God's Word for God's People

Good morning once again. I invite you to open your Bibles or your devices to Nehemiah chapter 8. Today we are going to see what happens when the Word of God is honored by the people of God. Up to this point Nehemiah has come from Susa where he was serving as cup bearer to the king, to Jerusalem so that he can lead the rebuilding of the walls and gates of the city. As we come to chapter 8, the city walls and gates have been completed and security has been put in place to protect the city from the opposition that was in the surrounding lands. What happens is a truly amazing and exciting event that gives us as the church a view of what happens when God’s Word is honored and rightly responded to. The next two chapters will detail the reformation and revival that goes on within the community. Let’s read and see what happens next.

Read Nehemiah 8

Nehemiah 8 ESV

And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the Water Gate. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses that the Lord had commanded Israel. So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could understand what they heard, on the first day of the seventh month. And he read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law. And Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden platform that they had made for the purpose. And beside him stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah on his right hand, and Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam on his left hand. And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people, and as he opened it all the people stood. And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people answered, “Amen, Amen,” lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. Also Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, the Levites, helped the people to understand the Law, while the people remained in their places. They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading. And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, “This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep.” For all the people wept as they heard the words of the Law. Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” So the Levites calmed all the people, saying, “Be quiet, for this day is holy; do not be grieved.” And all the people went their way to eat and drink and to send portions and to make great rejoicing, because they had understood the words that were declared to them. On the second day the heads of fathers’ houses of all the people, with the priests and the Levites, came together to Ezra the scribe in order to study the words of the Law. And they found it written in the Law that the Lord had commanded by Moses that the people of Israel should dwell in booths during the feast of the seventh month, and that they should proclaim it and publish it in all their towns and in Jerusalem, “Go out to the hills and bring branches of olive, wild olive, myrtle, palm, and other leafy trees to make booths, as it is written.” So the people went out and brought them and made booths for themselves, each on his roof, and in their courts and in the courts of the house of God, and in the square at the Water Gate and in the square at the Gate of Ephraim. And all the assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths and lived in the booths, for from the days of Jeshua the son of Nun to that day the people of Israel had not done so. And there was very great rejoicing. And day by day, from the first day to the last day, he read from the Book of the Law of God. They kept the feast seven days, and on the eighth day there was a solemn assembly, according to the rule.

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This is the Word of the Lord. Let's pray and ask God to help us understand and that He would change our lives.

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This return to Jerusalem was the breaking of a long period of darkness for the Israelites. They had been exiled and had been almost extinguished from the earth but this dark time gives way to a burst of enthusiastic worship and a renewed sense of wonder at the Lord and consecrated obedience. It's ultimately a type of obedience and celebration, that this city had not seen in this way for two hundred years.

Consecutive, expositional preaching on display here. Prelude to blessing inthe life of the people of God.

I. The people were united in their desire for the Word of God.

Ezra had been serving the Lord faithfully among the returned exiles for thirteen years. At this point in the story we see a kind of change in the way the leadership unfolds. Nehemiah, who up until this point has been our front and center character seems to fade into the background and Ezra steps into the spotlight of the book for now. God raises specific leaders up for specific times. This is a great picture of that very principle.

I believe that what we see in this chapter is partially a fruit of Ezra’s faithful ministry for the last several years. He was faithful in serving when not on the platform and was ready when he was given the opportunity. But more than that I want you to see that the people were ready to listen and obey the Word of the Lord. They had a great desire for God’s Word. They gathered together as one man. Notice the unity in that. They were unified in their desire for the Word of God and that desire moved them to act. Ezra didn’t just decide to read them the Bible. The people called for it. They told him to come and bring the book of the Law. Try to imagine the joy in Ezra’s heart from seeing the walls rebuilt, the people being brought back, and now the people of God calling for the man of God to bring forth the Word of God. Must he have longed for this type of renewal in the city? As I studied this, I was reminded of a song that I was introduced to many years ago. It’s a song that God connected me with in some very dark times of my ministry. It’s called Out of the Depths and some of the lyrics are:

