We're going to be looking at parts of chapters
eight, nine, and 10, and think about the theme
of living on the edge with indifference, indifference.
I pastored in the Cincinnati area in the 1970s,
and it was during that time that the big red
machine was so effective in wiping out ball teams
from across the country, including some in this
area. Something happened to the big red machine
along the way somewhere. The wheel sort of came
off and it got dismantled. But I'll tell you
back in those days to go to that ballpark and
watch those guys play to see Pete Rose and Johnny
Bench and those other guys play with something.
It's just one of those things that you had to
be there to really appreciate. Have you ever
noticed that about life, that it's very difficult
to expressed to someone else what you have experienced
when it's been very, very meaningful and touching
to your emotions. For example, you go to Mississippi
or to the New Orleans area right now. We had
a couple of young folks in our church who've
done that. And when I saw them last week after
coming back from their two -week tour there,
it was almost as though they had traumatic stress
syndrome on their faces. Next Sunday, in fact,
we're going to be in conversation with them during
this service as they try to share with us what
they saw and what they experienced there. But
I know what they're going to say. You just have
to see it yourself to believe it. What we're
looking at today in Nehemiah is one of those
occasions. It was October the 2nd, 445 BC. The
great project to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem
was completed. In only 52 days, the workers were
able to rebuild the wall under the leadership
of Nehemiah and under the good hand of God which
was upon them. The workers on this day put the
final stone into place. That last gate was put
into its setting and so once more the city of
Jerusalem was protected from its enemies. It
was an awesome day. You just had to have been
there. The pagans were watching. They were demoralized
and fearful because of what they saw happen.
They knew that this could only be done with God's
help and that God was now with his people. After
they had finished that work, the workers settled
back into their own villages. But something was
wrong. The wall was done, but somehow the people
were unsettled in their spirit. A great work
had been accomplished, but there was an emptiness
that was within them. They had done God's work.
And now God was at work in them, preparing them
spiritually for the repair of their spiritual
relationship with him. Less than a week later
on October the 8th, which was New Year's Day
actually for the civil calendar of that nation,
there was a large congregation that gathered
again within the walls of the city. we read about
it at the beginning of chapter eight. When the
seventh month came and the Israelites had settled
in their towns, all the people assembled as one
man in the square before the water gate. They
told Ezra the scribe to bring out the book of
the law of Moses which the Lord had commanded
for Israel. And so on the first day of the seventh
month, Ezra the priest brought the law before
the assembly, which was made up of men and women
and all who were able to understand. So that
means children were there too. He read it aloud
from daybreak till noon as he faced the square
before the water gate in the presence of the
men, women, and others who could understand.
And all the people listened attentively to the
book. of the law. What seems apparent here is
that they had done this work for God and now
they began to realize in their hearts that they
needed a different kind of work. God had helped
them to rebuild the physical walls of the city
but they needed a work done in their hearts,
in their relationship. with God. Have you ever
noticed that things naturally dissipate or decay
or grow more random or they lose their energy?
Yes, I know, I feel that way too as I get older.
I lose my energy, don't you? But take a tea kettle.
It boils the water in there as long as the heat
is on but turns the heat off, what happens? Well,
it gradually cools down. Or you get yourself
lined up there and you're gonna take a shot at
this little white ball that's down in that little
piece of wood on the ground before you. And you
take that mighty swing of yours and that ball
lofts up in the air and it drops about 10 feet
in front of you. And then it rolls another 15
feet downhill. But it stops. Why is this? Well,
it's just one of the laws of physics. It's the
law of the world in which we live. Things tend
to dissipate. Do you know that you and I can
be busy doing work for God, but still be far
from God in our hearts? and in need of spiritual
renewal. That had happened to God's people in
that day, and it still happens to God's people
today. You see, it's not enough for us to be
busy, involved in God's purposes, even good purposes.
We need something more than that. We need and
we're made to know God personally. Even Christian
service and life in the church becomes very dry
and unsatisfying apart from a growing intimate
relationship with Jesus Christ. And that doesn't
just happen. Just as you have to intentionally
turn the water on and keep it on under that tea
kettle, you have to be intentional about your
growth. and your relationship with Jesus Christ.
