Go with me if you would back
to Nehemiah chapter 8. Nehemiah 8 verse 1 says, And all the people gathered themselves
together as one man into the street that was before the water
gate and they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book
of the law of Moses which the Lord had commanded to Israel. This will be the last message
that I bring to you before our conference and having the conference on
my mind having it Heavily on my mind. I thought it might be
enjoyable tonight To look at the Bible conference that the
Lord told Nehemiah to hold Having Ezra and the and the Levites
being the speakers They called some men and said would you bring
the book of the law of Moses with you? And we've done the
same thing Would you come? And would you bring that book
with you? This is a special portion of
scripture to me. I've always loved this. Ever
since the first time I had it read to me, I fell in love with
it. It's just a special moment to
me. Just the thought of all of these
brethren coming together, whole families gathering together,
having the mind of worship and the heart of worship, the heart
to gather before the Lord in worship. That being the only
purpose for their gathering. That's the only reason they came
together. That's what we're doing right
now. That's the purpose of this gathering. And if the Lord is
willing, that's what we're going to do next weekend. We're going
to gather together with some men and some women. Some dear
brethren are going to make a special effort to come together. We're
all going to gather together with one desire and one heart,
the heart of Christ. We're all going to come together
with one mind. The mind of Christ. And one will. We're all going to gather together
around one will. The will of Christ. One purpose. The purpose of Christ. Whatever His purpose is. We're
all going to gather together under and because of one blood. The blood of Christ. All for
one glory. If the Lord is willing, if the
Lord is pleased, and if He's kind to us, we're going to give
all the glory to God. All the glory for all things. By His grace, we're going to
gather together desiring to be a part of one body. The body
of Christ. Our desire in this Bible conference,
this coming Bible conference, it was the same desire they had
back then. The same desire they had for
their Bible conference. They all gathered together as
one man. They all gathered in the street
as one man. In Christ, our substitute. And
that's the gospel in one word, substitute. Substitute. In Christ, our substitute, we
gather with one man. We gather in one man. We gather as one man. We gather as one man, as loved
of the Father as He is. We are one in unity and one in
Him. As accepted by the Father as
He is. As holy before the Father as
He is. Outside of Him, we have none
of those things. In Him, we have all of those
things. Every bit of it. Verse 1 says, And all the people
gathered themselves together as one man into the street that
was before the water gate, And they spake unto Ezra the scribe
to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had
commanded to Israel. They said, bring the book, bring
the book. That's what we're going to gather
around. We're going to gather around the word of God. We're
going to gather around the word of God, the word of God. While
so many people want to hold a conference on how to be a better family
man. We're going to have a conference
on how to be a better Christian steward with your money. We're going to have a conference
on how to grow numbers in the congregation. While all those
things are going on, we're going to hold a conference. We're going
to come together around the Word of God. The Word of God. Ezra, they said, would you please
bring the book of Moses and tell us what it says. Just come tell
us what it says. Preach the Word of God to us. Preach Christ to us. Just come
preach Christ to us. Don't wow us. Don't impress us. Just preach Christ to us. Just
come preach Christ. Verse 2 says, And Ezra the priest
brought the law before the congregation, both of men and women, and all
that could hear with understanding, upon the first day of the seventh
month. And he read therein before the
street that was before the water gate from the morning until midday. Six hours. Six a.m. to noon. Six hours. from morning until midday before
the men and the women and those that could understand and the
ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law. What that means is God was blessing
the conference. They all gathered together. They
all made a special effort to come together for this one purpose
and God blessed the Bible conference. He gave them His Word. He gave
them men to preach His Word. He gave them ears to hear His
Word. And that's the blessing of God's
Spirit on a Bible conference. If God's people come together
and God makes them attentive to the Word, God has met with
them. God has blessed them. I pray
God will bless us. I do. I pray God will bless this
conference. I beg God to bless this conference
selfishly to my heart. I want to be blessed. I want
to be fed. And I pray the same for you,
and I pray the same for anyone the Lord will bring. Lord, would
you bless this conference? Would you please do the same
work here that you did here? Please open our eyes that we
may see open our ears that we may hear Making us attentive
to your word. We're just saying come Holy Spirit
heavenly dove with all of thy quickening power Kindle a flame
of sacred love love for Christ love for each other. Yes Love
for Christ in these cold hearts of ours. I That's what I pray
for this moment right now. And that's what I pray for next
weekend. Lord send his spirit. Well, all
of the people were gathered together. Their ears were attentive and
verse 4 says, Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood which
they had made for the purpose and beside him stood Mattathiah
and Shema and Ananiah and Uriah and Hilkiah and Maasaiah on his
right hand and on his left hand Paddaiah and Mishael and Malkiah
and Hashem and Hashbodana, Zechariah and Meshulam. Now, I've given
you the meanings of these names before. We have been in this
passage of scripture. And all of these names, you can
go into the Bible concordance, and they all have a meaning.