**VERSE 1** Out of the depths, O Lord, I cry to You When I am tempted to despair Though I might fail to trust Your promisesYou never fail to hear my prayer And if You judged my sin I’d never stand again But I see mercy in Your hands

**CHORUS** So more than watchmen for the morningI will wait for You, my God When my fears come with no warningIn Your Word I’ll put my trustWhen the harvest time is over and I still see no fruitI will wait, I will wait for You

**VERSE 2** The secret mysteries belong to YouWe only know what You revealAnd all my questions that are unresolvedDon’t change the wisdom of Your willIn every trial and lossMy hope is in the crossWhere Your compassions never fail

The people have gathered together at the Water Gate, which is near the Gihon spring, the main water source for Jerusalem. They are no longer working and are ready to hear the Word of God. They will drink deeply of the living water that comes from the Word.

What is your desire for the Word of God when we gather? If the church gathered and the Word of God was not read, would anyone notice? Would you notice? Derek Thomas wrote this quote that struck me because of how profoundly true it is:

" Every true progress in gospel awakening is conditioned by a renewed and deepened study of the scriptures."

You can try a lot of things to get people excited about God and to awaken to the gospel. But the only way for true gospel awakening, true revival, is with a renewed and deepened study of the Scriptures. The Word is lifted up, read, studied, taught, and explained rightly and then we will see fruit from it. That’s what happened here in Nehemiah chapter 8. So they were united in a desire for the Word. They had an enthusiasm for the Word. Secondly, the Word of God was read and honored among them.

II. The Word of God was read and honored among them.

A. They honored the Word of God physically.

The passage says they stood for the reading of the Word. I've been in some churches that practice this and that is perfectly fine and allowable. However, I don't believe that is a prescriptive verse. Other places in scripture we see people sitting, such as Mary who sat at Jesus' feet and listened to Him teaching. In Jeremiah there is an interaction where Baruch, who was Jeremiah's scribe is told by the people to sit down and read the Bible to them.

Jeremiah 36:15 ESV

And they said to him, “Sit down and read it.” So Baruch read it to them.

In other words, it's point is not to get us to implement standing every time the Word of God is read. The point is to show reverence for God's Word. They also listened for probably about six hours. We typically don't do that every Sunday either. The point is that they honored the Word of God and it was all encompassing. They stood as a sign of their reverence for the Scripture because it was God's Word to them. They honored it with their bodies. For these people of God, worship was not merely a mental exercise. It involved the entire worshiper. This is standing, speaking, and kneeling in humility before God. Worship costs us physically. It should.

We read in verse 3, that the people were attentive to the Word. They paid attention. As I said earlier, this was a long session. It may have been as much as six hours. They were engaged in what was going on. No checking their facebook feed or looking at the score of the ballgame. All those who could understand what they heard were there. That would probably exclude only nursing mothers and their babies. There was no youth service. Everyone was expected to listen to the Word of God. Again, I don't believe this is prescriptive for service length for our meetings. But as one commentator questioned, do we wish that such a thing might occasionally take place under the power of the Spirit? And if that were to happen here, what would the response of your heart be? I'm concerned that a lot of us just don't have time for that kind of movement of God in our lives. May God make us more ready and more open to what He wants to do in and through us.

We see a people with a desire for the Word, asking for the Word. So the man of God reads the Word and then the Word of God was explained to them.

III. The Word of God was explained to them.

They preaching that you get here at Hope Bible Fellowship from me is expository preaching. That is what is happening in Nehemiah chapter 8. That's a big word, expository or exposition so let me explain it. It simply means, exposing the meaning of the text. It's God's Word read and explained.