The Jews help us understand the spiritual journey
that's involved in this and we want to track
along with them here in this text in Nehemiah.
They give us first of all a pathway to spiritual
renewal. A pathway to spiritual renewal. Step
number one is to awaken to reality. to awaken
to reality. Now this is really assumed in our
text. It's not specifically stated, but what
we see happen here is that the hearts of God's
people began to be aware that they had a need.
You know, our hearts too easily become spiritually
cool and they drift away from the... intimate
relationship with Christ that we know at any
given point. Some of us, about a year and a half
ago, when the Life Action team was here, made
significant commitments and decisions in our
lives. But unless we have tended after those
commitments, in a year and a half, they cool
and our hearts cool. Jesus spoke to the church
at Laodicea. in Revelation chapter three. And
he said to them, I know your deeds. But he says,
you do not realize what your true heart condition
is. You see, it's possible to have all kinds
of deeds in our lives doing even good things,
things for God and for our hearts to be lukewarm.
These Jews had achieved a great success in the
rebuilding of the wall of the city, but they
knew that something was missing inside, and this
morning maybe you feel that way too. A writer
named Pam Hogwide shares her own experience in
an article from the internet. She says, at my
home group, I listened recently as one by one
each person told about his or her dissatisfaction
with church, or rather doing church. Without
any prompting from our leader, this spontaneous
time of sharing brought out into the open thoughts
of discontentment in the body of Christ. One
person said, I've been feeling really empty at
church lately. What is it? Her question floated
around the room, provoking others to attempt
to identify what it was. Someone wondered if
it was the structure of the Sunday service. We
go to church, we sit in a pew, and we listen
to a message and then go home. Someone else thought
it was all about the programs that the church
had become so good at putting together. I don't
want programs, she said. I want hospitality.
The discussion we had at my home group was not
a gripe session about the particular church we
attend. She says, we, like many others, were
giving voice to the disillusionment we find ourselves
in as the collective body of Christ. This is
like an awakening of sorts. of people who are
rousing themselves up out of the pews all over
the country and are declaring, I can't play church
anymore. There's a growing awareness, he says,
that church is not about a place or a building.
The perception of many believers I've talked
with is that American Christians have mastered
going to church rather than being the church.
One blog I sometimes check out, she says, is
hosted by a guy who grew up in a very large church.
He watched his church begin operating more like
a business than a church. He says it seems that
many of them, churches, are pushing the American
dream over the love of Jesus. Maybe there's something
like that going on in your heart this morning.
An awakening of sorts. My friend, whenever that
happens, believe me, it is the work of the Holy
Spirit. Because those kinds of thoughts don't
come from ourselves. We're prone to think the
other way. Any time there is a stirring in our
hearts, as there was here in the day of Ezra,
Nehemiah, it is the work of the Spirit of God
unsettling us, preparing us for something. Step
number two. First, awaken to reality. Do you
know what reality is in your life? Where is your
heart with God? Have you listened to your own
heart lately? Or is your life so noisy and so
busy that you really haven't had time and yet
somehow, In the din of all of that, God is at
work, and you sense being unsettled. The second
step after that is to listen to God. As you see
here, Ezra begins to read the book, verse five.
Ezra opened the book. All the people could see
him because he was standing above them, and as
he opened it, the people all stood up. And it
says, Ezra praised the Lord, the great God, and
all the people lifted their hands and responded,
amen, amen. Then they bowed down and worshiped
the Lord with their faces to the ground. It says
the Levites then, and it lists a number of them,
instructed the people in the law while the people
were standing there. They read from the book
of the law of God. making it clear and giving
the meaning so that the people could understand
what was being read, which may signify that there
were interpreters involved because people spoke
different languages. And so they were listening
to God. At the end of verse nine it says, for
all the people had been weeping as they listened
to the words of the law. They were listening
to God. I'm afraid that too often our lives are
busy. And therefore our hearts grow dull to the
voice of God and it's lost and we don't hear
him speaking to us as he once did. What must
we do? It is absolutely vital, child of God,
for you to pull away from all of the stuff. that
is now filling your heart and filling your mind
and to be intentional and to give God your undivided
attention. You must listen to God. You must get
into the word of God and open your heart and
say, oh God, speak to me. And he will. There's
first this awakening, this sense of unsettlement
that comes to your mind, and then you intentionally
listen to God. The third step of spiritual renewal
is repent of wrong. With the hearing of God's
word here, you see weeping began. As they heard
the word of God, they became aware of their sin.
