If the Church Be Moved — E.A. Johnston

The Church’s Spiritual Decline and Need for Revival

I remember having lunch with a well-known preacher exactly 10 years ago, but we were discussing a certain large Protestant denomination and I made the following comments. I said that I believe that if this particular denomination did not turn back to God immediately and confess their sins and turn to Him in repentance, that in 10 years they would be as ineffectual as other denominations that had turned away from the God of the Bible.

That big preacher who was part of that denomination agreed with me wholeheartedly, but it didn't take 10 years. Things fell apart a lot quicker. Listen, friends, I've never seen a time in my whole life where the church at large in America has fallen into such spiritual decay and ruin.

When your typical pastor is mainly a comedian who feels he has to make you laugh, and your typical church is nothing more than a house of entertainment, we're in bad shape, friends. Society crumbles all around us today while the church builds bigger buildings.

Ichabod is on the door of the modern church today. Listen, friends, a true revival of religion has not visited America since 1858. Did you hear me? 1858, that's 156 years since this nation saw a national spiritual awakening that brought spiritual vitality to the church and ushered in tens of thousands into God's kingdom through conversion.

Revival as Divine Intervention for the Nation

If the church be moved by revival, it would impact this generation like a thunderbolt from heaven. And that's what revival is, friend, a thunderbolt from heaven. It's an intervention from God into the affairs of man.

It is God who sends his plentiful effusions of divine grace to revive his people, to bring him glory. If the church be moved by revival, it could shake this nation from coast to coast. And that's the title of my message today.

Nehemiah’s Prayer as a Pattern for Revival

If the church be moved, our text is found in the book of Nehemiah in chapter one. You may turn in your Bibles there now, but we will read it in its entirety. For in it is a prayer for revival. Nehemiah got news that Jerusalem had fallen into desolations.

The remnant that were left of the captivity were in great affliction and need. They were in spiritual distress. And on top of that, the wall of Jerusalem was broken down and no one was bothering to fix it.

And the invading army of the Chaldeans had even burned the very gates of the city and left them in ruins. It's a picture of people, of God in distress and in need and in a desperate hour. Nehemiah was wise enough to know that a servant of God must both be an agonizer and an organizer.

So he sets out to do something about it. And the very first thing he does is bring the sad situation before the face of God in prayer. And in this, friends, we see a similar situation in the church in America today.

Her walls are broken down. There is no authority. The very gates are in ruins. The church has no influence upon society. The church has sinned and refuses to repent and return to God to be repaired and revitalized again.

This passage from Nehemiah chapter 1 is a prayer for revival. And revival is America's only hope, friends, her only hope. If this nation does not turn back to the God of the Bible, there will be no nation left to be turned.

Do you believe that? Do you? Then pay close attention to this passage from Nehemiah chapter 1 as I read it to you. And notice several aspects in this prayer of Nehemiah. Notice first, he addresses a high and lofty God who sits on the throne.

The Remnant’s Grief Over National and Ecclesial Decline

Number two, he reminds God that he is a covenant keeping God. Number three, he confesses the sins of the nation and confesses his own sins. Number four, he reminds God of what he has done in former times on behalf of his people.

And number five, he expects God to act in mercy and power. Now, let me read your passage and pay close attention to each of these aspects I just mentioned. And as I read it to us, a picture in your mind how the church in America should respond to the current dilemma it stands in.

There's a remnant in America who cry out in anguish over both the condition of the nation and the condition of the church. This remnant weeps real tears of bitter sorrow over the moral bankruptcy of the nation and the spiritual declension in the church.

Here now, friends, is the prayer of Nehemiah as found in chapter one from the word of God. The words of Nehemiah, the son of Hekeliah, and it came to pass in the month Chislew in the 20th year as I was in Shushan, the palace, that Huniah, one of my brethren, came.

He and certain men of Judah. And I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity and concern of Jerusalem. And they said unto me, the remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach.

The wall of Jerusalem also was broken down and the gates thereof are burned with fire. And it came to pass when I heard these words that I sat down and wept and mourned the certain days and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven and said, I beseech thee, O Lord, God of heaven, the great and terrible God that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments, let thine ear now be attentive and thine eyes open that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee now day and night for the children of Israel, thy servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee.

Both I and my father's house have sinned. We have dealt very corruptly against thee and have not kept the commandments nor the statutes nor the judgments, which thou commandest thy servant Moses. Remember, I beseech thee the word that thou commandest thy servant Moses saying, If ye transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations.

But if you turn unto me and keep my commandments and do them, though they were of you cast out onto the uttermost part of heaven, yet will I gather them from thence and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there.

Now there are thy servants and thy people whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power and by thy strong hand. O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant and to the prayer of thy servants who desire to fear thy name and prosper.

Revival’s Power to Transform the Church and Mission

I pray thee thy servant this day and grant him mercy in the sight of this man, for I was the king's cupbearer. Observe, friends, the prayer for revival found here in Nehemiah's wonderful intercession on behalf of the nation.

