Sermons

Good morning. Can I ask you please to open your Bibles to Nehemiah chapter 8? Nehemiah chapter 8. Last week we talked a little bit about reformation. There was a great movement, a great return of the people 90 years previous to Jerusalem. The people were excited at that time. The people came with purpose at that time to see something reestablished, to see once more an altar built, once more sacrifices able to take place. in Jerusalem. There was a reformation of religion, a restoration of something that had been prescribed but been lost, and now it was being brought back.

And in Nehemiah chapter 7, the people were read a historical census about the group that came back those 90 years before with all of their ambition and hanging in the air is in anticipation that there is more reformation to happen. If then they came back to the book, they came back to really the altar, the place of sacrifice, there is more to be realized, there is more to be done. And Nehemiah 8, where we go this morning, we find out what it was that was restored. But there's something additional that's happening in Nehemiah 8. There is this great restoration of something. We'll see in a moment. A returning to something that we'll see in a moment. A hunger and longing for something that we'll see in a moment. And at the same time, there is another R in the air. Not just reformation, but revival.

There is a movement of revival taking place in Nehemiah chapter 8. Revival is one of those words that is part of America's history. You can't understand American history apart from understanding that revival is a significant thing that has shaped the culture of America. And at the same time, a lot of conservative Christians, when they hear the word revival, they start to panic because it's associated with all of the worst sorts of manipulative religion. Now, here's what I want you to understand before you panic at the word. There is true revival. And there is what Iain Murray dubs revivalism, a man-made, man-orchestrated attempt to manipulate the emotions to get response.

And I want us to see those as distinct and different. One is a corrupt, man-made, man-orchestrated emotionalism that is fostered and one is a true, kind movement of God to make people on mass aware of their sinful condition and aware of the gracious work of Jesus Christ. And so, in significant numbers, to begin to worship Him accordingly, to give Him the praise that He is due. The Bible tells us the Spirit blows where it pleases. This is not something that can be manipulated. This is something that is a kind, gracious act of God that sometimes He blesses a time and society with.

And all through history, there have been these kind expressions of God-driven revival. And Nehemiah is one of the biblical examples that we can go back to where we see that action of God to revive a sensitivity to the word and the things of God en masse in a moment. So can I ask you to stand while we read Nehemiah 8, and see both reformation and revival, and then we'll pray. Nehemiah 8 and reading from verse one.

(Scripture reading) "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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading. (End)

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. 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.” So, the Levites calmed all the people, saying, “Be quiet, for this day is holy; do not be grieved.” 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.

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. 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, 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.” 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. 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. 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."

Let's pray.

(Prayer) Heavenly Father, we want to acknowledge as we come to Your holy Word, that there is much in this story that seems so unfamiliar. We're talking about a different world, a different time, a different culture, a different context, and yet, Lord, we see the same Holy Spirit move in kindness to revive Your people and to establish in them an appetite for You, for true religion. And so, Lord, we ask that through the hearing of the word that You would grant us understanding and that You would move our hearts to the things that they ought to be set on, that You would stir true God-fearing emotion in us, that You would grant us that gift of joy knowing the Lord indeed is our strength. And Lord, You would empower us to be a people excited by You and determined to live for You in this life. So, Lord, You know the coldness and apathy that we have brought into the room this morning, but we thank You that the Spirit is able to warm hearts and to set them aflame for the things of God once more. And so, we appeal that through the proclamation of Your Word, You would accomplish that among us and then use us to share the good news with the world around us. For it's in Jesus' name we pray, amen. (End)

Have a seat.

Well, again, here in Nehemiah chapter 8 are a people who have just heard a census, a historical census. A history lesson has been proclaimed to remind them about that reformation, as we said, that took place 90 years before. And the effect that it had among the people is it filled them with anticipation. As they heard about a great movement of God among the people in the past, that He restored them back to the land, that He allowed sacrifices once more to be offered, it caused them to long for it again.

