God’s People in a Day of Crisis II - Part 2 of 2

Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing, my great Redeemer's praise, Thou forest of my God and King, Thou triumphs of his grace.

This is Lasari Bradley Jr. welcoming you to another broadcast of the Baptist Bible Hour. On Jordan's stormy banks I stand and cast a wishful eye, To Cana's fair and happy land, where my possessions lie. I am bound for the Promised Land, I am bound for the Promised Land, O who will come and go with me, I am bound for the Promised Land. O'er all those wide extended plains shines one eternal day, There God the Son forever reigns and scatters night away, I am bound for the Promised Land, I am bound for the Promised Land, O who will come and go with me, I am bound for the Promised Land. No chilling waves or boars thus breath can reach that healthful shore, Sickness and sorrow, pain and death, are felt and fear no more. I am bound for the Promised Land, I am bound for the Promised Land, O who will come and go with me, I am bound for the Promised Land. When shall I reach that happy place and be forever blessed, When shall I see my Father's face and in His gruesome rest?

I am bound for the Promised Land, I am bound for the Promised Land, O who will come and go with me, I am bound for the Promised Land. Today we're coming to the concluding part of the series of messages, God's People in a Day of Crisis. Now, a few days ago we offered the little booklet, Things Can Be Better Today. Some of you may have intended to write for it and you didn't, so we're giving you another opportunity if you would like to get this booklet that shows how even in the darkest of times, the most difficult of times, we can have peace with our God.

The title, Things Can Be Better Today. Address your request to the Baptist Bible Hour, Box 17037, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. And Nehemiah, which is the Tershapha, that is the governor, and Ezra the priest, the scribe, and the Levites that taught the people, said unto all the people, this day is holy unto the Lord your God. Mourn not, nor weep, for all the people wept when they heard the words of the law. So they continued teaching them. God's people need to be taught, they must be instructed. And if sometimes you think we go back over the ground that we've covered before, we're dealing with very basic and elementary things, I find that's absolutely essential. People have to have the foundation laid and that have to be building upon that foundation. And these things have to be in place before some of the other things are going to grow out of them. We've got to have this right view, this great view, exalted view of God, and the proper regard and respect for His word.

They need to be taught. And then the people began to mourn. But Nehemiah is saying, mourn not, nor weep. Now he's not saying that there's never a time to mourn, because indeed there is. But when we have mourned to the place that it's brought us to repentance, then we don't spend the rest of our days moping around, well, look at all the mistakes I've made, look at all my past sins, look at what a poor wretched soul I am, because then we don't do anything worthwhile.

All the people wept when they'd heard the words. Then he said unto them, go your way and eat the fat and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared. Now here's that thought we shared this morning concerning the need to be ministering to others. One reason we sometimes feel so dried up, so depressed within ourselves is because we become so self-centered. He's telling these people, now that you've been convicted of your sin, now that you've repented, now don't mourn anymore. But here's something you can do, you send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared.

This is a day of feasting and there's some people who don't have anything to feast on, so you send something to them. You think about other people. Quit thinking so much about yourself. You know, that's kind of tough on us, because we start out as little babies thinking about ourselves. And we grow up thinking about ourselves. And this whole concept of thinking about somebody else, bear ye one another's burdens.

It's foreign to the thinking of many as far as our own flesh is concerned, and it's by the grace of God that we have to start thinking of others. And yet in the process, we ourselves are often richly blessed when we have put self aside and for Christ's sake. Not for, you know, sometimes people can go through the motions of being unselfish for a selfish reason. It's because they ultimately are looking for something in return.

If they don't get that, then they're extremely frustrated. But if the service is rendered because it's unto the Lord, then you're going to be satisfied. If nobody ever thanks you or brags on you, you're going to recognize that service was unto the Lord, and I feel thankful for the opportunity of having rendered it. Maybe we are reluctant to move in the direction of thinking of others and ministering to others because we're kind of waiting for that unique opportunity where we're going to do something spectacular.

