to the book of Nehemiah, Nehemiah
chapter 8. And the theme of this conference
is awakening. And I want us to look at an awakening
that takes place in Scripture, one that is not conceived by
man or conjured up by a committee. but an awakening that has come
down out of heaven and has impacted the people of God. It is the
awakening that took place under the preaching of Ezra in the
days of Nehemiah as they gathered at the water gate. The title
of this message is Cut to the Core, or Cut to the Heart. It was up there a second ago. I want to begin by reading the
text, Nehemiah chapter 8. And all the people gathered as
one man at the square, which was in front of the water gate.
And they asked Ezra the scribe to bring the book, the book of
the law of Moses, which the Lord had given to Israel. Then Ezra
the priest brought the law before the assembly of men, women, and
all who could listen with understanding on the first day of the seventh
month. He read from it before the square,
which was in front of the water gate from early morning, that
would be about 6 a.m., until midday, that would be noon, in
the presence of men and women, those who could understand, and
all the people were attentive to the book of the law. Ezra
the scribe stood at a wooden podium, which they had made for
the purpose. I remember one time Dr. Sproul
telling me, tell the people it was not a plexiglass pulpit. In verse 5, Ezra opened the book
in the sight of all the people, for he was standing above all
the people, and when he had opened it, all the people stood up. Then Ezra blessed the Lord, the
great God, and the people answered, Amen, Amen, while lifting up
their hands. Then they bowed low and worshiped
the Lord with their faces to the ground. At the end of verse
7, the Levites explained the law to the people while the people
remained in their place. Then they read from the book
of the law of God, translating to give the sense so that they
understood the reading. Now give special note, beginning
in verse 9, then, 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 were weeping when they heard
the words. of the law. Then he said to them,
Go, eat of the fat, drink of the sweet, and send portions
to him who has nothing prepared, for this day is holy to the Lord
our God. Do not be grieved, for the joy
of the Lord is your strength.' So the Levites calmed all the
people, saying, Be still, for the day is holy, Do not be grieved. Throughout redemptive history,
every great awakening has always been accompanied by deep conviction
of sin. In these mighty movements of
God, the Word of God is proclaimed. and hearts are cut to the core,
and souls are laid bare before God. Sin that has long been suppressed
is now suddenly exposed, and consciences are smitten, and
guilt escalates, and deep sorrow over sin comes. Conviction of
sin becomes intolerable. and laughter is turned into weeping,
and joy is turned into gloom, and heaviness of heart settles
upon the people like a thick fog. And in that heart-rending
experience, in the day of God's visitation, sin is confessed,
and repentance runs deep. And Jesus is embraced, and the
soul is cleansed, and forgiveness is received in every awakening. It is a painful experience. There is no soft or easy awakening,
because an awakening brings with it an awakening to the holiness
of God. and an awakening to the unholiness
of the individual. Sin that has long been tolerated,
sin that has long been excused and ignored, sin that has long
been minimized and suppressed, sin that has long been hidden
and denied is now suddenly brought to the surface. And there is weeping. and there
is grief under the realization that my sin has been a violation
of the holiness of God. This is precisely what transpired
in this revival, this awakening at the Watergate. And those who
heard the Word of the Lord were pierced to the depths of their
soul, and they were cut to the core. as there was a new awareness
of their own sin, and they cry out to God for relief. What we see in this passage is
a prototype of every awakening and every genuine heaven-sent
revival. And the weeping will turn into
joy, but it begins with deep conviction of sin. As we look at this text, I'm
going to set before you three headings, and the first is found
in verse 1. I want you to note the cry for
God's Word. In verse 1, we read, all the
people gathered as one man. Commentators tell us that there
were as few as 30,000 people, as many as 50,000 people, probably somewhere in the neighborhood
north of 40,000 people gathered here. It was an enormous assembly
of people, and they gathered as one man, meaning they were
there for one purpose. They were there in one place
with one mind as they gathered in the square which was in front
of the water gate on the east side of Jerusalem. And the time
was the first day of the seventh month, which was the equivalent
of the beginning of the new year in the Jewish calendar. It was
like we want to start the new year right with God. We want
the Word of God brought to us. And this was a time in which
they were to celebrate the Feast of Trumpets and the Feast of
Tabernacles, and it was a time for the public ministry of the
Word of God. And so, these multiplied thousands
of people, making this group look like a small group Bible
study. They were all gathered there,
and they asked Ezra the scribe to bring the book. to bring the
book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had given to them."
