The Necessity of God's Word in Challenging Times

In 750 BC the prophet Amos warned that there would be a famine, not of food and water but of the word of God (Amos 8:11-13).

Amos 8:11–13 ESV

11 “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord God, “when I will send a famine on the land— not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. 12 They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it. 13 “In that day the lovely virgins and the young men shall faint for thirst.

In 700 BC Isaiah warned that the nation would abandon the word of God and be taken into captivity (Isaiah 8:19-20).

Isaiah 8 ESV

1 Then the Lord said to me, “Take a large tablet and write on it in common characters, ‘Belonging to Maher-shalal-hash-baz.’ 2 And I will get reliable witnesses, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah, to attest for me.” 3 And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the Lord said to me, “Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz; 4 for before the boy knows how to cry ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria.” 5 The Lord spoke to me again: 6 “Because this people has refused the waters of Shiloah that flow gently, and rejoice over Rezin and the son of Remaliah, 7 therefore, behold, the Lord is bringing up against them the waters of the River, mighty and many, the king of Assyria and all his glory. And it will rise over all its channels and go over all its banks, 8 and it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass on, reaching even to the neck, and its outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel.” 9 Be broken, you peoples, and be shattered; give ear, all you far countries; strap on your armor and be shattered; strap on your armor and be shattered. 10 Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing; speak a word, but it will not stand, for God is with us. 11 For the Lord spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying: 12 “Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. 13 But the Lord of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. 14 And he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 15 And many shall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken.” 16 Bind up the testimony; seal the teaching among my disciples. 17 I will wait for the Lord, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him. 18 Behold, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion. 19 And when they say to you, “Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living? 20 To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn. 21 They will pass through the land, greatly distressed and hungry. And when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against their king and their God, and turn their faces upward. 22 And they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into thick darkness.

Isaiah 8:20 ESV

To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn.

Ezra writes of Zerubbabel leading 50,000 Jewish exiles back to Israel after 70 years of captivity and beginning to rebuild in 538 BC (Book of Ezra 1-6). In 458 BC a second group of 4-5,000 returned with Ezra to finish the temple and bring spiritual reform (Ezra 7-10). In 444 BC Nehemiah comes to rebuild the walls and in the Book of Nehemiah 8:1-12, Ezra reads the Law and there is great revival.

The Church is always at the precipice, always on the verge of going over the cliff, always tempted to abandon their first love, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Without any doubt, this is most often due to the neglect of the personal reading and study of the Bible. It is not a lack of Bibles, it is not a lack owning a Bible, it is a lack of spending time in the Bible. Even those who attend faithful, bible teaching churches are in danger of falling into spiritual apathy because they are not committed to the daily, personal habit of worshipping the Lord by opening their bible and feasting on its spiritual riches.

There are great moments of spiritual revival throughout the history of God’s people and we would do well to study these revivals because they almost always begin with a return to the reading and study and obeying of God’s word.

Nehemiah 8 ESV

1 And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the Water Gate. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses that the Lord had commanded Israel. 2 So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could understand what they heard, on the first day of the seventh month. 3 And he read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law. 4 And Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden platform that they had made for the purpose. And beside him stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah on his right hand, and Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam on his left hand. 5 And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people, and as he opened it all the people stood. 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. 7 Also Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, the Levites, helped the people to understand the Law, while the people remained in their places. 8 They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading. 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. 13 On the second day the heads of fathers’ houses of all the people, with the priests and the Levites, came together to Ezra the scribe in order to study the words of the Law. 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. 18 And day by day, from the first day to the last day, he read from the Book of the Law of God. They kept the feast seven days, and on the eighth day there was a solemn assembly, according to the rule.

(1) The Bible was at the center of the revival

James Montgomery Boice, preaching on Psalm 119 and the word of God

“Calvin had no weapon but the Bible…. Calvin preached from the Bible every day, and under the power of that preaching the city began to be transformed. As the people of Geneva acquired knowledge of God’s Word and were changed by it, the city became, as John Knox called it later, a New Jerusalem from which the gospel spread to the rest of Europe, England, and the New World.