And we forget the day-to-day opportunities to be doing even little things for others in the name of the Lord. I heard the story about Jackie Robinson, who was the first black man to play on a major league ball team. That was sensational. It was something many had not anticipated and that many in that day were not ready to accept. And in many ballparks, when he walked onto the field, he was booed. But he said that he was able to endure that until one day in his own home park, he made an error and his own fans booed him. And he went on with a real roar booing him because of his error. And he said, I stood there on that field humiliated, and in my mind, I said, this is my last game.

I'm going to quit when this game is over. But Pee Wee Reese, a southern white boy, stood there and watched that situation. And he left his post and walked over and stood beside Jackie Robinson and put his arm around him. And when he did, the boos stopped.

And the stadium was quiet while this southern boy stood there with his arm around his fellow player. And Jackie Robinson said, that was the turning point of my life. That friend reaching out to me in my most needed hour made a difference in my life. I wonder how many times just putting our arm around somebody, just a handshake, just a word of encouragement, just a promise to pray for somebody, just taking a little time for a biblical admonition, could make a tremendous difference for somebody who feels like I'm on the spot, for somebody who feels like life's falling apart for me, just for one person to show love and kindness. You see, when we begin to apply the Word of God in our lives, we get these messages continually.

We allow ourselves to become bitter and resentful and frustrated because we feel there's not enough being done for us. But when we get into the book, we find I'm going to be bearing other people's burdens. And then we pray, Lord, give me that opportunity.

And the opportunity comes and we see the burdens lifted from them for a moment until they're re-established and they can go on. And then we say, thank you, Lord, for the opportunity. Thank you for my life has been enriched and blessed by the fact that I've had this privilege of ministering to somebody else. He said, send portions unto those for whom nothing is prepared, for this day is holy unto our Lord. Neither be ye sorry, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. Yes, you've sinned, but now you've wept, you've repented.

Now, it's time to go on. The joy of the Lord is your strength. Where are we going to find our strength? I believe the scene before us here in Nehemiah chapter 8 is a picture of revival. And how does the revival come?

It starts by the reading of the Word. Of course, preceding that were the days of prayer when Nehemiah personally was praying and the people began to pray. There's true repentance, but now they're finding strength.

And where do they find the strength? It's in the Lord. The joy of the Lord is your strength. So the Levites stilled all the people saying, hold your peace, for the day is holy, neither be ye grieved. And all the people went their way to eat and to drink and to send portions and to make great mirth because they had understood the words that were declared unto them.

That's wonderful isn't it? When the people have come with receptive hearts, hungry to know, we want to know what the Word says, and now it says they did understand the words. And on the second day were gathered together the chief of the fathers of all the people, the priests and the Levites unto Ezra the scribe even to understand the words of the law.

They didn't feel like they'd gotten it all and one day they're back again. They want to know more. They want their purpose and being there to understand the words of the law. And they found written in the law which the Lord had commanded by Moses and the children of Israel that the children of Israel should dwell in booths in the feast of the seventh month.

There's the third thing. What do we find in this lesson? First of all that they had the right view of God because they saw that God, the Lord, is the great God. They had the right view of the Word because that's where they turned to find the answers and the solutions to their problems. And then you see that they made the application of the Word because when they read they found written in the law that they were to dwell in booths. They hadn't done it for a long time. It says as a matter of fact in the seventeenth verse, for since the days of Joshua the son of Nun, that is from the days of Joshua, a long stretch of time there that they had not observed this sitting in booths. It's been so long that that present generation couldn't even recall when it was done.

None of them have ever experienced it. Now if they had gone on the basis that many proceed today, we don't do it that way here, they never would have done it again. You talk about the weakest argument I think I ever heard in my life is when somebody wants to oppose something and say, we don't do it that way here. Well, it really doesn't matter. If the Word of God authorizes it then it starts doing it that way here now.