The people understood the one man in this nation who knows
the Word of God better than anyone else is Ezra. And fourteen years
earlier, Ezra had returned to the promised land from Babylonian
captivity in the second return. In Ezra 7 verse 10, it says that
Ezra devoted himself to the law of the Lord. He set his heart
to study the law of the Lord and to practice it and to teach
his statutes and ordinances in Israel. And so for fourteen years,
Ezra has been digging, digging into the Word of God. And so
now on this occasion, they call for Ezra and they cry out with
one voice, bring the book, bring the book. And this is what is
so desperately needed in churches today, a spiritual hunger in
the pew to cry out to the pastor, bring us the Bible, bring us
the Word of God. And the people need to begin
to cry out, Pastor, could we have fewer announcements? Could we have more Bible? Pastor,
could you tell us less about the culture? Can you tell us
more about the Bible? Pastor, could we have fewer stories
about your children? Give us Bible. Pastor, would
you fire the drama team? Give us the Bible. Talk to us
like an adult. Pastor, could we hear less about
the building program? Could we hear less about the
budget? Could we have more Bible? Pastor, could you shorten your
introduction to your sermon and just get into the Bible? Your
front porch is bigger than the house." That's funny. That was the only
thing not in my notes. I'm getting to know you. But
this is what is needed. And as you go back to your churches,
if we're to have a revival like what we see in Nehemiah chapter
8, it is going to be incumbent upon each and every one of you
to cry out to your pastor, bring us the book. Bring us the Bible. That's where this begins. This
is a preacher's dream. He'll be pinching himself at
night. Now second, the confrontation,
the confrontation with God's Word beginning in verse 2. And
in response to their demand, Ezra now steps forward to meet
their request. And he did not disappoint them
in the least, but delivered to them a masterful presentation
of the Word of God. And so in verse 2, then Ezra
the priest brought the law." Ezra has prepared his whole life
for this one moment. God has prepared the man for
the moment, and He has prepared the moment for the man. And for fourteen years, Ezra
has been with scrolls of Scripture unraveled before him, studying
the Word, digging into the text, grasping its meaning, capturing
its thunder, incorporating it into his soul, applying it into
his own life, practicing it at his own walk, teaching it faithfully
all of these years. Now is the time as He steps in
front of the entire nation, as they have gathered together on
this moment as they're crying out for the Word of God. And in verse 3, He read from
it. And as He read from it, please do not think that this was some
monotone, boring reading of Scripture like goes on in most churches
where the Scripture is read, where it's the bland leading
the bland. And this word, red, in the Hebrew
is the word kara, which means to cry out. It means to call
aloud. It means to roar. It means to
roar like a lion. It means to proclaim. It's the
very word that is used in Jonah 3 and verse 2, when Jonah cried
out, 40 days and Nineveh will be destroyed. And so, as Ezra
is reading the Word of God, he is very impassioned as he reads
the Word. From early morning until midday
was an adult portion of Scripture. I'll never forget the day in
class when Dr. Sproul took an entire morning
with us on how to read the Bible publicly from the pulpit. Now
remember how he took Genesis 22, Abraham offering up Isaac,
and how he told us, find the drama in the story, and certain
words just have an effect upon the ear. And with that gravelly
voice saying, Moriah, as Abraham went to Moriah. What Ezra is
doing here is he is putting his heart and his soul into the reading
of the Word of God. He is literally preaching the
Word as he is reading the Word. He is emphatic. And note the
response in verse 3, and all the people were attentive to
the book of the law. The word attentive here in the
Hebrew means the turning of the ear. They all leaned forward
and turned their ear towards Ezra so that they could drink
in the Word of God. And when the preacher takes the
Word of God seriously, it escalates in the people to take the Word
of God seriously. No entertainment was needed on
this day to hold the attention of the people. And people say
to me, well, today people have such a short attention span,
you can only preach tiny little sermons. I go, they didn't have
an attention problem on Saturday night. They went to the football game.
