us to a Revival of Repentance that causes our regrets to be overcome by the Joy of the Lord which leads us to a Revival of Obedience!

Are we hungry for the Word of God? Do we worship when God’s Word is read publically? I know we do okay for 15-20 verses, but what about when we go for 30-40 verses or entire books of the Bible.

Remember how Israel responded to the public reading of Scripture?

Nehemiah 8:6 ESV

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.

Israel worshiped as one man at the reading of God’s Word. Paul told Timothy to devote himself to the public reading of Scripture.

1 Timothy 4:13 ESV

13 Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching.

That is exactly what we saw Ezra doing last week. Ezra read God’s word and gave the sense of it to the people, thereby teaching and exhorting them to walk with God.

Why should we read the Word and preach the Word?

Because God’s Word illuminated by God’s Holy Spirit is the only thing that can transform our lives, as it rebukes us, convicts us, and corrects us.

Hebrews 4:12 ESV

12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

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.

But don’t miss this....A Revival of Worship was not the only response the people of Jerusalem had to God’s Word. There was another response. That is the response we are going to look at this morning.

It is in their response that we find three ways that God’s Word moves us from a desire for revival to true revival actually beginning to take place within our hearts.

Three Ways God’s Word Brings True Revival

First we will see that,

1. God’s Word convicts us concerning our need for repentance. (8:9)

By now, it should be obvious to us that Israel wanted to hear from God’s Word. They wanted to see the Word of God restored in their religious community.

But what they got was far more than they bargained for.

Nehemiah 8:9 ESV

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.

Israel could have listened to the reading of God’s Word with apathy and indifference; they could have rejected it outright or scoffed at it and left, but that is not what happened.

There's no question that the initial effect of God’s Word on God's people was conviction and grief.

How do we know that the Scripture convicted these men and women?

1) v. 9 - “do not mourn or weep.”

2) v. 9 - “For all the people wept as they heard the words of the Law.”

3) v. 10 - “and do not be grieved.”

4) v. 11 - “So the Levites calmed all the people,”

5) v. 11 - “do not be grieved.”

They are mourning over their sin because the Word was convicting them of their guilt. They perceived their own miserable imperfections in contrast to the lofty requirements of the Law, and in view of its somber threats of punishment for their disobedience.

They discovered that the “robes of righteousness” they had been parading around in, were in reality just “filthy rags” before their Holy God!

The Word of God was doing its intended work! The Law was revealing to the people a knowledge of their sin.

Romans 3:20 ESV

20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

The law wasn’t designed to save us; it was designed to convince us that we need to be saved and then point us to Jesus Christ who alone has the power to save.

Galatians 3:24 ESV

24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.

It is right to let the Scriptures convict us.

But if our conviction doesn’t lead us to repentance we have missed the point entirely!

Perhaps we avoid the Word because of its supernatural ability to convict and challenge us to the very core of who we are: our motives and our thoughts.

But that is exactly what it was designed to accomplish. We should be willing to let God’s Word do it’s work in our hearts.

That is when our conviction will lead us to real repentance.

What is real repentance?

It is more than a conviction of sin.

To repent means to have a change of mind, a change of heart. It means that we change the way we live.

A lot of what we call repentance today is not really repentance. Repentance is more than conviction of sin. It takes conviction of sin for you to repent, but repentance is more than conviction of sin.

2 Corinthians 7:10 ESV

10 For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.

That means that godly grief or sorrow is not repentance; it brings you to repentance. You may be brokenhearted over your sin but that is not real repentance. That is contrition for sin, not repentance.

Repentance, ladies and gentlemen, is a divine change of mind concerning your sin. Not only must you be broken over your sin; you must be broken from your sin.

Listen to what Adrian Rogers once said in a sermon titled “Real Repentance,”

You know what’s wrong with many of us? We walked down the aisle of some church. We wept some crocodile tears. We’ve taken the hand of some pastor. We’ve gone through the rites and the ritual of baptism. But there has never been a change of heart. There has never been divine repentance. And I don’t care whose church you’re a member of, if there hasn’t been a change in your heart, you’re going to die and go to hell, for the Bible says, “Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” (Luke 13:3, 5)

Real repentance means we turn from sin to serve the living God. You cannot turn to God without turning from sin, and you cannot turn from sin without turning to God.

Luke 13:3 ESV

3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.

Israel has heard the Word of God

They have been convicted by the Word of God

All of Jerusalem is ready to repent and follow God.

Nehemiah and Ezra walk up to the podium and do something no Baptist preacher would do at this point.

They yell, STOP!!!! WAIT A MINUTE!!!!

“This day is holy to the LORD your God; do not mourn or weep.”

Hold on pastor, let me get this straight, the people are in the process of repenting and they tell them to stop. Are they out of their minds?

No, they are trusting God and His Word.

These were very wise men of God. Ezra had study the Word all of his life. They realized what was happening with the people, but they wanted to teach the people what the Word said about turning to God.

They weren’t stopping the repentance they were stoking the flames of a revival of repentance that we will see in more detail in chapter 9 and 10.