Names have meaning. And I've given these to you before,
and I'm going to give them to you again. There are more names
in verse seven. And before I divided it into
two messages and I expounded for a while on each one. I'm
not going to do that tonight. I'm going to give you all of
them. I'm going to tell you what their definition meanings are. And as we listen to them, let's
listen for the gospel of Christ. All right, this is what all of
these men preached in this conference. They were all declaring the word. All of these Levites, they all
came together. And what their names mean, tell
us what they preached and what these people gathered around.
And let's hear the truth of salvation. Let's listen to the good news
and see if we can enter into how it comes to us. All right,
this is who Christ is and what he's done. All of these meanings. Let's listen for Christ. Verse
4, the first one is Ezra. It says, and Ezra. His name means
he is my help. He is my help. That's why we
gather around him. He's our help. Most people say,
well, the Lord helps those who help themselves. You need to
help yourself. I can't do anything for myself. He's my help. What are we gathering around
and what are we declaring and holding to and confessing? He's
my help. Verse four says, and Ezra the
scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood, which they had made for
the purpose, and beside him stood Mattathiah. His name means the
gift of God. It's also known as grace. Grace. He's my help. Grace. Grace. Grace. Christ is that gift. Christ is the grace of God. Everybody
talks about the grace of God. Oh, by the grace of God. They
love to say, by the grace of God. Christ is the grace of God. The grace of God is a person.
Verse 4 says, Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood which
they'd made for the purpose, and beside him stood Mattithiah
and Shema." His name means something heard. It means tidings heard,
glad tidings. What is that? That's the gospel
of Christ. That's the good news of the gift
of God in the person of Christ. That's what they heard in this
Bible conference. By God's grace, that's what we're gonna hear,
the good news of the gift of God in the person of Christ.
Verse four goes on to say, and Ananias, his name means Jehovah
has answered. Jehovah has answered we cried
unto the Lord because of the depths of our sin we cry for
mercy we cry for deliverance and Jehovah has answered that's
the message Jehovah has answered verse 4 says and Uriah his name
means Jehovah is my light It means the flame of Jehovah, that
quickening fire. He's my life. He's my life. That fire of eternal life. Verse
4 says, and Hilkiah. His name means Jehovah is my
portion. Jehovah is my portion. You know,
how you think about You think about what's coming
to us here in this life, and it's not much, is it? It's not
much. But in Christ, oh, it's all. It's all. Jehovah, to say that,
you just can't imagine. You can't enter into what it
means to say, well, what do you get? I get God. I get Jehovah. I get the Lord. The Lord is my portion. He's
all I want. He's all I have. He's all I need.
Verse 4 says, And Messiah, his name means the work of Jehovah. This was all the work of Jehovah. And in verse 7 we'll see more
of what the work was. Verse 4 says, Those were the
men on his right hand, and on his left hand, Padaiah. His name means Jehovah has ransomed. A ransom is the price paid. The price demanded, the price
paid. And Jehovah paid the price. Jehovah
has redeemed. Verse four says, and Mashael. His name means who is what God
is. Who and what is this Redeemer?
He is what God is. God manifests in the flesh. Verse
4 says, And Malkiah, his name means, My King is Jehovah. This Redeemer, who is what God
is, that's my King. He is my King. He's my King. The king is my king. Verse four
says, and Hashem. His name means rich. Rich, that's what he is. That's
what we are in him. The unsearchable riches of Christ. Verse four says, and Hashbedana. His name means the considerate
judge. What does he consider? He considers
the accomplishment of the cross, the payment and the value of
his own blood. He said in Lamentation 3, I love
that portion of scripture, he said, I remember the wormwood
and I remember the gall. My soul hath them still in remembrance
and is quieted in me. Every time I see the sin of my
people, I remember everything I suffered. I remember the wormwood,
I remember the gall. And my soul is quieted in me.
My wrath is appeased. The next name, Zechariah, means
Jehovah remembers. Jehovah remembers. Thank God.
You know, we will never, throughout all eternity, we'll never forget
the blood that redeemed us. For all eternity, we're going
to be crying unto Him that loved us and washed us from our sins
in His own blood. And for all eternity, He will
never forget the blood that redeemed us. Never. Never. Every time we approach His throne,
He's going to see that blood. And I've always loved the last
one in verse 4. Meshulam means friend. Friend. The friend of sinners. Greater love had no man than
this. He laid down his life for his friend. It's always been
amazing to me that he looked at Abraham and said, that is
my friend. Abraham is my friend. Verse five says, and Ezra opened
the book in the sight of all the people for he was above all
the people. And when he opened it, all the
people stood up. Now, we don't literally stand
with our legs through the preaching of the gospel. But we do with
our hearts. We come before the Word with
reverence. We come before the Word with
fear. We come before it with anxious anticipation to hear
from God. We're coming before God. We're
coming before God. In heart, we are standing before
God. Verse 5, Ezra opened the book
in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people.