Let it be, Lord. Let it happen once more. Let us be a people in this generation that long for the book to shape our life, that long for a true reformation to take place first in our own hearts and then among us as a people. May there be a genuine hunger after you and a genuine, as we see here in Nehemiah 8, coming under the book.

The other thing that's going on at this particular time is not just a history lesson, but in this particular moment we have a national religious holiday. A national religious holiday in Jerusalem on this given day. Did you notice it? There's a time stamp in verse two. Look at the end of verse two. We are told this takes place on the first day of the seventh month.

That's not a mistake. We're told in the Torah, the law, the first five books of the Bible, that which will be read by Ezra to the people in a moment. We are told there that this day was significant. And Ezra is one who has been teaching the law, made sure that the things required by the law were done.

The religious festivals took place. Leviticus 23, 23 to 25 records this great event. It says, Leviticus 23, 23, "and the Lord spoke to Moses saying, speak to the people of Israel saying the seventh month on the first day of the month, (there's our time stamp,) you shall observe a day of solemn rest, a memorial proclaimed with blast of trumpets, a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work, and you shall present a food offering to the Lord." And Numbers 29 will also speak about this great day. So, all that to say, this is a national holiday. You know whenever we have a holiday, what do you do? Labor Day, what do you do?

Well, nothing, that's the point. The people are not at work. They're not building walls. They're not in the fields. They have, for the first time in a long time, time. And what's important in this moment is what they do with that time. Look at verse one. And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the water gates. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses that the Lord had commanded Israel. You see what's taking place here. The people have time and the people long for that reformation.

It's not Ezra that's come up with a clever way to hook the attention of the congregation like a clever preacher. Nor is it Nehemiah who's trying to manipulate some moral social reform among the people he has governorship over. Rather, what has taken place is a national holiday, and the people are talking, and the people feel a longing to hear the book. In other words, where does this revival start? Well ultimately with God, but where does God drive the movement? Well through the laity, through the ordinary people of the nation. It's not a man-made thing. It's not even a preacher thing. It's a laity thing. It's them that are hungering for this.

All the people we read in verse 1, they are the ones who told Ezra to come and read the book. It was initiated by the people. This is a spirit of seeking after the Lord. The Lord says, doesn't He, so kindly in His words, those who seek Me will find Me when they seek Me with all their heart. Well, here are the people, and they are seeking, not just individually, and in collection, they are seeking the Lord. They have a day off, and what do they want? Church. That's a good example, isn't it? In fact, not just church, the sermon. Give us a sermon. That's how they want to spend their day off.

This was a lay-led movement. Mark Noll said that the first great awakening was America's first truly nationalistic event and that it shaped the national identity. It was the first time that really something happened that made America distinct, that began to form a particular culture in this nation. Historians are united, even secular historians, in saying that that event was probably the greatest shaping event of the 18th century here in America. There's a lady, Marilyn Westerkamp. She published a book; it was really her PhD thesis that was published by Oxford University Press called The Triumph of the Laity. And I think it was published in the early 90s. So, it's an incredible read because the case that she makes is that the first great awakening wasn't something that was brought about by George Whitefield. It wasn't brought about by Jonathan Edwards. It wasn't brought about by Gilbert Tennant or any of these other significant preachers that were certainly used by God at that time.

Rather, it was a movement of the laity. It was ordinary people, in particular the Scots Irish, those from the north of Ireland, that had experienced a revival a generation before. And that revival was cruelly squashed out by the royal family in London. And they got on boats and they came across to America, but they brought with them this hunger that this longing for a movement of God once more among the colonies. And they were the ones praying. And they were the ones seeking preachers to minister and calling people to come, not into church buildings, but into town squares to hear the word expounded and the challenge of your sinful condition and need to hear about the cross-work of Jesus Christ. They were the ones that really drove and fueled the movement.

Obviously, it was God that caused it to be, but he kindly used the ordinary Christian individuals to bring people under the sound of the word, and through that to see the character of a nation changed. True revival doesn't fit a church calendar. It can't be manipulated.