We need to do it God's way no matter what He says. But they say that's not our custom, that's not our tradition, we don't sit in booths. And I imagine some of them probably said, you know, that's really kind of ridiculous. Can you imagine going out here in the woods and it talks about cutting down various kinds of trees, fetch olive branches and pine branches and myrtle branches and palm branches and branches of thick trees and make boos.

They say, bring all these tree limbs over here on my patio and sit out under that thing for seven days? Why, people are going to talk saying, what's wrong with these people anyway? You know, people get concerned about that. What's the world going to think of me? They're going to think I'm a religious fanatic. They're going to think I've lost it. Why am I behaving like this? Why am I living like this? All the world's going this way down the broad road and here I am bucking traffic, trying to go in the opposite direction.

I'm a misfit, I don't like that, I want to fit in. But you know the reason it was a good idea to sit in booths? God said, do it. You remember when Cincinnati Church was constituted in 1958 and the presbytery of ministers that helped establish the church turned to ask one of the deacon brethren who was the appointed spokesman for the church at that time, what will be the position of this church concerning the matter of washing the saints' feet? And without hesitation it was said, we know what John chapter 13 says, if I your Lord and Master have washed your feet, you ought also to wash one another's feet. And since that's what the Bible says, that's what we'll do. And that's been the stand of this church and that's what we want it to be because if God says do it, not a question of whether somebody's going to think it's out of place.

Jesus says you ought to do it, so we adopted it. And so in this case, these people hadn't been doing this for a long time, but they found it in the word of the Lord. And so they all go out and chop down trilliums and come back and they had booths everywhere. It says in verse 16, So the people went forth and brought them and made themselves booths, every one upon the roof of his house. Evidently they had flat roofs, so they put booths up on top of the house. And in their courts, see, out on the patio and in the courts of the house of God and in the street of the Watergate and in the street of the gate of Ephraim and all the congregation of them that were come again out of captivity made booths and sat under the booths.

Why? Because God had told them to. Because since the days of Joshua the son of Nun, unto the day they had not the children of Israel done so, and there was very great gladness. When did they find this very great gladness?

When they did what God said do. Now sometimes people think they're just going to rev up the engines, they're going to work up happiness. They're going to have this gladness, this joy, just by working it up, just getting in a good positive frame of mind. We're talking about something more meaningful than that. We're talking about something deeper than just a passing emotional experience. We're talking about the joy that comes because you're doing what God said do.

And His blessing and presence is there when we're obedient and submissive to Him. Now just as this becomes an example, the application can be made in so many other areas of our life. How many things ought we to be doing?

And somebody may say, wait a minute here, you're going to make me tired if you tell me one more thing I need to do. But maybe the fact that it's such a challenge for us indicates that the things that are already on our list are not the God honoring things. Too many times we're just like Martha, careful and cumbered about many things. But Mary hath chosen the good part.

The Lord doesn't impose duties upon His children just to make life tough for them. The things that the Lord enjoins us to do will not only honor His name but bring us real joy if we're doing the things He has bidden us do. Now this great event here turned into a full fledged, festive day of triumph and blessing and joy because the wall had been completed. And in the 12th chapter and the 27th verse we read about the dedication of the wall. And it says at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought the Levites out of all their places to bring them to Jerusalem to keep the dedication with gladness, both with thanksgiving and with singing, with cymbals, saltaries and with harps. So the people are called upon to come from all over the land, to come from all of the places within the city and those who were living out of the city at that time to come to the dedication, to come with gladness, to come with singing and praising.

The sons of the singers gathered themselves to gather both out of the plain country about Jerusalem. And then the 31st verse says, Then I brought up the princes of Judah upon the wall and appointed two great companies of them that gave thanks whereof one went on the right hand upon the wall toward the dung gate. And verse 38 says, And the other company of them that gave thanks went over against them, and I after them, and half of the people upon the wall from the tower, from beyond the tower of the furnaces, even unto the broad wall.

Now the wall is completed. They've withstood the ridicule of the threats and all the discouragement that they have had. They have stood before Ezra the scribe. They've heard the reading of the law. They've been convicted. They've seen their sin. They've found forgiveness.