If we as a church, as a nation should go and do likewise, what glorious things could be accomplished in the name of the Lord if the church be moved to repentance. What a transformation could appear in the land if the church was revived into a vital brand of New Testament Christianity.

Imagine what would occur. It could be like the book of Acts, wherein the Christians were described as these who have turned the world upside down have come here also. When God comes in revival, the church becomes a vitalized and energized entity by the power of the Holy Spirit.

The second great awakening in America ushered in a great missionary enterprise, which sent out thousands of young men and women from America to the shores of distant lands. Many died there as a witness for the gospel.

They planted their lives on foreign fields for the souls of men. I was recently speaking to a young Christian college student, and I asked her what God had intended for her life. She said she felt called to be a missionary.

But when she looked into it, she found out she could not support herself financially. So she's now studying for a secular career which can support her. When the church lies in spiritual decay, the focus is on us.

When the church is in revival, the focus is on the perishing, reaching them with the gospel of the Son of God. Let us look now, friends, how Nehemiah prayed to God and be familiar with it so we can apply the same principles to our prayer life for the church and for our nation.

Addressing God as the Sovereign King

Number one, Nehemiah addresses a high and lofty God who sits on a throne. Our concept of God today is too small. We've shrunken him down to our size or smaller, and we treat him like a pal. But Nehemiah addresses the Almighty who sits on a throne.

God’s Covenant Promises for Revival

Number two, he reminded God that he was a covenant-keeping God. We have here in Nehemiah the prayer for revival, and in 2 Chronicles, we have the pattern for revival. In 2 Chronicles 7 .14, God declares, If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

Listen, friends, we must remind God of his covenant promises. He says that if his people meet these conditions of turning back to him in humility and in repentance and in prayer, he will then keep his promise to hear from heaven, forgive their sin and heal their land.

Let me ask you, does our land need healing today? Then let's apply this prayer and this pattern for revival in our personal lives, in the corporate life of the church as well. Notice the third aspect found in Nehemiah's prayer, and that is he confesses the sins of the nation and then he confesses his own sins.

Confession, Repentance, and the Restoration of God’s Presence

This is applying the principle and pattern from 2 Chronicles in a real and practical way. Are we in our churches today crying out to the Almighty in true repentance? I do not believe we are. The church in America has sinned and she refuses to repent and God has withdrawn his presence from among us.

But if we fall on our faces before God in true humility and repentance and turn from our wicked ways, he will hear. He will hear, friends. He will forgive and he will heal our land. This nation could be shaken from coast to coast with a mighty outpouring of his grace and revival if only the proud church would bend her neck and bow to the king of kings.

Remembering Former Awakenings

Notice the fourth aspect of Nehemiah's prayer. He reminds God of what he has done in former times. Let us go to God, friends, and remind him of how he blessed America in the past through seasons of revival and spiritual awakenings.

Let us call to his mind the great awakening and the second great awakening and ask him to do it again, to do it again. Oh, Lord, what you have done in former times. Do again, great God. Now notice this last aspect of Nehemiah's prayer, and that is this.

Expecting God to Act in Mercy and Power

He actually expects God to act in mercy and power. We may pray for revival, friend, but do we have the necessary faith to accompany it to see revival? Do we truly expect God to do what we're asking him to do?

Nehemiah was a man burdened for his nation, brokenhearted over his afflicted people and bent on doing something about it through action and faith. Listen, friends, America cannot go on sinning in the face of God much longer and expect anything other than certain judgment.

The church in America cannot continue on with its building programs and pride without being brought into judgment by an offended sovereign. I've been around a long time and I've never seen such a perfect storm of judgment brewing for this nation as I do now.

Should the church be moved by revival, there would be hope for the nation in a national spiritual awakening that could keep us from certain ruin and destruction. But will we pray as we ought or will we forsake our wicked ways and true repentance?

A Closing Prayer for National and Ecclesial Revival

We must apply the prayer of Nehemiah and the pattern for revival as we should before it's too late. Let us pray. Great God of heaven, your people are in affliction. Our hearts are grieved over the desolation in the land.

Heavenly King, visit your church in revival blessings, for our walls are torn down and our very gates are burned. We have grieved you away from our sanctuaries through our wicked rebellion and sin. We have replaced you, Lord, with entertainment and idols.

We have sinned as a nation before thy face wickedly. But our greatest crime is forsaking you in our churches and relying on money and manpower to run the church rather than relying on you and holy ghost power.

Grant us, I pray, the grace of repentance. You who dwell among the cherubim, come dwell among your people once again. Move as you have moved in former times in seasons of revival and spiritual awakening when you sent blessings of grace throughout this once great land.

We sit in sackcloth and ashes, Lord, and wait upon thee and thee only to rescue us from your great displeasure. Do it for thy great namesake, O Lord. Restore your people to vital Christianity once again and forgive us, great God, from turning your house of prayer into a house of entertainment.

Have mercy upon us, I pray. Amen.