Rather, it is a work of the Spirit where He grows a hunger a determination in the heart of ordinary Christians, not preachers, ordinary Christians sitting in their seats to long for more of God, to long to be conformed to the Word of God more themselves. And it is they who pray, and it is they who seek. And it is they who hunger, and it is they that God uses to bring about true revival movement. An insatiable appetite among the ordinary members of the church to know more of who God is, and especially to know Him through the word preached.

It's a rare spirit, isn't it? It has to come from God. That after a long sermon, the congregation would sit up and say, preacher, give us more. Get back up there, rather than where are we going for lunch? It's so different from the way we normally think, because again, it's an appetite that the Spirit is kind to grant amongst people in particular in that time. And it happens as ordinary people seek after Him.

True revival, again, there is a false revivalism, but true revival is not primarily seen through what the meeting looks like, but what the people look like. What the people look like. And that's what we see here in Nehemiah chapter 8. The first thing I want you to see, we're going to see three marks of true revival, and the first mark that is important in true revival is the ear of true revival. The ear of true revival. And again, we're thinking about how do ordinary people whose hearts have been revived, how do they look? What do they look like? So, the ear of true revival. Because really what drives the first part of this chapter is hearing. It is a listening exercise. So, what are they hearing? What are they hearing?

Well, very simply, scripture. Scripture, verses 1 to 6 make that abundantly clear. In fact, all the way through this particular chapter, chapter 8, the word Torah, or translated law, speaking of the first five books of the Bible, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, the foundation upon which Israel's religious practice was based, it appears nine times. The words in verse 1, verse 2, verse 3, verse 7, verse 8, verse 9, verse 13, verse 14, and verse 18. Whenever something is repeated in such quick succession, that tells you it's important.

And you cannot understand chapter 8 without realizing that what is taking place is a coming back to the book. And even more than that, a coming under the book. That's what's driving this. Again, it's not smoke machines or lights or music or anything else. It's the Word, Torah, the Law. It's a coming to the book. That's what's bringing about this great transformation. The people are hearing. The people ask to hear the Word of God. The people are hungry for the Word of God. The people are affected by the Word of God. They call Ezra in verses 1 and 2 to come and to preach the Word. Why Ezra? Well, for thirteen years this is what he had been doing. Back in Ezra chapter 7 verse 10, we were told about Ezra. This was the pattern of his life. He gave himself to studying the Word and preaching it and proclaiming it to the people.

He's been doing it for 13 years, but for 13 years the congregation has been a little haphazard. Sometimes they're there, sometimes they're not. Sometimes they're listening, sometimes they're sleeping. They're an ordinary group of people, of religious people.

They go through the motions of coming and hearing Ezra, but what Ezra has done for 13 years is faithfully got up and expounded the word. And after 13 years, very ordinary faithfulness, the people come and build a pulpit and lock him in it and say, we need to hear. They picked Ezra to preach because Ezra had done it so faithfully for so long. And so, look at verse two.

The assembly is made up of men and women. and all who could understand what they heard." In other words, there's no segregation in this congregation. It's anybody. If you can understand words, you were there. Maybe some were coloring in, but they were there, and they were listening.

I think sometimes this act that we do right here at this point in our service can feel like such an intellectual thing, and we can fall into the trap of treating it as that, that only the old and wise can follow it. Friends, the only reason this works is because God is so kind to condescend and use weak things of this world to proclaim his word. And that's why, in God's grace, a work can be done in the four-year-old as much as it can be done in the 94-year-old in the context of a service like this. It's not the preacher, it's the spirit. and his kindness to work through a means but that he has ordained.

I wanna say to parents, sometimes I know it is hard to have your children with you in church. I know. There's just certain days their noses are more snotty than others. And they need the potty more than others. And they fidget and move more than others, but the Lord works. It may be that a sentence or two is all that is caught, but what a kind thing that through the proclaimed word the Lord works. That's why we want this to be a whole church activity. Verse three goes even further.

It highlights the tolerance of the people because the sermon that's described is a long one. Five to six hours and you thought I was long. Five to six hours long. Well, I thought this morning that's what we would do. No, I'm only joking. Only joking.