Remember this day was the Feast of Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah), which in the Hebrew literally means “head of the year” or Israel’s New Year’s Day. It marked the beginning of the civil calendar in ancient Israel.

In Exodus 19 and 20, we find the account of God’s appearance on Mount Sinai and the initial giving of the Ten Commandments. God invites the children of Israel into a covenant: the Mosaic Covenant.

In a spectacular revelation, God manifested His presence in the smoke and fire on Mount Sinai—as He ratified His covenant with His people amidst the sound of a trumpet that caused the people to tremble. Israel promised to do everything that the Lord commanded.

This amazing event was to be stamped upon the memory of the people of Israel. Every year, at the Feast of Trumpets, those same-sounding trumpet blasts reminded Israel that they were a people under covenant; a nation who had accepted the responsibilities of being God’s people.

By doing so, the nation also prepared herself for the Day of Atonement, eight days later, when they would repent and find atonement for all they had done to break this covenant.

The Feast of Trumpets was supposed to be a Holy Day of celebration, not mourning. Repentance was coming, but today they needed to be reminded of God’s grace and mercy.

God’s Word convicts us concerning our need for repentance. And, No. 2.

2. God’s Word carries us from repentance to joy. (8:10)

Ironically, the right response of weeping in conviction and repentance opened the way for Israel to be strengthened in their Joy of the Lord!

The Jews were thinking, "God's been gone, but now He's back and He's boy is He mad."

Nehemiah and his men were saying, "Oh, no. You are the ones who left! You should celebrate today for our God keeps His covenant promises.

Nehemiah 8:10 ESV

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.”

There’s a time to weep. There’s a time to mourn. There’s a time to be broken hearted, but that grief must give way to joy.

John 10:10 ESV

10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

Satan wants to bring you down and keep you there. The Holy Spirit wants to bring you down so you can be lifted up to new heights.

Israel has been reminded of the grace and mercy of God poured out to them as His covenant people. They were grieved by their sin after having listened to the Word of God for 5-8 hours. They are tired, hungry, in need of rest.

They are reminded that today is a day of celebration and thanksgiving. Nehemiah tells them to do three things:

“Go your way,” or Go home.

“Eat the fat, and drink sweet wine.”

“Send portions to anyone who has nothing ready.”

Go home and enjoy a true Feast of Trumpets! Eat the best meat, drink honey sweetened wine, share what you have with those less fortunate than you. Find your strength in the Joy of the Lord! There will be time for mourning later, today is a day of holy celebration!

Now, listen. There’s nothing sweeter than being a part of a church when the joy of the Lord is within that church.

We have received much from the Lord and we need to do all we can to share that abundance with those who have not met Christ, those who stand in need of His grace in their lives as well.

The Joy of the Lord is your strength!

Now the great idea here connects this Divine joy with strength—the joy is an inspiration of energy. By the nature of things joy is exhilarating, while pain is depressing.

John 15:11 ESV

11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

Proclaim the Gospel

God’s Word carries us from repentance to Joy!

3. God’s Word calls us to joyful obedience. (8:11-12)

Nehemiah 8:11–12 ESV

11 So the Levites calmed all the people, saying, “Be quiet, for this day is holy; do not be grieved.” 12 And all the people went their way to eat and drink and to send portions and to make great rejoicing, because they had understood the words that were declared to them.

God’s Word reveals that the people of God experienced great joy and gladness because they had received and understood God’s Word.

But understand this....They weren’t joyful because they attained a new head knowledge of God. No, the true joy came in trusting God’s Word and being obedient to what it called them to do.

That is the basis for real joy.

We cannot expect to experience joy if we are living contrary to God’s Word.

We cannot expect to experience joy if we aren’t living in joyful obedience to God’s Word.

Scripture learned is useless until it is Scripture lived.

To know and not to do; is not to know at all.

Centuries later a class of scribes arose in Jesus’ day who sought to follow the Law, but not from the heart. With full heads but empty hearts, these scribes attempted to teach the Word, which prompted Jesus to say,

Matthew 15:8 ESV

8 “ ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;

May that never be said of us. It wasn’t true of these Israelites.

They went away in obedience to celebrate God’s Holy Day. Crying has turned to rejoicing. But notice that in their obedience they cared for those among them who were less fortunate.

Charles Spurgeon once said,

“The joy of the Lord should be observed throughout our neighbourhood, and many who might otherwise have been careless of true religion will then enquire, “What makes these people glad, and creates such happy households?” Your joy shall thus be God’s missionary.”

God’s Word convicts us concerning our need for repentance.

God’s Word carries us from repentance to Joy!

God’s Word calls us to joyful obedience!

Conclusion:

We shall count it to have been a successful morning if the people of God are made to in joyful obedience to the Lord.

My friends, if we don’t thank God for what He has done for us, and be full of joy and gladness, the world will not come to Christ.

Now, my friends, with Thanksgiving around the corner.

let us praise God we have a home in this free country;

let us praise God for His Bible;

let us praise God for the gift of His only Son;

let us praise Him that He gave up that Son freely for us all;

let us praise Him for the guidance of the Holy Spirit

and let us go out of this building with our hearts full of joy and ready to live in obedience.

Hymn of Invitation

Joy to the World