Nehemiah 8:1–12

0:00 Turn with me in your Bibles to Nehemiah chapter 8. We will be looking at the first 12 verses of Nehemiah chapter 8. If you have one of the Bibles under the pews before you, that would be on page 403. Nehemiah chapter 8, starting in verse 1. Here's the word of the Lord. And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the water gate.

0:33 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.

1:10 And Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden platform that they had made for the purpose. And beside him stood Mattitiah, Shema, Ananiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maasaiah on his right hand. And Padaiah, Mishael, and Melchijah, and Hashum, and Hashbadanah, and Zechariah, and Mishelam on his left hand. And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people. For he was above all the people.

1:43 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, Akub, Shabbati, Hodiah, Maasaiah, Halita, Azariah, Josabat, Hanan, Paliah, 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, He said to all the people, this day is holy to the Lord your God.

2:43 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.

3:20 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. This is the word of the Lord. Well, today's sermon is centered on the theme that God's people must be united under God's Word. God's people must be united under God's Holy Word. And this passage gives us one of the most moving scenes in all of Scripture where we see God's people assembled under the authority of God's Word.

3:59 And it's my hope and prayer that you would be stirred to emulate this in your personal and in your contribution to our corporate gathering this morning this is a scene from history that we would do well to imitate and i think we do well already to imitate let me give you the context for where we are in this book ezra and nehemiah combined together as two books cover about 108 years that's from the year 538 bc down to the year about 430 bc we have the jewish people returning from captivity in babylon for 70 years in punishment for their disobedience from god in punishment for not being under the authority of god's word and as they come back they make a 900 mile trek through the wilderness they come back in three waves it takes about four months for each wave of people to travel back to the city of jerusalem and what do they do when they get there well they've got a city to rebuild nebuchadnezzar

5:04 and babylonians came in and sacked jerusalem and tore everything down and carried off all of their possessions and they've come back and they've got to rebuild and i mean rebuild they rebuild the altar they rebuild the temple in just two chapters prior to our text this morning in nehemiah 6 they rebuilt the walls around the city of jerusalem in fact that's five days before the moment that we've just read from this chapter so they've returned and they've rebuilt but something's still not right and they know it something's missing we don't just need to be home we don't just need our city rebuilt we need something more and what that more was was reform they needed a reformation of their hearts they needed to be under the authority of the book of the law of

6:08 moses as the text says and that's likely the book of deuteronomy by the way so we have god's people returned rebuilt and now we're in the moment the most important moment to be honest with you the reformation of their hearts and souls under the authority of god the great god as the text says and so i want to take a moment this morning and i want us to look at the unity of these people under the authority of God's Word. And the unity is explicit in this text. If you just look at the first verse, all the people gathered as one man. This phrase, all the people, is like a drumbeat through these 12 verses. I think it happens 10 times. And there's a total of 21 references to this concept of all the people, like-minded and like-hearted. But look at how emphatic it is all the people gathered as one man if you look back in chapter 7 in fact

7:12 about a paragraph before the text that we're looking at this morning Nehemiah takes a census of the people who have returned and rebuilt and in that census we've got about 42,000 men and women and about 7,000 others that have gathered and so I'm going to tell you that at this moment we've got about 50,000 or more people gathered in this moment. Note who was gathered, both men and women and all who could understand what they heard. So we've got some degree of children in this midst.

7:47 We don't probably have infants here. They can't yet understand, but we have got a broad span of ages. And notice that we don't have a congregation that is divided or segregated by age or special interest groups or demographics or anything like that. We have 50,000 or more people assembled as one man. What a beautiful picture. You know, when we see unity in the world that we live in, we like it. We like unity on a team that wins a championship. They obviously were the most unified group for they were able to accomplish a common goal together we love it when we see a husband and a wife unified it's beautiful isn't it we love it when we see a church unified under the authority of god's word it's beautiful and the opposite of that is one of the most ugly things you could ever set your sights on you know it's good and well that we segregate our congregation at 9 30 in the morning for age-appropriate teaching we need to be about that but at 10 45

8:52 every morning we need to be assembled men and women and all who can understand into one room to sit under the authority of God's word and I think we do a good job of that here let's keep it right there where we are you know there are churches out there that have run amok in this concept of dividing and segregating on Sunday mornings so much so there's pastors that literally undress from Sunday morning to Sunday noon. At 8 30 they wear a suit and tie and preach the traditional service and at 10 45 they're in board shorts and flip-flops preaching to a different crowd. You laugh but it's a thing in Texas. This morning we need to look into what these people are doing in their unity and we need to walk away and do an audit of us and make sure that what we have done so faithfully up to this point is something that we continue to do faithfully