But look at what verse 3 says about how the people respond to this long sermon. It says, 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, attentive to the book of the law. Now, obviously, God is at work, but from a human point of view, this long sermon that is affecting all ages is affecting them first and foremost in rapt attention to what is being said.

They are attentive. They are hanging on the Word. They want more. They're not missing anything. Why? Why? Because again, remember the climate. They want to hear God speak. 90 years before that historical census, God did something wonderful. We want him to do something wonderful again. How's that gonna happen? Well, it can only happen, the people realize, if God is heard. And so, they commit themselves to what is altogether important, to come under the sign of the preached word, to give their full attention to that, knowing that in this moment, in the place of word proclamation, God will affect His people. Friends, I know coming on Sunday morning can be a hard thing. You maybe didn't get the sleep you should have got last night. Maybe you didn't eat properly yesterday. You got too much sun and you're a little faint. I don't know. It can be difficult to come and to pay attention to God's Word on any given Sunday, but it is altogether impossible if we don't recognize that what we are doing is a special act.

That here as we come in these moments, we don't hear the words of Andrew Curry, because what good would that do? We come in this moment; we seek to give attention because God in His kindness in this moment speaks. And we come with ears open and ready to hear. In verse 5, look at verse 5, you see something of the, not just eagerness to hear, but the reverence, the respect for God's Word. And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people. And he opened it, and the people stood. We do that sometimes, don't we? We stand for the reading of the Word.

It was a long stand this morning, but you did it well. There's no prescription here. We don't stand because we have to, because God's Word says you must stand. It doesn't. In fact, Mary, what did she do? She sat at the feet of Jesus while He taught. There's not a right or wrong way to do this.

But there is a tone, whether it's sitting or whether it's standing, that is right. And it's a tone of reverence. Again, there is a dignity to this moment, not because of the person who is preaching, but because it is a God-ordained means by which he speaks to his people. And so, when God's word is read, whether we stand or whether we sit, there should be a heart posture of reverence. The Almighty. is about to speak. And so, I give my full respect, my full attention. I'm filled with longing to hear what he will say. This is not an ordinary event. We do this every week. In fact, as a church, every time we gather, we preach. Why? Well, it's not because it's ordinary. It's because it's extraordinary.

The Lord God Almighty will speak to us through His word read and proclaimed. And when that word is truly heard, look at verse six. Look at what it does in the hearts of people. 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 they worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. When the word is heard, this is what it does.

It provokes worship. It provokes worship. When the musicians were up here leading us in song, were we worshiping? Yes. But right now, as we sit in silence or scribble notes and listen attentively to the Word, are we worshiping? Well, we ought to be. We ought to be. I can't determine what's happening in your heart, but this is worship. It's meant to be worship.

In fact, there's a reason we structure our service the way we do, that the preached Word is the climax of our worship service. Everything else is leading up to this moment, and it makes sense. What a joy to pray at the beginning of our service and to ask the Lord to move and to work amongst us, to recognize that there is an Almighty before whom we come. And it is right and it is appropriate that we sing praise to Him And yet we are building through the whole service to this moment where most acutely we get to listen, to hear the voice of God through the word proclaimed.

Listening is not a passive act, that's what I'm trying to say. If you just come to church and listen and then go, even if you just come to church to get some more facts, some more knowledge and just go, you haven't listened right. You know you've listened right when you leave here with a heart left to hide towards God. When the effect of the word is not intellectual knowledge, but a heart that is aflame for him.

Notice the goal of hearing as well in verses seven and eight. What is it that is being sought after? Well, the end of verse seven says that the Levites, they help the people to understand the law, to understand the law. Understanding is our great goal. That's what we're after. That's what we want. That's what we seek.

The idea in verse seven of all of these different names is, again, this is a time and world before microphones and speakers. You've heard already this morning the, as this hits my beard, which clearly needs to be shaved tighter. And what a grace it is that you can hear. Maybe you don't think it's a grace, but it's a grace.