This passage has been closely associated with the study of the intent of preaching for many years. In the sixteenth century the reformers focused on Bible translation and exposition. To that point, medieval Catholicism only held the form of worship. The Bible was read or sung in Latin but the reformers understood that if the gospels as to be be grasped and appreciated, the people needed a proper understanding. They took it as their fundamental task as apparently Ezra did as well to make sure the Bible was clear. I often pray that I will be clear with what I say so that you can understand what the text means. And being clear in your preaching isn't the easiest thing to do in life. I read a commentator who ask the best compliment a preacher can receive is when someone says of of his preaching, "I can see exactly where you get that from the text. Indeed, it is so clear that I could have seen it myself." They may or may not have been able to without the explanation but the point remains that the preacher should explain the meaning and help the listener understand. That is the responsibility of the preacher. This is all done with the help of the Holy Spirit who helps us understand what is being explained from the Word of God. There's a story about a visitor to a church to hear the minister, William Still. After the service Still was greeting the people and the guest said, "But you don't preach." Still was puzzled by this and asked what the man meant by it. "You just take a passage from the Bible and explain why it means." Still said to the man, "Brother, that is preaching."

True preaching lets the Bible do the talking. Of course we contextualize it, we illustrate it with stories or examples, and we help the people understand what to do with it.

What God wants to say to you, His church, is right here in this book. It's in the Bible. This is God's Word. He has revealed Himself in it and it has everything we need for life and godliness.

If you find someone who claims to have a "new" message or a "new" theology. Run the other direction. Listen to those who are explaining the Word of God clearly.

The kind of preaching we find here exalts God. He is the focus, the center, and the main character in the whole of the Bible. I like what Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, one of my old dead guys, said:

"A lecture starts with a subject, and what it is concerned to do is to give knowledge and information concerning that particular subject.… But the big difference, I would say, between a lecture and a sermon is that a sermon does not start with a subject; a sermon should always be expository.” - Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones

When the Word was properly understood, they responded to it.

IV. They responded to the Word.

When they were in exile in Babylon, it is not likely that they had heard much of the Scriptures read to them. We can’t know for sure of course. The priests and Levites surely did some kind of teaching or discussion but this experience is defining of these people. It’s a marker in their lives. Some may have known some of the scriptures but it was a more intense thing to hear the continual reading of the Word for such an extended period of time as an assembly. Under the power and influence of the Holy Spirit this became an emotional experience. Have you ever heard something from the Bible that you’ve heard before but when you heard it this time it was like hearing it for the first time? I wonder if it was like that for some of them. They had heard the Word of the Lord and they realized that they did not measure up to His glorious standard.

A. They wept.

One of the marks of revival is the corporate conviction of sin. This is a deep awareness of sin and a sensitivity to it. This would be overall sensitivity to sin in general but also to very specific sins. They listened to the Word. This was God speaking to them and they saw themselves as sinners. They were lawbreakers who had been selfishly serving themselves and not God. They were overtaken with their understanding of their guilt before God. This was more than a feeling but a stark understanding of where their sin put them - in line of God’s judgement.

Listen to what Derek Thomas wrote about this:

Too often we develop calluses toward Scripture, refusing to allow it to penetrate deep into the heart. We long for peace when there should be a war within our souls. We want pleasure and not pain. We feel that it is our right to be happy, and churches that make us feel otherwise are ridiculed and derided as legalistic - Derek Thomas

Before we see our need for a Savior, we have to be convinced of our own sinfulness. We must be convicted of our sin.

Acts 2:37 ESV

37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”

We must be “cut to the heart”.

The Gospel is a full message. It’s not simply that God loved us and saves us but that He saves us from His wrath and judgment that is rightfully due to us because of our sin. Jesus died on the cross in our place as a substitute for us because we are sinners and that sin must be paid for by blood. It must be judged and Jesus took that punishment for those who trust in Him.

Conviction of our sin is what starts the ball rolling as a means to get to repentance. When the people heard Peter on Pentecost and were cut to the heart, they asked at the end of verse 37 in Acts 2 as I just read, “Brothers, what shall we do?” It’s not enough to feel sorry for our sin. That could just be worldly sorry. But we know from scripture that godly sorrow for our sin will lead to repentance. That means we will change how we think AND act towards our sin. That’s repenting.

B. They rejoiced.

Nehemiah hears the weeping and he exhorts them not to weep because this day was for rejoicing and not for weeping. He told them to celebrate. If the people had broken into a weepy hysteria of sorts it would have spoken more to the uncertainty of their relationship to God rather than to the assurance of God’s forgiveness of His people. There is one hundred percent a time for weeping and mourning over your sin. But we just remember that in Christ our sin is no more. It’s forgiven. We must then rejoice over what we have in Christ. Life. Forgiveness. Peace with God. God’s love for us. Relationship with God. Right standing with God in Jesus Christ. Joy in knowing that the best is still ahead of us.