9:55 for the days to come so this morning i want to look now at god's people united and i've got five observations from this text that we need to be mindful of there's five things that are distinctly seen in this passage of scripture that show us God's people united and they show us that the unity is happening under the authority of God in his word and so the first observation that I'll give you this morning is that the people gathered expectantly in their unity in their unified hearts and minds and bodies for that matter they've gathered with expectation the people called for the book of the law of Moses that the Lord had commanded Israel they expected to be given the book of God 50,000 people as one man had this expectation this was not imposed upon the people

10:58 by the leadership although that wouldn't be wrong that would be good leadership to subject the people to the authority of God's word but these people on their own volition gathered expectantly wanting the Word of God. They took the initiative in the text. They wanted and needed and expected God's Word. They needed reformation to go with this rebuilding and this return that they've been granted. And so they were in need of God's Word. They were in need of reform, and they knew just the reformer to call for. Let's look at this man Ezra. They asked Ezra to bring the book of the law, so they need the law, but they also need the man Ezra. Well, Ezra is very astutely qualified for this role that they've called him to be. First of all, Ezra is genealogically qualified. If you look at some biographical data about Ezra over in the book Ezra, specifically in chapter 7,

11:58 you will see there 16 generations of Israelite priesthood from Ezra all the way back to the high priest Aaron. So genealogically, this is the man that the Israelites should call to read the word of God over them. This genealogy is given over in Ezra chapter 7 to establish and stress the qualification of Ezra to be in this role in this moment. But more importantly, more importantly, Ezra not only is genealogically qualified, he is spiritually qualified.

12:38 And they know it. Many in this genealogy, 16 generations, were not spiritually qualified to lead God's people in the authority of the word. But Ezra is not one of those. He was devoted and disciplined and faithful. Listen to what it says over in Ezra chapter 7. I'm going to read a little bit of 6 and a little bit of 10. ezra was a scribe skilled in the law of moses that the lord the god of israel had given for ezra had set his heart to study the law of the lord and to do it and to teach his statutes in israel this is a qualified reformer and the people in expectation of being reformed call for the word of God and call for a man who is able to do that. He set his heart to study the law of the Lord. That's like the man in Psalm chapter 1, right? His delight is in the law of

13:38 the Lord and on it he meditates day and night. This is Ezra. Ezra set his heart also to do the law of the Lord. He's not the man that looks into the law and forgets what he's read, but no, he does it he is a doer who acts and he will be blessed in his doing as we read in the book of james and then finally he has a heart to teach the law of the lord the sequence is crucial we've got many in this room training for pastoral ministry and preaching ministry this is the benchmark by which we ought to set and establish our preaching and teaching ministry. We must be those who study the law of the Lord, those who do the law of the Lord, and then we are finally equipped to teach the law of the Lord. I just want to take a moment and ask you this. The sequence in this is critical. Think about that for a moment. These steps must be

14:39 practiced in the order that they're given in the text. Can you imagine studying the word of the Lord, but not doing it. James tells us that man is foolish. Can you imagine studying the Word, but not teaching the Word? That would be hoarding the greatest truths that were ever given to mankind. Can you imagine doing or teaching without studying the Word of the Lord? Well, that would result in error in your teaching. And can you imagine teaching without doing? Well, that would be the epitome of hypocrisy and exactly what Jesus accused the Pharisees of doing in the New Testament. So these people needed reformation. They needed the word of God and they needed a reformer that they could trust on to put them right rightly under the authority of God. And I pray that God would always be faithful to provide his people in congregations everywhere and especially third avenue baptist church to have such faithful men in a pulpit like ezra we should

15:43 pray for that we've got it let's pray that the lord would grant us to keep it and we could be well well intentioned this morning to pray even for greg as he's preparing to come back next sunday what a blessing it is to have one who studies and does and then teaches well there's one more thing that shows that they gathered expectantly and that is that they built a platform for the occasion people built this platform ezra didn't get his hammer and nails out and build something ezra the scribe it says in verse 4 stood on a wooden platform that they had made for the purpose so we need reformation so we need the word of god first we need a man skilled to read it and apply it second and third we need it high and above us yes so we can hear but there is an importance that we need to see in the architecture that has been established in this

16:47 text. They call Ezra to bring the book and they put him on a platform with it because they revere the word of God. They are in this moment physically under the authority of the scriptures. It's not something to neglect, to overlook. So there's the first item that we should observe. They gathered with expectation. They gathered expectantly. Second, from this text, we see that they submitted themselves to the authority of the Word of God. They did something with this gathering of expectation. They submitted themselves to the authority of the Word of God. In verse 8, we see that Ezra and the Levites read from the book of the law clearly, and they gave the sense so that the people understood the reading.