But this is a massive nation. Well, a growing nation. There are tens of thousands of people that are there to hear this Word. How are they going to do it? Well, they do it through this network. It's like a game of telephone. Ezra reads and proclaims, and then there are others to read and proclaim that same message to make sure that everybody hears.

But more than that, not just hears the Word read, but verse 7 understands, understands what is read. This isn't a mystical thing. There's a lot of people in this nation read the Bible with great devotion, but there's a hope that they have that it will in some way mystically affect them. Maybe there's a lot of people in this church, you read your Bible every morning without really thinking because there's a hope that it will mystically affect you. That's not how it works. That's a waste of your time. unless in the quiet time there is a seeking to understand the Word and the implication it has for your life. The great goal is understanding. And how is that brought about?

Well, the means of hearing here, the means of understanding is this act of preaching. Look at verse eight. They read from the book, from the law of God clearly, and they gave the sense. so that the people understood the reading. This is a great model of what we call expository preaching.

The text is read clearly, and that's a hard word to translate, but the idea there, I think, is section by section, logical chunks. where it makes sense to pause and then explain. So, it's read section by section and then the preacher gives a sense of it. In other words, they explain it. They make it clear to the people what it is saying. And even more, they were told, so that the people understood the reading. They understand the call, the implications of this Word to their life.

That's what preaching is meant to be. Read, explain, exhort, so that the people know what God expects of them. That's what preaching is meant to do. This is what we call expository preaching. Going section by section, explaining and exhorting the people to live in light of what God is calling them to. This is really the difference between liberal preaching and true preaching. Liberal preaching seeks to cause an effect, an emotion, something clever to happen in the hearts or minds of the people. True preaching is much more simple.

It just reads, explains, and allows that to be the basis of exhortation. If you, when we have a number of men here who are preaching in so many different contexts, and nursing homes, and halfway houses, and are different ministries in the church, you want to know how to do it, then this is it. Please just explain the text. Explain the text. We don't need clever things. We need people to explain the text.

And when we do that, because it's God's Word we're explaining, great things happen. That's also the difference between true and false. Revival. Ian Murray, his book Revival and Revivalism, he explains that true revivals are marked by certain common graces. Prayer, preaching, and a centrality on the word. That's what marks true revival. Whereas revivalism relies on human techniques.

The right key to be played in the music. The right hang at the end of the sermon. The right spirit of follow-up on the altar call. It's a man-orchestrated event. The true revival is Word-centered. It's not coming through an experience primarily of a feeling, but through an experience of understanding. So that's the ear. Secondly, and we'll go quicker, the heart of true revival. The heart of true revival.

Verses nine to 12. We have this strange episode at first. It's hard at first to read it and get exactly what is going on here. Because what happens in verse nine is we're told the report. God's word was read and preached. It was explained. And do you know what it did to the people? It made them cry. It caused them to weep. It broke them completely.

But what then happens in verses 9 to 12 is we're told the teachers weren't happy with that. In fact, the preachers told them to wise up and instead be joyful and instead go out and feast. Now imagine if you came to me after the service, broken over your sin, and I said, go to Raising Cane's and order a bucket of chicken and eat your heart out. It doesn't sound very religious, does it?

So there has to be more going on here. I think, first of all, we're reminded about the effect of true preaching. True preaching is not just that which scares you. Sometimes I think in our particular reformed conservative context, that's what we think. The best preaching is that which checks you. It's not. May start there. But true preaching seeks to bring comfort to the soul. And if we stop at just conviction, we haven't preached. We've done half a message. We've got part A, but we've missed part B. And that, I think, is a concern here in verses 9 to 12.

The people do begin to have joy, and they do begin to feast. According to verse 12, it says, because the people understood. They had understood the words that were declared to them. In other words, what truly brought joy to them was the Word, the words. So, what was it they understood? What were the words they understood? Well, it was the message of Scripture, in particular of the Torah. The law did expose their sin, but it also highlighted God's way of dealing with sin.