They went early for the tailgating. They stayed late for sudden death.
They stormed the field when it was over. Then they went to the
concert, and now you want me to believe that suddenly they
have an attention problem? No, they have a heart problem. Well, the people here, their
hearts were hungry and they were attentive to take in the Word
of God. And in verse 4, Ezra the scribe
stood at, couldn't really be on, a wooden podium which they
had made for the purpose. That was so that he could be
seen and so he could be heard and to project his voice. He
is surrounded by these thirteen spiritual leaders, seven on the
right, six on the left. It is a statement of solidarity. We are standing with the preacher. Please note, these elders are
not seated on the back pew of the church. They're all together
in front of the people. We stand with the message that
is being brought as there are like bookends around him. Verse
5, Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, and
when he opened it, all the people stood up. They instinctively
rose to their feet in order to express reverence and awe for
the Word of God because they realized that when the Bible
speaks, God speaks, and that this is coming down from God
above as the Word of God is being read to us. And in verse 6, Ezra
blessed the Lord, the great God. His reading of the Word of God
was in reality a coronation service, as he is blessing the name of
God, magnifying the God of the Word as he is reading it and
as he is explaining it. I like what John Piper says,
we are to be exaltational expositors, always exalting the greatness
of our God. And all the people answered,
Amen, Amen. The Presbyterians said, Amen,
Amen. While lifting up their hands,
and that was symbolic, they realized this message is not coming from
Ezra, this message is coming from God. Moses is only the secondary
author. The primary author is the God
of heaven and earth. Man should not live by bread
alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of
God. And so their hands are lifted up as though receiving this message
down from God. And then they bowed low. How low? Their faces were in the dirt. then they bowed low and worshiped
the Lord. It was this high theology that
was driving this high doxology. And the deeper they went down
into the Word, the higher they were rising up to worship God. It's what James Montgomery Boyce
called the teeter-totter effect, like little children playing
on a playground on a seesaw. And when one end is up, the other
end is down. Both ends can never be up at
the same time. It's one or the other. And Boyce
said, as God is exalted, man is humbled. But when man is exalted,
it is as though God is dethroned. And so here, he is blessing the
great God and lifting up the name of God. It was a magnification
of God, and as the higher he lifted God, the lower the people
were brought down in humility and submission and humility,
to the point that their faces were on the ground. God is doing
something here in their midst. No one's tapping their watch.
No one is looking around. People are spellbound. It is
a moment in time, and they are responding to the Word of God. And at the end of verse 7, it
says, the Levites, who are scattered among the people in order to
relay what Ezra is saying to this vast contingency of of people. The Levites explained the law
to the people while the people remained in their place. So along with the reading of
the Word of God is the explanation or the interpretation of the
Word of God, and surely with application. But how important
it is to explain the text. John MacArthur has said, the
meaning of the text is the text. And until you have the meaning
of the text, all you have is black print on white paper. And
so, the Word has to be rightly divided. The Word has to be explained
and expounded, and that is what is taking place here. In fact,
if we had time, we could go through all these verses, and I could
draw your attention to the mind. Their minds are being renewed
by the truth of the Word of God. The mind of Christ is being shaped
within them as the Scripture is being read and explained to
them. And so in verse 8, they read
from the book, from the law of God, translating. And that word translating may
be a poor translation into English. What this word peros means literally
is to separate. In other words, to make distinctions
in the text of Scripture, like 2 Timothy 2 verse 15, to rightly
divide the Word of truth, rightly handle the Word of truth. How
Paul, as a tentmaker, would take a pattern and lay it over animal
skin and carefully cut around that pattern so that he had now
a piece of leather that he could sew perfectly to another piece
of leather as a tentmaker. to know how to rightly handle
the Word of God, to cut it straight with Scripture. That's the idea
here. Peros means to make clear. Clarity can never be overrated
in preaching. The word means to make plain.