They've implemented the duties that they had forsaken. It's a happy time. People who had been discouraged, people who had looked upon the desolation of the city, people who had given up and thought the wall will never be built, will never see the city inhabited, now saw things happening that they had felt were impossible. It was time to thank God. It was time to praise Him. It was time to rejoice. I want you to get up on the wall. You built this wall.

Now get up on the top of it. I want one company to go around this direction, one company to go around the other, and we're going to meet each other in the middle, and I want you to sing, and I want you to praise God, and I want you to give thanks. And verse 42 says, The singer sang loud. And verse 43 says, And that day they offered great sacrifices and rejoiced, for God had made them rejoice with great joy. I tell you, when God blesses His people to rejoice, that's real. See, that's not something that's worked up. That's something that's sent down.

That's real. And the children of Israel rejoiced so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard even afar off, out in the distance. People can hear, What's that racket coming out of Jerusalem?

I thought that place died a long time ago. But there's people down there singing. I hear them praising God.

The joy of Jerusalem was heard even afar off. You talk about the greatest testimony any church can give is when God's people in that church begin to praise the Lord, when in their lives there's evidence that God is at work, that they're rejoicing. They're not allowing the setbacks and trials and troubles of life to devastate them. Though they've seen the difficulties, though they've faced these troubles, they know that with God there is hope.

There is a solution. They're willing to build the wall when the wall needs to be built. They're willing to stand guard when they must stand against the enemy. They're willing to trust God when it looks like all is dark.

They know that with Him all things is possible. You see, it's one thing for us to claim that we believe in a big God, believe in a great God, but we need to live that way. Not just give a lot of lip service, not just have it in our articles of faith and in our confession, but to have it as a part of our life every day. That we prove that we believe God is great.

And when we focus on His greatness, on the wonderful value and benefit of His Word, and then we're making the application of that in our life, and if God says do it, that's good enough for us, we're going to do it. They say, well I don't feel up to it, that's not the question. I don't feel worthy of it, that's not the question. I don't know if it's going to succeed, that's not the question. I don't know what the outcome is going to be, that's not the question. Did God say do it? Then do it.

In every category, it comes to your marriage, bringing up your children, how you react on the job, how you deal with suffering, heartache, disappointment, financial setback, personal differences, whatever it is. Do it God's way. And the joy of Jerusalem will be heard far off. And little trembling, weary souls out there that are looking for something to say, I want to go see what all that racket's about.

I want to go over there and see what makes those people so happy anyway. And when they come to hear and understand and know that God is sovereign, see the greatness and glory of such a God, they too will want to travel with us, get up on the wall and march around to give glory to his name. And the wonderful truth of all is to understand that whatever seasons of triumph and joy we have on top of the wall is just a little foretaste of what's coming by and by. If the days we have of uplift and victory here through the Lord are wonderful, what will it be in heaven itself? And all the battles are over and the final victory is won and ultimate praise is lifted up to Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. May we apply these principles so beautifully laid out in the book of Nehemiah, a book that concerns an experience long ago but is fresh and up to date and very applicable to us today. So that we can then understand how God's people should react in the day of crisis.

Not allowing themselves to be dismally defeated, but knowing they can become victorious in the great God in whom we trust. Today we brought you the concluding part of a message entitled God's People in the Day of Crisis. I hope the series has been a blessing to you.

If it has, write and let us know. And if you can help with the support of the program, we'll certainly be thankful for it. Our address is The Baptist Bible Hour, Box 17037, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. Till we greet you next time, this is LaSara Bradley Jr. bidding you goodbye and may God bless you. This is my story, this is my song. Praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story, this is my song. Praising my Savior all the day long.

Perfect submission, all is at rest. I am my Savior and happy and blessed. Watching and waiting, looking above.

Filled with this goodness lost in His love. This is my story, this is my song. Praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story, this is my song. Praising my Savior, praising my Savior, praising my Savior all the day long.