You have Genesis 3.15, that He would crush the serpent's head. You have Genesis 12, verse 3, that He would bless the descendants of Abraham and the nations through the coming seed, that there would be one greater than Moses that would come. And even more than that, the Torah is laden with descriptions of the loving kindness of God and His ability to and desire to persist with a wayward people. He is the covenant-making God, the promise-making, promise-keeping God.

And so, the word fully understood, even the law fully understood, didn't simply expose sin. It was designed to foster hope in the promise-making God. Look at the title, let's repeat it. It's the capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D. It's there three times in these few verses. In other words, the promise-making, promise-keeping God is central. How are we meant to have joy when our sin is exposed?

Because of Yahweh. Because of the Lord. That's our hope. That's what changes the circumstances. He alone is the source of joy. He fosters true joy. Now look at verse 10. Do not be grieved for the joy of the Lord. Think of joy, it is sourced in the Lord. That is our strength. In other words, in God, because of who God is, because of the nature of God, there is for crushed sinners joy to be found. There is hope. The law does not simply crush but it fosters hope by making clear that a holy God has a holy plan to save a people for himself.

And in fact, notice as well in verses nine to 12, there is a stress on Yahweh absolutely, but also on what is called by these preachers, the day that is holy. It's there in verse nine, this day is holy. Verse 10, for this day is holy. And again, in verse 11, for this day is holy.

What day is holy? Well, do you remember the timestamp there in verse two? What did we say? The first day of the seventh month. That's the day, very literally, that's being called holy. The first day of the seventh month. I mentioned it's there in Leviticus, but that day is spoken about as well in Numbers 29. Numbers 29 verses 1 to 6. This is what it says, on the first day of the seventh month, this particular day, you shall have a holy convocation. There's our word holy.

You shall not do any ordinary work. It is a day for you to blow the trumpets. And you shall offer a burnt offering. for a pleasing aroma to the Lord. One bull from the herd, one ram, seven male lambs, a year old without blemish, also their grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil, three-tenths of anifa for the bulls, two-tenths for the ram, and one-tenth for each of the seven lambs, with one male goat for a sin offering to make atonement for you.

You see what's mentioned right in the heart. In fact, not just mentioned, what was taking place on that day. While Ezra preached, the temple courts are covered in blood. Why? Because the law of God didn't just expose sin, it pointed to God's solution for sin. Atonement through sacrifice. That's why this was a holy day. A day set apart. Because it wasn't a day to simply be made to feel guilty. It was a day to be reminded of atonement.

To be reminded that God through sacrifice saves. So again, this is not a wallowing sermon. This is a, the law exposes your sin sermon but also causes you to run to the reality that through sacrifice, God has made a way of atonement. I mentioned that revival in the north of Ireland that spurred on the first great awakening a generation after it started in 1623, the Six Mile Water Revival.

And the story of how it started, it spread very quickly, but it started with a preacher that was trained in Glasgow, James Glendinning. And James Glendinning came and he was an odd, quirky character that the other preachers didn't quite know what to do with, so they put him out in the middle of nowhere.

And he started to preach, but he preached only the law, only your sin. And the people broke and wallowed. The whole town stopped operating and moving. The people just sat in tears because James Glendinning, he preached with earnestness the fallen state of the people, but that's where he stopped.

And it was only later when Josiah Welsh, who was the grandson of John Knox, came to that same village and he saw how hapless and helpless the people were, that he proclaimed the rest of the message. He proclaimed grace. And the people, broken by their sins, suddenly heard of the remedy and the hope. And en masse came to put their trust in God, and through that earnest transformation of heart, the message spread and other lives were affected.

That's where it began. It's not enough to scare. It's not enough to tremble. It's not enough for people to feel their sin. They must know the glory of atonement. True revival is not one based simply on fear. It is marked by joy. And true religion is the same. It is not driven by fear alone. It is driven by joy. We find joy in the Lord. Yes, we fear God, but there is a joy in knowing that the one we fear is also the one who calls us His Father, our Father. who calls us his children, who tells us that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Do you have a serious religion, but a joyless one? That's wrong. That's half the message. And it needs to be corrected, because while the law proclaims you are a sinner, it also proclaims the Lord is one who makes a way of atonement.