17:43 It's not really about Ezra and the Levites. Rather, it's about the book, the law of God. Sure, they called Ezra to bring the book. They put him up on a platform. But recall, the people don't stand. If you look in this text in just a moment, the people don't stand until Ezra opens the book of the law. And by the way, it was opened probably like this. It's a scroll, not a book. The people didn't stand when Ezra, the reformer, stood on the platform. They stood when the book of the law, perhaps Deuteronomy, was opened out of reverence for this word.

18:20 In a sense, Ezra's invisible at this point as he points the people to God's word. And what do we get in this moment? Well, we get nothing short of expository preaching. We don't get Ezra's opinions. we don't get the Levites thoughts on the latest issues of the day we get expository verse by verse word of God the text says they read from the book the law of God consider the moment the people at this point do not have their own copy I've told you to turn to page 403 in your Bible what a what a blessing it is that we can all have a copy of this sitting in our laps well these people didn't have that they needed it read to them and the crowd is so spread out we're talking 50,000 or more people that they could not have heard Ezra from the platform so we've got a picture here of the Levites walking amongst the people reading what Ezra is leading with in smaller groups

19:23 it's part of that expectation but these people want to be under the authority of the word of God they don't want to be in the moment they want to don't want to be at the site where that thing happen. No, they want specifically, individually and congregationally to be under the word of God and its authority. And let's look and see what Ezra and these Levites did in this moment to meet this expectation. The text says that they read clearly. Some would translate that paragraph by paragraph, intentionally, rightly dividing and cutting the word of truth by paragraph and verse and phrase and word they read from it clearly and the people were soaking it in they gave a sense the text says the word was not only preached but it was also applied the sense of God's word was given to them this is what we must do with God's word in relation to our lives

20:24 and it says that Ezra and the Levites helped the people understand the reading Levites are walking amongst the people teaching them in smaller groups and I think what we've got here is a picture of of two things number one translation and number two interpretation on the translation front the people of god had lost their language hebrew they'd been taken captive by babylon and in the babylonian empire over 70 years they have taken on the language of aramaic it would seem so these poor people in their waywardness from god couldn't even read God's word because it was in a language that was foreign to them, yet even though it was their own language of Hebrew. You know, one of the consequences of our sin is separation from God.

21:24 Well, here's an extreme picture of people being so separated from God that they can't even recognize the tongue in which he gave his inspired word to them. In interpretation, we see that they are unfamiliar. Certainly, if they don't know the language of the Bible, they haven't read the Bible, so they're unfamiliar with the word of God over 70 years and a few generations. And so they need faithful interpretation from Ezra, that scribe that's skilled, and from these Levites who have been faithful to retain their skills in the Hebrew language. You know, they don't know God's voice found in his word, and they've lost their Hebrew to even be able to read that word. What a dire position they find themselves in and what do they do they say we need the word of god and we need a scribe skilled to read it to us and we need levites to apply it to our lives so that we can reform within these walls that we've rebuilt in this temple that we've rebuilt so yes they come

22:30 to the book with great expectations they did not assemble passively they asked for this oh they asked for this so let's look at the third thing first they gathered with expectation second they submitted to the authority of the word of God and third very importantly something that I pray that we're about even right now in this moment they listened actively they didn't check out they didn't wonder what they were going to go do that afternoon after they got through this service no that with all of their intention and all of their submission they now lean in to the proclamation of the word of god and you see it even in their physical posture just look at the text with me starting in verse three i'll read different sections here ezra read from the law from early morning until midday, by the way.

23:27 That's maybe six hours worth of preaching. Don't worry, we're not going there today. And the ears of all the people were attentive. The ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law, verse five. And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people. They're observing even this word being opened for he was above all the people. And as he opened it, the people stood. We're using all of our physical senses here in the worship of God, aren't we? Verse 6, Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people answered with vocal cords and tongues, Amen, Amen, lifting their hands.

24:08 And they bowed their heads and they worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. Oh, these people listened attentively. Why? Because they're desperate. And they know it. This isn't accidental. They didn't stumble on to some guy reading his word and get struck by. No, they have asked for this moment out of desperation. What a scene. Just stop for a moment. Every time I read this passage, chills go up and down my spine.

