Sermon Tone Analysis

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. 2 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.

3 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.

4 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.

5 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.

6 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.

7 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.

8 They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.

This Day Is Holy

9 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.

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.”

11 So the Levites calmed all the people, saying, “Be quiet, for this day is holy; do not be grieved.”

12 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.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

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. 2 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.

3 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.

4 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.

5 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.

6 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.

7 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.

8 They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.

This Day Is Holy

9 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.

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.”

11 So the Levites calmed all the people, saying, “Be quiet, for this day is holy; do not be grieved.”

12 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.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

Intro

How do you grow in your faith to worship God alone?

As we continue our study in we are going to see that in order for God’s people to engage their life in the work of God’s Kingdom and to worship him alone, they must make the Word of God central to their life and faith.

Allow me to remind you where we are in the story.

Now that the walls of Jerusalem had been rebuilt, Nehemiah was moving from his reconstruction efforts of brick and stone to rebuilding the people of God themselves.

And last week we talked about how Nehemiah was beginning to work to convice the people to move it

Because Nehemiah was sent to Jerusalem by God, not just to rebuild the walls, but to lead God’s people to once again take up their mantle to be a light to the nations of God’s salvation.

And for God’s people to once again be that light to the nations showing the world that God saves sinners, they had to recapture their identity as God’s holy people.

The question then is how?

How are God’s people transformed to be this light?

How are God’s people built up?

In other words, how are God’s people able to grow to actually be God’s people?

And we need to know this as a church because we are God’s people today and we exist to glorify the name of Jesus Christ in Northwest Arkansas and the World.

So how God’s people grow to actually be God’s people should be of first concern for us so that we can

And As we see the people of Jerusalem recapture their identity as God’s holy people, they show us that those that are truly God’s people love God’s Word.

And as we study this passage, Nehemiah is going to lay out a model for what it looks like for God’s people to Love God’s Word

As we continue our study in we are going to see that the central building block for God’s people to engage their life in the work of God’s Kingdom and to worship him alone is God’s Word.

As the people of Jerusalem recapture their identity as God’s holy people, the show us that those that are truly God’s people love God’s Word.

And it all starts in verses 1-2 with God’s people hungering for God’s Word.

1. God’s People Hunger For God’s Word

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. 2 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 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. 2 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.

3 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.

4 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.

Now Nehemiah specifically tells us the day on which all of this takes place.

this is on the first day of the seventh month.

Why is that significant?

Well he said in that the wall was completed on the 25th day of the month of Elul which is the 6th month of the Hebrew calendar.

So just days later, on the first day of the 7th month, the people of Israel gather in the square of Jerusalem and ask Ezra to bring the Book of the Law of Moses , which you might have heard called the Torah, or what we know as the first five books of the OT.

And the reason they do this was to obey what God commanded in Speak to the people of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a day of solemn rest, a memorial proclaimed with blast of trumpets, a holy convocation.

Now the words translated a holy convocation mean a gathering of the people of God for a religious purpose.

In other words, this command was for the people of Israel to hold a day of rest, and instead of working to have a worship service where they worshiped God together.

And here is why it is so significant that the people of God gather themselves and tell Ezra to go get the Book of Moses.

It wasn’t as if Ezra wasn’t doing his job as a priest and was unprepared for the celebration.

Ezra was a priest and a scribe, or an expert in God’s Law.

If Nehemiah was the political leader in Jerusalem, Ezra was the spiritual leader of the people.

He had returned to Jerusalem in 458BC about 13 years before Nehemiah in 445BC.

And during that time, he served the Lord and the people of Israel faithfully.

In fact, describing Ezra, the Bible says For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.

Ezra was a good pastor who loved the Lord and loved his people

And because he was a good pastor, Ezra taught the people of Israel the Torah for 13 years, and they knew that the Torah taught that the seventh month was full of religious festivals to worship God for what he had done for his people.

And now that the walls had been rebuilt and they were reclaiming their identity as the holy people of God, they wanted to establish the Law of God in the newly walled city.

In other words, upon the completion of the walls of Jerusalem they wanted God’s Word to be the foundation their new life as God’s holy people.

And this is why they chose to gather in the square next to the Water Gate.

One might assume that this being such an important religious ceremony that they would have held this worship service at the Temple.

But in the Temple precincts of the city, only men were allowed.

But look where the Water Gate is (MAP)

It is in the middle of the city.

In the very midst of the houses where the people of Jerusalem lived.

And this shows us that God’s Word was never intended to be relegated to the “spiritual” parts of his people’s lives.

It was always meant to speak to every area of our life.

This is why verse 3 says

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

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.

All of God’s people were involved in hearing God’s Word.