There was conviction of wrongdoing in their hearts.
They were sorry. And they turned from their sin.
That's kind of interesting to me that in the
midst of the weeping, the priest stopped it.
They stepped into the situation, they said, this
is not the time to weep. We are gathered here
for the feast of tabernacles. You should not
be weeping, you should be joyful and we're going
to have a party. And so they did. They stopped
the weeping for that moment. And they observed
this feast for several days. But then, on October
the 20th, 445 BC, they again gathered, this time
for an official assembly to confess their sins
before God. And that's what chapter nine is all
about. On the 24th day of the same month, they
gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth
and having dust on their heads. These were symbols
of their repentance. And what we have in the
most part of chapter nine is a record of this
prayer that is prayed confessing their sins to
God. It is one of three great prayers of confession
in the Bible. I wish we had time to go through
it this morning, but they recount the sins of
the nation through its history. And the hard
times had come upon them as a people with their
captivity and the destruction of their city,
which they had now begun to rebuild. And in verse
33, they sort of sum it up this way, in all that
has happened to us, God, you have been just.
You have acted faithfully while we did wrong.
They repent of the wrong. But they don't stop
with the repentance. There's a fourth step that
we see in chapter 10. The fourth step to spiritual
renewal is to reorder your life, to conform to
what pleases God. In chapter 10, we have the
record of some 80 individuals who set their name
to a document. It is sealed with the seal of
the nation. And what this document basically
is, is an agreement with God. It is drawn up
and signed. The leaders commit themselves, the
people commit themselves to live differently.
They say, we're going to change our godless ways.
We're going to restructure our lives, pleasing
to God. We're going to stop intermarrying with
pagans. We're going to stop neglecting the Sabbath
day. We're going to bring the contributions that
God has commanded to the house of the Lord, and
we will not neglect, they say, the house of our
God. a reordering of the life according to God's
priorities. My friend, those are the steps to
spiritual renewal. It begins with an awakening
of the conscience and then to a new listening
to God in our hearts. That results in conviction
that comes to us and God begins to expose what
the issues are that have concern to him in our
lives and then we repent of those things and
we reorder our lives to what God wants and that,
that brings spiritual renewal. Do you need spiritual
renewal this morning? When spiritual renewal
comes, it's evident. It's not something that
you just talk about, it's something that makes
change. There are certain positive replacements
that take place in the life. Let's think about
the proof of spiritual renewal for a moment.
First of all, misery is replaced by joy. In this
great prayer, the people speak of the distress
that they feel. the distress that has come upon
them because of their sin and their rebellion
against God. But we see that distress replaced
by joy. In fact, it says great joy. There was
a joy as they were able to experience the forgiveness
of God in their lives. No longer were they weighed
down by their sins. No longer were their hearts
now convicted. but they were filled with joy
and release and fellowship with God. That's what
happens when the heart is awakened in spiritual
renewal. Misery is replaced by joy. Secondly,
indifference is replaced by enthusiasm. Indifference
is replaced by enthusiasm. It had been years
and years since any public reading of God's word,
and remember in those days they didn't have personal
Bibles like you and I are privileged to have.
The law of God was kept in scrolls, and to hear
the law of God, the scrolls had to be opened
by a priest and read. It had been years since
this had happened. There was no concern in their
lives for Sabbath observance. They had great
apathy about the work of God in the temple. There
was indifference in the hearts of the people
of God. But when spiritual renewal came, there
was enthusiasm. There was passion. It chases
away indifference. Renewal brings passion for
God, passion for his word, passion for pleasing
God, passion for doing the work of God. Indifference
is replaced by enthusiasm when spiritual renewal
is real. There's a third proof of spiritual renewal.