And the Puritans used to be accused by the high church, Church of
England preachers, who were orators and who would soar above the
clouds with their words. And when the Puritans would step
into the pulpit, they were straight-talking men out of the Bible. And it
was, they were looked down upon by many of these nose-in-the-air
Anglican preachers And William Perkins responded,
who wrote the first book on preaching, The Art of Prophesying, yes,
we are plain preachers, and the plainer the better. In other words, if there's a
problem, it's not because you misunderstood. The problem is
you did understand what I said. This word means to make distinct,
to explain, to interpret, So, they're not just hydroplaning
over the text. They're not just skimming over
the surface. They're not just reading a text
and moving on and reading a text and moving on and reading another
text. As they come to text, they are giving the authorial intent
and the proper interpretation of this text of Scripture what
God means by what God says. That's at the heart. That's the
engine that drives true expository preaching. And so every awakening has always
been ushered in by this kind of bold biblical preaching. It's what happened in the Reformation.
Luther and Calvin and the rest, they were preachers. And that's
what happened in the golden Puritan age. They were preachers. That's
what happened in the Great Awakening. Edwards and Whitefield, they
were lit up on fire preachers. That's what happened in the Victorian
age with Spurgeon and Ryle. These men were heart-penetrating
preachers. And that's what must happen again
today. Every awakening is ushered in by a new generation of men
who will proclaim the Scripture, who will bring the book. So, I want you to note now, third,
the conviction from God's Word. And this is now more to the point
of what has been assigned to me, cut to the heart, cut to
the core. That's what happened. Verse 9,
then 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 grieve. Why would he say that? Because
they were grieving uncontrollably. They were mourning and weeping. And at the end of verse 9, he
explains it, for all the people were weeping. when they heard
the words of the law." You know what was
happening here? The Word of God, which is like
a mirror that allows you to see yourself for who you are and
what you are. People are now looking into the
mirror of the Word of God, and they are seeing their blemishes,
and they are seeing their flaws, and they are seeing actually
what God sees in them and it is appalling, and they are awakened. It's like they've been asleep.
It's like they've been unconscious to their own spiritual state
of soul. And now suddenly it's as though
they've been aroused from a deep sleep, and they're now awakened,
and they look into the mirror, and they come under deep conviction
of sin. Romans 3 verse 20 says, through
the law comes the knowledge of sin. That's a good thing. If you have a broken ankle, you
want pain because it tells you something's wrong and you need
to go have it set. The lack of pain is really a
lack of mercy. You would never know something
is wrong. In Romans 7 and verse 7, Paul writes, I would not have
come to know sin except through the law. And so these people's hearts
have been pierced by the Word of God, and they are weeping
uncontrollably. And in most churches today, the
goal is to keep anyone and everyone from ever getting to this state.
We just want you to have a good time. The pastor is more like
the captain of the love boat. I'm okay, you're okay, let's
just all have a great time today. But here the law of God is revealing
their sin, and it is shocking, it is startling, it is disturbing
to them. And the Levites have to tell
the people, you're weeping too much. And in verse 10, he says
it again. At the end of verse 10, do not
be grieved. He says it again in verse 11.