Now, Jonathan Edwards viewed joy as a genuine mark of awakening. If there has been deep conviction, it then moves towards tasting forgiveness and knowing the love of God, and that is a joyful thing. So, is your religion a joyful one? The ear, the heart, and the hands of true revival.

What happens at the end of the chapter is the Torah is read again, it's being explained as they go, the people are thinking about what they hear and the implication it has. And what happens in verse 16 is the word is proclaimed, especially this particular festival of tabernacles or festival of booths, and the way it was originally prescribed to take place, and most likely the people were doing something.

But they weren't doing it exactly as the law prescribed. They weren't certainly building these structures. They were probably taking time off work. There was probably activity at the temple, but they weren't building these temporary structures that reminded them of the wilderness wanderings, the way the Torah called them to.

But what happens in verse 16 is they do hear it, and immediately they do it. That's the mark of revival. Revival, when we have been truly affected, shows itself in action. It is 1 John 5, verse 3. This is love for God, that we keep his commandments. And here, as we come to the end of chapter eight, is a very simple point that is not to be missed. Hearts that have been revived to truly love God are hearts that do. Hearts that are affected are hearts that perform action.

It's not that you do and that's what qualifies you, but it's a heart that is genuinely touched by God, that cares about the things of God, that revels and rejoices in who God is, will, when they hear His voice, put the things into practice. True revival is not a tingly, emotional feeling, it brings about lasting change. True revival is not being in church and suddenly, because the preacher has shouted out loud, you feel convicted and then you go about your normal life. True revival insists that your life is brought into conformity with the book. My dad is the pastor of Ballymena Baptist Church.

That church was founded in 1860, and it was founded because there was a revival in that part of Ireland in 1859. And there were so many people converted, so many people saved that a new church had to be built to house them. In other words, it wasn't just a fleeting moment. These people, on an ongoing basis, desired to know more and to worship more God the way he called them to. W.P. Nicholson, the American, he went over to Ireland. He had a very prominent ministry in Ireland.

There was a revival that took place at the beginning of the 20th century there amongst the working class in Belfast. The majority of working class then were working in the shipyards. And so many men were genuinely affected that they had to build what were called the Nicholson Sheds on the shipyard. These big warehouses to house all of the return tools that the converted men now brought back to the shipyard. They didn't just feel different; their life was different. There was real change that true revival brought.

If the word is correctly understood in a true spirit of revival, people listen carefully that they can carefully put it into practice. Friend, does God's word affect your life? That's a very simple implication here. Does God's word affect your life? Now we've said time and time again, true revival, that movement of God among a mass of people is a work of the spirit and the spirit blows where it pleases.

We should long to see it, but we cannot manipulate it. However, Personal revival is something that you can seek. You can come to this place on Sunday morning with an ear for the word. You can pray and covet a heart that genuinely, not just lives in fear because of their sin, but is able to go beyond that through understanding the gracious work of Jesus Christ to find joy before the Lord and worship Him accordingly. And personal revival also is marked by hands and feet that when they hear the word of God, insist on being doers of the word that put these things into practice. Is that you? Do those three marks, are they seen in you? Not by everybody else, but genuinely, do you know these to be true of your life? Is this you?

If not, if not, here and now, pray and ask that God would be your vision, that God would be your drive, that he would be your appetite, ask Him to cultivate the ear that longs to understand the Word, a heart that is able to find joy in Him, and hands and feet that insist on living it out.

Let's pray.

(Prayer) Heavenly Father, we ask that you would help us as we continue to worship through song, that the words that we are about to sing would not be empty, but Lord, you indeed would be our drive and vision, that we would not come to this place simply to get a little hope for the week, but we would come with longing to see more of who you are and what you want from us. So, we ask, Lord, that you would be gracious to work amongst us to bring glory to your son, for it's in his name we pray, amen. (End)

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