A joyless religion demonstrates the presence of unbelief. If left alone, joyless religion will foster unbelief all the more.

C. The joy of the Lord was their stronghold.

Look at verse 10.

Nehemiah 8:10 ESV

10 Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

Their strength would come from the joy they found in the Lord. I have wondered about this phrase: the joy of the Lord. It is referring to Yahweh’s joy. Yahweh’s good pleasure. His pleasure had been to move the king to allow them to return to rebuild the temple and then to bring Nehemiah back to rebuild the walls and gates and now to rebuild the people by the Word of the Lord. How was this to be their stronghold? How can God’s pleasure be a stronghold? A stronghold is a place of refuge, a fortress, perhaps a mountain fortress. God’s joy in saving them, restoring them, and protecting them from their enemies is their place of refuge. God’s joy is what protects them. It is their fortress.

They had heard the Word of God read and explained and it caused them to feel the impact of the guild of their sin. They wept at it. They are sinful. But they should ultimately look to God and what He had done for them. They could literally look around them and see the walls that God had built through them. They were reminded that they are a covenant people who were God’s chosen people and He had placed His hand upon. Even when it was dark in exile and looked like it might be their end, God had promised a restoration and return. He had promised a Messiah to come and save the people from their sin.

God loves His people. He delights in His people. If you are Christian today, God is pleased with you. He takes delight in His people. If you know Jesus you can bank on this because He gave His life for you. So be encouraged today and find joy in the Lord. Let the joy of the Lord be your stronghold.

If you don’t know Jesus but realize you’re a sinner. I want you to know that this is available to you as well. Confess your sin before God. Tell Him you agree that you’re a sinner and deserve wrath and hell. Believe that He sent Jesus Christ to die in your place for your sin on the cross and that He was raised from the dead three days later. Believe He is God and salvation is found only in Him. Repent of your sin. Turn away from your sin. Surrender your life to Jesus. Place all of your hope, trust, and belief in Him alone for salvation. Salvation is available in Christ today.

Conclusion and Application Challenge (Invite band back up)

Teaching from God’s Word is key in building up the people of God. Much has been said about preaching in modern times but God designed it this way. Instruction from God’s Word prefigures the role of Christ, the Word made flesh. We keep the Word central because it’s how God grows His people. It’s how He reveals Himself to us.

A few points for your consideration as you go about your day and your week:

- God’s people love God’s Word. How do you feel about the Bible? When was the last time someone asked you that?

- When you have free time, how do you view it? Do you see it as an opportunity to drink of the living water of the Word of God? Do you relish it? Do you grasp that chance to get a taste of the thing that is sweeter than honey?

- Three reasons to listen attentively to the Word of God in the assembly of believers.

It honors God.

It’s good for your own soul. Even if the preacher is not great, the Word is good for your soul. Thanks be to God, the heart change in you depends on Him and not me.

It encourages the preacher.

In today’s message you see a pattern. They wanted the Word. They heard and honored the Word. They responded to the Word. That is the pattern that you face every Sunday. We come and expecting to hear the Word preached clearly and applied to our lives. We honor it by giving our attention to it and not giving in to distraction. Then once it is explained and we understand, we are faced with the question of how will we respond. Today some of you may need to just surrender to Jesus. Some of you need to repent of taking the Word of God for granted. Some need to focus more on being present when the Word is read and proclaimed. Some need to honor the Word of God more in our hearts. Some need to flat out change some things in our lives. The life of a Christian is the life of a repenter. The good news is that there is grace for you and me. The gospel is good news to those of us who just can’t get our act together. He got it together on our behalf. We are free to honor the Word and rejoice at the forgiveness we get in Christ Jesus! I want to challenge you to dwell deeply on the bigness and goodness of God. Think on what He has done and is doing. Remember that the best truly is yet to come, when one day Jesus returns for His church and we dwell forever with Him. What a day that will be!