This is the third time. Be still, for the day is holy. Do not be grieved. Wouldn't you love to be in a
service where the pastor had to say, please stop repenting
so much of your sin? It was mentioned earlier by Dr.
Ferguson, Peter's preaching on the day of Pentecost, and it
was a tour de force of the Word of God. This is that that was
spoken of the prophet Joel. And he preaches, he reads Joel
2, 28 to 32, and then, whosoever shall call upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved, verse 21 of Acts 2. He then interprets
Scripture with Scripture and tells them who the Lord is, it
is Jesus of Nazareth. He quotes Psalm 16, verses 8
through 11. He then goes to Psalm 132, verse
11. He then comes back to Psalm 16,
verse 10, and then he goes to Psalm 110, verse 1, the Lord
said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies
a footstool for your feet. Scripture, Scripture, Scripture,
Scripture. The Bible says, the Bible says, the Bible says. Therefore, let all the house
of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and
Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified." And you know what happened in
verse 37? The people interrupted the sermon. Peter wasn't even finished preaching.
In verse 40, he goes back to finish the sermon, solemnly testifying
with many and exhorting with many more words. The people could
not bear up any longer with the searchlight of the Word of God
shining into their souls, into the darkness of their unbelief,
and so they cry out, what must we do? And it says that their hearts
were pierced. It's a Greek word katanuso. And
it is a word that was used to describe the priest taking a
butcher knife and slaying the sacrificial animal before it
would be placed on the altar. It was the taking of the sharp
butcher's knife and slitting the throat. and inflicting the
death blow to the sacrificial animal." That's the very word.
They were pierced to the heart. They were cut to the very depth
of their being. This was not a superficial flesh
wound that they would get over by the time they got to the parking
lot. No, they were devastated because the Word of God had been
brought to bear upon them. And in Hebrews 4 and verse 12,
in fact, turn to Hebrews 4, 12 just for a moment. I'm looking
down at the clock and I've got enough time to do this, something I've never said before.
So Hebrews 4 verse 12, we just need to pull over and park here
for a moment. I'm going to wait for you to
turn to it. This is how sharp and how penetrating
the Word of God is and how it cuts into the depth of our soul,
and it reveals our soul and our heart to ourselves. And it allows us to see ourselves
as God sees us. So, in Hebrews 4 verse 12, for
the Word of God. The Word that proceeds out of
the mouth of God, 2 Timothy 3.16, all Scripture is theonoustos,
is God-breathed. The Word of God is living. And this is really where the
author puts his emphasis in the original language. In the Greek,
when the writer of Hebrews wrote this, the word order is this.
Living is moved to the very beginning of the sentence, and literally
this verse reads, living for the Word of God is. And when
you want to emphasize a word in the Greek language, you front
load that word at the beginning of the sentence to draw your
attention. It's like taking a yellow highlighter and just highlighting
that word. For the Word of God is living. Every other book is a dead book.
This book alone has life. This book alone is living. Luther
said, the Bible is alive. It speaks to me. It has feet. It runs after me. It has hands.