Compromise is replaced by consecration. Compromise
with pagans was common among them. They had lost
their unique identity as the people of God. They
had conformed to the ways and the activity of
the godless who lived around them. They lived
like the pagans. They conducted themselves as
part of that pagan culture. But when their hearts
were renewed, when they were repentant of their
sin, and when they had been forgiven, When their
hearts were alive with fresh power from God,
what happened? Their lives were cleaned up. They
consecrated themselves. They set themselves apart
from the worldly pagans. They said, we're going
to order our lives in a holy manner. We're going
to see ourselves for who God has called us to
be. We're going to live that out in our world
and who cares what the pagans think about it
Because this is who I am as one of the people
of God And so they set themselves apart to holy
living. That's what spiritual renewal brings
Consecration replaces compromise in the life
and then ignorance is replaced by insight. The
people of God were blinded by their sins. They
were ignorant of what God had called them to
be about. You know, sin does that. Sin puts blinders
on. Sin deceives. I talked recently with a wife
whose husband has gotten involved in an affair.
This is not related to our church. It's in a
different context. Married over 30 years, faithful
in the church for those years, and suddenly an
about face. And the husband now is thinking he's
doing the will of God by leaving his wife and
divorcing her and marrying some younger lady.
Talk about the deception of sin. Sin makes us
stupid. Sin causes us to act crazy. Sin causes
us to think like we thought we would never do.
Sin changes us. But when spiritual renewal happens,
that ignorance is replaced by insight and suddenly
we see. Here the people of God saw the importance
of keeping the feast of booze or tabernacles.
and they obeyed God without hesitation. They
saw their sin and when you read this prayer you
see how they go back to the beginning of their
nation and they perceive the terrible pattern
in the history of their nation and the times
when their people turned away from God again
and again and again and yet they also saw down
through that long history of hundreds of years
the faithfulness of God. God gave them insight.
Insight replaces ignorance. And then finally,
old patterns are replaced by new patterns. They
had gotten into some bad habits, allowing their
daughters to intermarry with pagans. The habit
of neglecting the Sabbath, the Lord's day. the
habit of forsaking their support for the temple
of God. And so because of what God was doing
in their hearts, they said we need some new patterns,
and so they put new patterns in place. They made
new commitments. They said we're leaving behind
our indifference and our apathy toward God and
his work. We're going to set priorities that
are pleasing to God, and I wish we had time to
go through and just see all of them in their
commitment in chapter 10, but we don't. But inevitably,
when God is stirring the heart and spiritual
renewal begins to take place, one of the fruits
of that is that old patterns are replaced by
new patterns. Spiritual renewal brings about
change, life change. You say, well how do I know
if I need revival? How do I know if I need spiritual
renewal? The answer is simply do a heart check.
That's what it boils down to. The psalmist said,
search my heart, oh God, and see if there's any
wicked way in me. We can ask ourselves questions
like, do I have a worshiping heart? Am I spending
time sitting at the feet of Jesus every day,
listening to his word, worshiping him? Does Jesus
occupy the center of my thoughts throughout the
day? Do I freely express my love to Jesus and
my thanks to him? Do I have a worshiping heart?
Do I have a pure heart? Do I love righteousness
and hate evil? Am I quick to agree with God when
I'm convicted about my sin, or do I try to excuse
myself? Do I guard my heart against ungodly influences
and habits? Can I honestly say that there's no
unconfessed sin between my soul and the Savior?
Is my conscience perfectly clear toward all others?
Do I have a pure heart? Do I have a broken and
contrite heart? Do I grieve over my sin and how
that sin affects God? Not how it affects me and
makes me feel bad, but how that sin affects God.