And when he opened it, all the people stood up. And Ezra blessed
the Lord, the great God, and all the people answered, Amen,
Amen, with lifting up their hands. Again, we don't make a show with
our hands. We're not here to put on a show
for anybody. But we're lifting up our hands, the hands of our
heart. Verse six goes on to say, and
they bowed their heads and worshipped the Lord with their faces to
the ground in humility, in brokenness, fear and sorrow and tears. Why
were they so bowed down? Why were they turning their faces
to the ground? Look at the end of verse nine.
It says, for all the people wept when they heard the words of
the law. For six hours they read the law
to these people and it cut to the heart. It cut down everything
they were. They were so convicted. They
heard what God demanded. They realized we can't fulfill
this. We can't do this. They got a
good look at their own sinful condition through the words of
the law. So the end of verse six says,
they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to
the ground. But along with the words of the
law, along with the reading of the commandment of the law, this
is what they heard. Verse seven says, also, Yeshua,
That sounds a little bit like Joshua, doesn't it? His name
means, He Will Save. For six hours, they cut him to
the heart. For six hours, they cut him to
the heart and then they cried, He Will Save. Verse 7 says, Enbeinai. His name means he has built. He has built his house. Except
the Lord built the house, they labor in vain that build it.
He has built his kingdom. He has built walls of salvation. How did he do it? The next two
names together. Verse 7 says, Sherebiah. and Jamin. Sherabiah means Jehovah
has scorched. Jehovah has brought heat, the
fire of his wrath. The fire of his wrath for the
sin that they were so mournful over and convicted by. Who did
he bring that fire to? Jamin means his right hand. He brought his scorching heat
to Christ, his own right hand. Where did he do it? Acab means
seized by the heel, taken by the heel. That's exactly what
happened on the cross of Calvary. His heel was bruised for the
sin of his people. Because of the bruising, he endured. Verse seven says, Shabbathiah. His name means sabbatical. Intermission, it means a ceasing. It took three days in the grave
of ceasing, the grave of death, for our Redeemer to save. And
He accomplished it. He accomplished it. He blotted
out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us. which was
contrary to us, and he took it out of the way, nailing it to
his cross. Because of that, verse 7 says,
Hodiah, his name means, my majesty is Jehovah. It means, praise
ye Jehovah. Praise ye the Lord. Messiah is
repeated from verse 4. It means the work of Jehovah.
Praise the Lord. Praise the work of the Lord. Kalita means crippled, maimed,
marred through his suffering. Through all of his suffering.
Azariah means Jehovah has helped. Through his suffering Jehovah
has helped. Verse 7, Jehoshabad means Jehovah
has given. Jehovah has bestowed upon, Jehovah
has provided. That's what they stood up and
cried to all the people, the Lord has provided. The Lord has provided. Men are trying to provide and
trying to provide what they cannot provide. The gospel is the Lord
has provided. Verse 7, Hanan means he is merciful. He's merciful. He's merciful
in what he's done. Peliah means Jehovah has distinguished. The Lord has set apart. In his
mercy, he's set apart. Verse 7, the name Levite. It
says, after it gives all those names, it says, and the Levites.
The name Levite means joined to. Jehovah has joined us to
himself, united us with him. The end of verse 7 says, and
the Levites caused the people to understand the law. And the
people stood in their place. So they read in the book, in
the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense and caused them
to understand the reading. And Nehemiah, which is the Tershithah,
or 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. Then he
said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet,
and send portions unto them, 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. 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. May God cause us to understand
the words that are going to be declared to us this weekend.
May God truly, truly let us enter in to what is going to be preached
to us. He told them to go their way,
eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for
whom nothing is prepared. This week, if you happen to run
into somebody, If in your dealings with people you happen to run
into somebody who has never delighted his or herself in the fatness
of the gospel. That's what Isaiah, that's what
the Lord said through Isaiah, delight yourself in fatness. If you happen to meet somebody
who has never tasted the sweetness of the message of Christ, never tasted that the Lord is
good. His loving kindness, his tender mercy. I want to encourage you, if you
do happen to run across somebody, life is too short, and Kingsport
has the gospel coming. The gospel is coming, and this
life is so short, it's about to be over. This city is about
to be over. It's not going to, everything,
everything ends. Everything comes, everything goes. And life is
short and sometimes we don't feel comfortable talking to people
about the gospel and things, but the conference is a wonderful
time to say, we're all going to gather together as one man
in one man. Come gather with us. Our Lord
said, come and dine. Come and dine. Maybe the Lord
will give them, maybe the Lord will give all of us great mirth. He gave them in this Bible conference,
at the end of the conference, they all had great mirth by giving
us an understanding of the words that are going to be declared
to us. May the Lord bless His word. May He bless it right now.
May the Lord bless this word. May He bless it then. May He
bless it forever. All right, let's all stand together. Turn with me to 168.