24:43 what a scene can you imagine this moment 50,000 people or more standing in unison when the book of the law of God is opened that's stunning it's beautiful what a great unity they have that is the greatest expression of unity you could ever have is we're unified and sitting under the authority of the word of God so much so that we'll stand and we'll stand from early morning until midday as this is read to us they lifted their hands expressing their neediness they bowed their heads and put their faces to the ground demonstrating their humility and their humiliation for defying this word that they're hearing and then they use their vocal cords amen and amen they say truly they say yes they say so be it as ezra has read to this to this crowd what a sound can you imagine 50,000 people saying amen in unison yes they

25:51 lean in as the word was proclaimed and they listened the text says five times to circle the number of times you see understood or understanding they listened so that they would understand this God who has written so then my fourth point they responded humbly. We need to hear the word of God, but we also must respond to its proclamation. We must respond to what it says to us.

26:25 And these people responded in humility. Verse 9. Nehemiah and Ezra 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 word of the law. There's a humility in their response to the confrontational nature of this word that was read over them.

27:00 They were grieved, they mourned, they wept as they understood their waywardness. They don't shake their fist at God. they didn't say well yeah moses wrote that about a thousand years ago and today it's just a different day no they have submitted to an ancient word not a fresh word not a new word an ancient word from the god who was and is and is to come and they are cut to the heart ripped down to their soul with conviction and they are grieved they saw where their lives contradicted the word of god they saw clearly how they were where they were in rebellion for 70 years and now they've been brought back they start to understand this is why that happened what must we do we're desperate this is why we read earlier this morning second corinthians chapter 7 i think what we see here

28:04 is what Paul wrote about to the Corinthian church when he says godly grief produces repentance that brings about salvation without regret. Worldly grief, what does worldly grief bring? Let me hear you. Death. We don't see worldly grief here. We see godly grief. We see people cut because they see their waywardness against God's word vividly. And the response is repentance. Grieving, weeping, gnashing of teeth, if you will.

28:40 Listen, there is something to be learned here, and we all need this word. I think corporately, we are a repenting church, but we must take this to heart at the individual level. And may we all individually be repenters so that corporately we can be united in repentance. We need to see ourselves as just like these Israelites. And we need to understand what David wrote in Psalm 119, or the psalmist wrote, If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction.

29:19 These people see the possibility of affliction bringing about, perishing, and they're cut. And so now we have these people under the authority of the Word of God. Yes, physically up on a platform with Ezra and the Levites. But now they're spiritually under the authority of the Word. And it's not about Ezra and the Levites. It's about the God who wrote the book. And they are spiritually now submitting to his authority.

29:51 And it's evidenced by grieving and mourning and weeping. So do you feel the weight of this verse? Because what I'm here to say today is every time we hear the Word proclaimed from this pulpit Sunday morning and Sunday night, there are moments of conviction that we ought to be cut to the heart. For we understand in those moments, as we encounter the Word of God, that we are wayward from His ways. We are not in line with His commands.

30:22 And by the grace of God, He calls us together once a week, if not more. but once a week in this moment to have this confrontation. What a good God to confront us like this. Let's be a united people that responds to this God in unity and saying, give us the word, amen and amen. Oh, woe is us, we have wronged our God. But there's one more point. Yes, these people gathered expectantly.

30:56 They gathered under the authority of the Word of God. They listened actively. They responded humbly. But the fifth point this morning is, and this is very, very important, they departed joyfully. Jennifer and I spent some time last night talking about this. Those are probably the sweetest words in this whole text. Listen to it in verse 10. And they said to them, do not be grieved, and here it is, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.

31:39 Those are the sweetest words for this morning in this passage. There's a lot of great words in this passage, but those are especially sweet this morning. The joy of the Lord is your strength, they say. 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 send portions and to make great rejoicing because they had understood the words that were declared to them that's an amazing passage we're weeping we're grieving we're mourning cut to the heart but this passage ends with people departing with joy joy for being confronted joy for being cut joy for being shown where they're wayward and joyful in their godly grief that produces repentance that brings about salvation without regret you see we worship a god that does mightily want to confront us in our sin

32:50 praise god he would not leave us in our sin praise god that he would have the word that could confront us and that he would provide people to proclaim it to us so that we could clearly understand it and make application to our lives so that we could then see how we relate to this great god and praise god that when we see that we don't relate to him as he's called us to in scripture through repentance we can actually have joy and not everlasting guilt they depart joyfully because they had a godly grief instead of a worldly grief and i think you know the difference between the two worldly grief produces death there's no joy in that godly grief produces salvation and the text says in paul's writings without regret forgiveness is forgiveness they are urged out of their mourning by nehemiah ezra and the levites