It lays hold of me. Spurgeon said, this book has
wrestled with me. This book has smiled at me. This
book has frowned at me. This is a living book, and only
a living book can give life. Like produces like. It is the
Word of life. For the Word of God is living
and active." And this word active means it's energetic, it's dynamic,
it's always at work. It never takes a day off. It's
never on sabbatical. This book is always working around
the world. It's very, very active. And note,
sharper than any two-edged sword. It is razor sharp. It is sharper
than any surgeon's scalpel. and that it is two-edged sword
means there's no blunt side to it. It's all edge. It's able to cut deeply. There's
not a blunt chapter in the entire Bible. There's not a dull verse
in the entire Scripture. It's all razor sharp. And it is so razor sharp, he
goes on to say in verse 12, and piercing, this book penetrates
all of our outward facade, all of the excuses that we would
put up. It cuts right through the external features of our
soul, the calluses, and it pierces, it says, as far as the division
of soul and spirit. That's figurative language, metaphorical
language, which is to say it cuts to the depths of your being. It cuts to the core. It cuts
to the bone. It goes all the way to the depths
of your soul, to the very epicenter of your life. Every other book
just simply is massaging the externals of your life, unless
it is a book that is full of the Word of God. This book inflicts no mere flesh
wound. This book does not administer
a mere scratch on the surface of your life. This book cuts
all the way to the division of soul and spirit, and that's just
a metaphorical way of saying it gets all the way down to the
depth of your being. And then he says of both joints
and marrow, and that's another way of saying the same. It's
another figurative expression. And what it means is it exposes what has long been covered up. It exposes secret thoughts. It
exposes selfish ambitions. It exposes egotistical motives. It gets behind the action to
the attitude and the motivation that is driving the action. It
doesn't deal with just mere behavioral modification, but it gets to
what is driving the action. There's only one book that can
do this, and it is the Word of God. Now, notice what he says. of both joints and marrow and
able. Let me just pause there for a
moment. Able, that's the sufficiency of Scripture. This book is able
to get the job done. This book is entirely capable of cutting to the depth and revealing
to you what needs to be restored, what needs to be repaired. This
book alone brings revival. This book alone replenishes the
soul. But please note it says, and
able to judge. This book is able to hold court
and to preside over our soul. This book is the authoritative. This book is the measuring rod. This book renders the divine
verdict upon our lives. This book has the final say.
It really doesn't matter what man has to say. What matters
is what does the book have to say and is able to judge the
thoughts, to get into your thought life, your thoughts and intentions,
what no one else can see, what remains concealed on the inside,
those thoughts that are in your private life, inner desires,
personal ambitions, driving motives. It is only the Word of God that
can cut so deep as to reveal yourself to yourself. There's been many a time I've
preached, after the service I'll notice a businessman over in
the corner of the lobby, and he'll make his way to me after
people have passed through, and he'll say this to me, have you
been talking to my wife? No, sir. You've been talking
to my wife. I have not. No one knows about
me what you just said in the sermon. That's happened more than a few
times because the Word of God rips the mask off the hypocrite
and reveals themselves to themselves. Now look at verse 13, and there
is no creature, that would include you and me, and there is no creature
hidden from His sight. And the idea here is not only
does God see us, but when the sword of the Lord pierces our
soul and fillets us and opens us up, now we can see into our
heart and see what God sees when He looks inside of us. There
is no creature hidden from His sight and by implication nor
from our sight now as we're under the knife, under the sword of
the Lord." And he says, but all things, every thought, every
intention, every motive, all things are open. Everything's
brought out into the open. Skeletons come dancing out of
closets. This word, open, is a Greek word,
gymnos, from which we derive the English word gymnasium or
gym. And in the first century, a gymnasium
was a place that a male athlete would go to, and he would just
strip down in order to go through training and to work out. There
could be no restrictions to the movement of his limbs. And applied here, this is saying
it is the Word of God that strips us naked. And there are no fig
leaves from which we can hide behind. As we stand naked before
God, under the searchlight of the Word of God, all things are
open and laid bare. Do you see that? This word, laid bare, trekalidzo,
comes from or that is the Greek word, into the English language,
a tracheotomy. It deals with the throat. And
this verb means to seize an animal or an opponent or an enemy by