—JAMES MONTGOMERY BOICE

Excerpt From: Steven J. Lawson. “The Expository Genius of John Calvin.” Reformation Trust Publishing, 2007.

It was a bible saturated day

Charles Spurgeon - I would rather speak five words out of this book than 50,000 words of the philosophers. If we want revivals, we must revive our reverence for the Word of God. If we want conversions, we must put more of God’s Word into our sermons.

The word was read from morning until midday, from 6am until noon.

I realize that beauty is skin deep but boring is to the bone but in many ways preaching is more a comment on the people than on the preacher.

Have you had a good night’s rest? Have you prayerfully prepared your heart for worship? Are you coming with your heart open and a desire to see the Lord magnified and exalted?

If you come to church with only a tiny thimble, don’t be surprised that it gets so full so fast. Come to church with a bucket and ask the Lord to pour His truth into your life with power and force!

(2) The Bible was taught with authority

Nehemiah 8:4–5 ESV

4 And Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden platform that they had made for the purpose. And beside him stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah on his right hand, and Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam on his left hand. 5 And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people, and as he opened it all the people stood.

Ezra stood on a wooden platform made “for that purpose.” They did what was necessary to proclaim the word.

13 men, probably priests stood with him

Ezra preached the Law, the first five books of the bible.

The word of God is the highest authority, it has reverence, it has power.

In Matthew 7:28 Jesus taught with authority

The apostle Paul spoke with authority.

During the Reformation when salvation by grace alone through faith alone was proclaimed, they also proclaimed that it was by Scripture alone.

They taught that the message of scripture was sovereign - sovereign over the people and sovereign over the preacher. They taught that the pulpit was the throne of God and from this throne God alone was to have authority.

Pastor Martin Lloyd Jones - Any study of church history and any study of the revivals demonstrates one fact: The Christian Church spoke with authority.

All the people stood - Our authority is the word of God. It is not necessary to always stand for the reading of the word of God but it is a reminder that we need to check our posture before the Lord. Have you lost sight of the importance of God’s word? Has the word of God lost it’s power to guide you and direct you? Are you standing on the outside but sitting on the inside?

(3) The Bible led to the God exalting and emotion raising worship of the people

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.

The Lord was magnified. God was great and the people were small.

Author Sinclair Ferguson said of pastor Thomas Hooker that when he stood in the pulpit he preached such a great and holy God that it seemed like the evil king could be stuffed in his pocket.

Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God.

The people responded Amen, Amen

How big is your God? When was the last time you were overwhelmed with the greatness of our God?

When was the last time you deliberately humbled yourself before our great and gracious King and simple recognized his complete control over your life?

When God is high the people are low. When we are full of ourselves and filled with self satisfaction we lose sight of God’s rightful place on His throne.

(4) The Bible properly studied brings joyful revival

Nehemiah 8:7–10 ESV

7 Also Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, the Levites, helped the people to understand the Law, while the people remained in their places. 8 They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading. 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.”

they helped the people to understand the law - to put it into practice

they read and explained it so that it was clear and made sense

From the mind to the emotions to the will

The people wept but the Nehemiah reminded them that the goal of revival and recommitment is joy

Authentic Christianity is concerned first and foremost with the truthful teaching of God’s word producing a change in the mind that produces a change of emotions and always produces a change of behavior. We call this repentance.

By 30 AD the Gospel writers state that once again the word of God had been abandoned for tradition and the predicted Messiah rejected (John 5:39).

By 98 AD, the apostle John writes in Revelation 2 that the church in Ephesus had lost their first love.

We must watch out for the slow and subtle slide of the heart that slowly grows cold to the word of God.

Can I persuade you to come back to the word of God? To come back to the Lord and to seek his face? To allow the word of God to challenge you and to change you?

Let’s pray