Am I aware of the needs of others even more so
than my own needs? Do I have a broken and a contrite
heart? Do I have a surrendered heart? Have I
ever consciously surrendered my entire life to
Jesus as Lord? Am I willing to go anywhere, do
anything, be anything that he asks of me? Do
I have a surrendered heart and then do I have
a forgiving heart? Is my heart free from bitterness
and anger toward all who have wronged me? Have
I truly forgiven those who've hurt me? Am I carrying
someone else's grievance against another person?
Have I gone, have I done rather all I can to
reconcile with those individuals with whom I've
had conflict in the past? Do I have a forgiving
heart? Then do I have a praying heart? Do I pray
regularly, specifically, earnestly? Do I pray
with other believers for God's will in our lives,
for God's will in our church, in our world? Do
I pray for the lost in my world of influence?
Do I have a praying heart? And then, do I have
a caring, burdened heart? Do I really care about
those who are lost and going to hell? Do I grieve
over the effects of sin in our world? Do I allow
my heart to feel the burden of the heart of God
for others? Do I have a desire for God that his
kingdom might be advanced throughout the world?
Those are the kind of questions I need to ask
myself in a heart check. Do I need revival? Tim
Bascom writing in his book The Comfort Trap says,
we're too comfortable to be spiritual. That's
an interesting thought, isn't it? We're too comfortable
to be spiritual. We think we will be able to
pursue God better without danger or hardship.
And yet it works in just the opposite way. Nothing
is more difficult than to grow spiritually when
comfortable. That's why the believer Alexander
Solzhenitsyn's reaction to his exile in the Soviet
labor camp was to bless it. Do you remember that?
He continues, because it was there that Solzhenitsyn
discovered that the meaning of earthly existence
lies not as we have grown used to thinking in
prospering, but in the development of the soul.
We want to be comfortable. What is the condition
of your heart? Are you busy, but barren and indifferent
to spiritual things? Perhaps the most dangerous
weapon, the most dangerous spiritual weapon against
your soul. It's not hatred. It's not anger. It's
not lust. It's apathy. Apathy. I'm eager to see
the film on Narnia coming out in a few weeks.
Perhaps you are as well. C .S. Lewis's great
work is going to be on film, and from everything
that we've heard, it's going to be a magnificent
experience to watch it. I encourage you to go,
I encourage you to take your friends to go see
it. C .S. Lewis made a powerful statement, and
with this I'm going to close. He said, Christianity
if false, Christianity if false is of no importance.
and if true, of infinite importance. The one
thing it cannot be is moderately important. And
yet, isn't that where we tend to live? Making
Jesus moderately important in our lives. And
if that's the case, then we do need spiritual
renewal. And we need to go down that pathway
that these Jews went down and have our hearts
awakened, convicted, repentant. We need to weep
for our sin, then experience the change in our
lives as we reorder ourselves according to God's
priorities. God help each of us to come to that
place in our lives today where our hearts are
passionate about Jesus. We say as a church that
we exist to develop passionate followers of Jesus
Christ. Not moderate followers, passionate followers.
That's who we say we are. God help us to be that,
amen. And now Father, if we're listening to your
word today, the Holy Spirit has spoken. And you
know exactly what we need to hear. You have been
stirring our hearts, preparing us. You have been
doing the work. You've brought us. to the edge
of the path to spiritual renewal. And I pray
that each of us will be willing to walk on that
path. And may we weep and repent of lukewarmness,
indifference and apathy, of making you moderately
important in our lives. May we see the terrible
sin that is Come back to you and set our lives,
right With our heads bowed and our eyes closed
What does that mean to you? What do you want
to say to God this morning? Right where you are
would you talk to him in the quietness of this
moment? Maybe you don't know where to begin,
but you can say to Him, I see my need. My eyes
are opened. Lead me, Lord. Father, we acknowledge
to you that it is only by the power of the Holy
Spirit continually at work in our lives that
we do not drift. into apathy and indifference.
So easily do we find ourselves moving in that
direction with the current of our world. I pray
today that you will reclaim us. I pray that just
as you worked in the hearts of those people of
God in that ancient day, so you will work in
Los Gatos Christian Church in my heart, in the
heart of every person that hears this message,
that we might see the reality, be awakened to
what we are. and get on the pathway to renewal
and revival. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.