33:53 because god is merciful and forgiving listen to what god says in psalm chapter 30 i'll read four and 5 and 11 and 12. Sing praises to the Lord, O you his saints, and give thanks to his holy name. For this, his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning. You have turned from me my mourning into dancing. You have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent oh lord my god i will give thanks to you forever you know i meet with some of you regularly trying to help you struggle through proclivities towards sin you meet with me to do the same thing

34:59 i've encountered over the years and i used to struggle in this but this joy of the lord being my strength this is something that that i discovered from scripture years ago and have strived to become better at applying that verse to my life ongoing and i do better than it sometimes than others but some of you are so wrapped up in sin in the moment that you are kind of scared to have joy on the other side of repentance we talked last night maybe the fear for that is if i'm too casual and flippant and going into joy mode after repentance maybe my repentance wasn't authentic well let's back up and let's make sure that we've got godly grief that our souls are grieved because we've wronged god not worldly grief and if we've got authentic godly grief then in that moment we ought to have on the other side of that repentance authentic godly joy

36:01 and this is the good news of the god that has gathered us together here this morning he is not a god that wants to beat us down and squash us into the dirt he wants to wash us as white as snow he wants to put our sins as far away as the east is from the west and sometimes we remain in our guilt which is a fleshly response to our sin instead of living in the joy of the lord and having this strength that he endows us with and let me tell you how this works the joy of the lord is your strength well after repentance and confession and after salvation without regret this strength that god calls us to have in his joy is what enables us to withstand the temptations to repeat the sins. If we're truly joyful in the God who forgave, we're more inclined to not walk back into the sin that would grieve him and that would cause the godly grief.

37:06 So my urging to you this morning is to accept God's invitation here to have joy on the other side of authentic repentance and to not be a slave to the former sins through this thing called guilt because your guilt has been dealt with once and for all by the Savior Jesus Christ. So embrace him for all that he is in repentance and forgiveness and joy. Well, I want to close with this. There's my five points i want to close with this there is a need sunday in and sunday out for us to reform praise the lord we we haven't come out of 70 years of exile okay we've come out of maybe seven days of something but every sunday morning god gives us this opportunity to reform and i think we are a church that gathers with expectation to sit under the authority of this

38:12 word we're blessed to have a an ezra type figure in this pulpit to stand out of the way and point us to the great god but the question is do we respond humbly in conviction and then if so do we then depart with joy that we've been forgiven. That's where we need to double down and make sure that we're faithful all the way through from the submission to the Word of God to the washing with the Word of God. And so this morning I want to tell you that something greater than Ezra is here.

38:50 Ezra's a great figure in this text. But there is something far, far greater than Ezra. And his name is Jesus the Christ. Ezra points us to Christ. Christ is the greatest reformer, the ultimate reformer that we in unison come and sit under the authority of. Christ is this word of God. Christ also is the reformer through whom we get righteousness from God.

39:24 Just like Ezra, we see in the New Testament that Christ studied the law of God. Even as a little boy separated from his family, he's found in the temple sitting with the scribes asking questions. Throughout his ministry, he's quoting the Old Testament over and over again. He is a student of the law of God. He set his heart on the law of God. And beyond that, we also see that Christ did the law.

40:01 Ezra studied it and did it. Oh, Christ studied it and oh, did he do it. Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount, do not think that I've come to abolish the law and the prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. He did the law of the Lord to the ultimate. And finally, Christ taught the law of God. You can read the Sermon on the Mount. You can go into the upper room. You can read his parables. You can see what he did in the synagogues.

40:35 Or you can look at what he did on the road to Damascus with two disciples that were despondent over this dead Savior that they thought still lay in the ground for there it says that beginning with the Moses and all the prophets he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself he taught the law of God in John 5 he says you search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life and it is they that bear witness about me for if you believed Moses you would have believed me for he wrote of me this is what jesus taught this is what jesus did this is what jesus studied yes i'm telling you this morning something greater than ezra is here christ the ultimate reformer not only did he practice all the law not only did he do all the law he fulfilled it to the nth degree and so this morning my call to us is that we would worship him

41:39 and him alone church the joy of the lord in the forgiveness of our sins through our savior jesus christ is our strength let's agree to be unified every time we gather under this savior god jesus christ and let's agree to demand that this book be proclaimed to us every time we're together please join me in prayer father we are so thankful to you for a word like this this morning that instructs us on your character you call us to be united around your authority found in your word you cut us with conviction you call us to repent and then you delight in seeing us have joy your joy is our strength on the other side of our wrong father would you unite us as a church that fulfills

42:46 what we see demonstrated here in this passage all for your glory and yes indeed for our good as we live in this world day to day and we pray this in jesus name amen