the throat, to expose the throat of a victim
for a killing. It was to bend back the neck
of a sacrificial animal. to administer the death blow,
to slit the throat. That's the word here, laid bare,
just as if I would take off my tie and open up my collar and
lay bare my throat to the knife of the Word of God, but it is
so sharp and it is so powerful that it cuts through my tie,
it cuts through the collar of my shirt, it cuts through to
the depth of my being. This is what happens in an awakening. And at the end of verse 13, it
says, to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do, or better
translated, to whom we must give an account, or literally translated,
to whom is our Word, or to whom we must give an answer. It is the Scripture that heightens
our sense of divine accountability. and our human responsibility
to our divine accountability, that we would pursue holiness,
but that we would confess our sin and repent of our sin, Spurgeon said, there will be
no dry-eyed revivals. And so, in days of awakening,
the sword of the Lord is unsheathed. And the listener is stripped
naked and completely exposed before God, and he sees himself
as he truly is. His head is pushed up, his neck
is laid bare, his throat is slit, his heart is stabbed, his conscience
is smitten, and his sin is uncovered. And there is weeping over sin. That is why Jesus said, blessed
are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. And the only
one who is truly, genuinely comforted is the one who is truly, genuinely
mourned over their spiritual bankruptcy. James 4 verse 9. Be miserable and mourn. That's a verse to put on your
refrigerator. Be miserable and mourn. It's
in the Bible. It's in your Bible. It's in my
Bible. Be miserable and mourn and weep Let your laughter be
turned into weeping and your joy into gloom. Humble yourselves
in the presence of the Lord." What did Isaiah say when he was
in the presence of the holiness of God? Woe is me, for I am ruined. I am undone. I live among a people
of unclean lips, and I am a man of unclean lips. For every awakening
there is the heavy, deep conviction of sin. It's not a silly time. It's a time to do business with
God. And there is no Novocain administered.
There is no anesthesia. There is no painkiller that is
given to the heart that has been stabbed by the Word of God. And this alone is enough to repudiate
the antinomian lies that all we do is just look back to our
justification and there's no call to pursue holiness in my
sanctification. What happened in the great awakening
under Jonah's preaching? Forty days in Nineveh will be
destroyed. The text says that the people
of Nineveh believed in God, and they called a fast and put on
sackcloth from the greatest to the least. And the king covered
himself with sackcloth and sat on the ashes. And he issued a
proclamation and said, in Nineveh, by the decree of the king and
his nobles, do not let man, beast, herd, or flock taste a thing.
Do not let them eat or drink water, for both man and beast
must be covered with sackcloth. a profound and painful awareness
that we have offended a holy God. On February 17, 1739, George
Whitefield preached for the first time outdoors, outside of Bristol,
in a little tiny community, Kingswood, out in a field. And their coal
miners and their families gathered, foul, foul-living, foul-speaking
coal miners, unconverted, rough. They gathered to hear Whitefield
out in a field. They would never go in a church.
And Whitefield writes, having no righteousness of their own
to renounce, they were glad to hear of a Jesus who was a friend
of publicans, and came not to call the righteous, but sinners
to repentance." Now listen to this, the first discovery of
their being affected, Whitefield writes, was to see the white
gutters made by their tears, which plentifully fell down their
black cheeks. Their faces were covered with
black soot from the coal mining. And as they came to hear Whitefield,
as he stood to preach, he noticed two white lines that suddenly
appeared on the faces of these rough and tumbled men as they
were under the conviction of their sin, that Jesus had died
bearing sin and suffering under the wrath of God for their sin.
but that a door of mercy has been thrown open, and sinners
may run to a Christ who is a friend of sinners and who will receive
them if they will repent of their sins and believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ." And they ran to Christ, and they found a glad
reception. But not a one of them giggled
through the narrow gate. Not a one of them skipped through
the narrow gate. They all came weeping under the
conviction of their sin. If God is to send us a great
awakening among the many different features,
there will be the conviction of sin. For it is the Holy Spirit
who has come into the world to convict men of sin and righteousness
and judgment. Sin because they believe not,
righteousness because I've gone to my Father, and judgment because
the Prince of this world has been cast down." May God bring
such a revival to us. Father, give us ears to hear. what Your Word says. Our hands
are lifted up to receive it as from You, and it is as though our faces
are in the dirt, lowering ourselves in Your presence. Woe is me, for I am a sinful
man. In Jesus' name, amen.