Nehemiah, in his day, in the day of Nehemiah and Ezra,
the Jews had been conquered. The whole nation of Israel had
been conquered. And they had been taken captive
up into Persia. I think it's Ataxerxes or one
of those mighty men, you know, in a series of them. They were
up there, I think, 70 years. is how long they were up there
in captivity. But then the Lord raised up a man up there who
one of God's people went to him and said, they're destroying
the world we came from down there. And the Lord softened his heart
and gathered up those and sent them back to rebuild the walls
around Jerusalem. And that's a picture of us individually
and as a people. Boy, we were ruined in the garden,
weren't we? Just ransacked. We don't think
right. We don't do right. We're just
not right since the garden. But the Lord's shown mercy to
us. He's sent his son to rebuild, to totally replace what we are
with a new person in him. So that's the picture. But recorded
here in chapter 8 is an account of what happened when Ezra the
prophet and the priest met with these people on the day they
returned to Jerusalem from captivity. And it's told by Nehemiah, Ezra
was in Jerusalem with a copy of God's word, the law of Moses. And these people came, as soon
as they got there, you know what they said? get the Word, read
us the Word. We've been up there in this place
so long that many of us don't even speak. All we speak is Chaldean. We don't even know Hebrew, hardly
anymore. We need the Word. Will you read
the Word to us? And don't we wish we could come
every worship service with like, oh, just preach me the Word,
teach me the Word. So let's begin reading here.
in verse one and please note there's a phrase that appears
two times in these verses and again later on. And that phrase
is, all that could hear with understanding, is the phrase,
to let it catch in your mind. So look here in verse 1 of Nehemiah
8, it says, And all the people gathered themselves together
as one man in the street that was before the water gate. Isn't
that interesting? You know, we're here this morning,
and you know where we are? One man. we're here as one to
worship the Lord Jesus Christ. That's because we're one in Him.
He's made us that way. But they met before the water
gate, and they spake to Ezra the scribe to bring the book
of the law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded Israel. And
Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation, both
of men and women, and all that could hear with understanding,
there's the first time that appears, upon the first day of the seventh
month. And he read therein before the people, that was before the
water gate, from the morning, that was 6 a.m., from the morning
until midday, which is noon, before the men and women and
those that could understand, there's that phrase again, and
the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the
law. Now notice that both men and
women got to hear the word of God. You know, there are, I mean,
there was no segregation that women didn't meet in one place
and the men in another. They weren't broken apart as
some religious sects want to do. Men and women, when we get
to glory, there'll be no husband and wife. It won't matter whether
you're male or female. But the point I want to make
from this is they all met in the same place at the same time. You know, the only foundation
of a happy marriage is for a husband and wife to worship Christ together. It's just that simple. If we
want to have a happy marriage, worship Christ together. But
secondly, this phrase, all that could hear with understanding,
what does that mean? Well, first of all, all to whom
the Lord does not give understanding of the gospel will in due time
stop coming to worship. You know, we wonder sometimes
folks come in, they worship God, and then they're gone. And folks
come in for a while, and then they're gone. And I've seen it
happen, they come one time, they're gone. I've seen some unfortunately
come for years, and something happens. And they're gone. And
you say, well, what's that about? Well, God's people will keep
worshiping. They just keep coming, just keep
coming, keep worshiping. And, you know, we all say things
that we probably shouldn't say and offend one another, but I'd
like to think that there's nothing you could say to me that would
make me go, well, I'll just quit coming to worship. No, that's
not, God's people will keep coming. And it's just a sad reality that
those who quit obviously never were his children. But those
who want to hear, they come to hear. because they have understanding. You see that? Ezra was reading
to all who had understanding, and that's part of what it means.
God's people have understanding, all right? But then the other
thing is this may also have been the beginning of the modern day,
hang on here, church nursery. You say, what? What it says is
here, all who have understanding. We understand this is a six hour
service, okay? Now, that might test any adult,
but now you, I'm sorry. Not many, if not all of us experience
what happens when infants or toddlers are kept in the sanctuary
during a worship service. And I've seen services totally
destroyed. I mean, it can range from just
a distraction, some child whimpers, and I'm sorry, can we help it?
A little baby goes, little baby. And immediately, we're drawn
to that. And it can range from just that distraction to absolute
chaos. I have had to stand and try to
preach when children, little bitty ones, are just going all
through the place and nobody's hearing a thing that's being
said. It's a complete distraction. And my point is, that's to be
avoided if at all possible. But I'm also a four-fold debtor
to every woman here who keeps the nursery. And I want to say
thank you. I want to say thank you for doing
that. Okay? You keep my grandchildren
so I and others can worship as they did in Ezra's day. You say,
well, is that fair to you ladies? Well, I can't answer that except
to say God is fair and just in all his ways. You know, the first
18 years I was married, I never one time kept the nursery. You
ladies are thinking, that's probably a good thing. Probably a very
good thing. But you know, in that almost
18 years that I never once kept the nursery, my wife kept it
faithfully. Whenever her name came up on
the schedule, she was there or traded with somebody. And in
that almost 18 years, There were only six years in which she actually
had a child in there. You say now, you know, uh, is
that fair? Is that fair? And I'm going to
follow through with this. You know, the last 18 years I've
been married again, I've never kept a nursery, but my wife has
kept it faithfully, even though it's only about the last five
years that she's had a grandchild in that nursery. And do we ask,
is that fair? Well, if God were to do this,
if he saves one person, whether it's one of our children or grandchildren
or a stranger who walked in off the street, because we had a
worship service that was undistracted, does that not seem more than
fair? I suspect every mother in here would keep that nursery
once a week if necessary for 36 years if the Lord would but
save one of our children or even a stranger off the street and
would call it more than fair. We do realize that fair is not
what this is all about. This is about glorifying the
Lord Jesus Christ and his word. And any way or whatever we can
do to enhance that is a blessing to us and all God's people and
our pastor. Please understand that I'm not
saying who should or shouldn't, who can or can't do what's needed. The Lord gives gifts severally
as he's pleased. Here's what I am saying this
morning. Thank you very much. Thank you so much to those who
do this, who do keep the nursery, all right? I think that's what
this is partially about back in that day. But notice the last
phrase of verse three. The ears of the people were attentive
unto the word of God. We as believers come to worship
and should be reverent, serious, attentive, worshiping God in
a most serious way. It's a serious thing. So look
at verse 4. We read, And Ezra the scribe
stood upon a pulpit of wood, which they had made for the purpose.
And beside him stood, let's see if I can get through these, Mattathiah,
and Shema, Ananiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, Maasa, on his right hand. All those fellows stood on this
side. And on the left was Padiah and Mishael, Melchiah, Ashim,
Hezbodah, or Hezbodeh, Hezbodanah, Zechariah, and Meshulam. Okay, we have 15 guys up here
standing with Ezra. They're standing with him, okay? And this pulpit he was in was
elevated. And that's not to elevate the
person, but to make the word more easily heard. It doesn't
specify whether there was 100 or 300 or 3,000. I don't know
how many came down, but enough to rebuild a wall. So this was
a big crowd. And this became a practical matter.
I mean, one reason this is behind us here, this pulpit, is so that
when our pastor speaks, everybody can hear. It's not to elevate
him above the people. I grew up in a Methodist church
where I remember sitting, and if you got in the first 10 rows,
you were like this. I mean, that guy, he just had to go up a thing
to get up there, and we actually thought he may be God. I mean,
but that's not what this was. It was a practical thing. Do
we see how practical they were in worship? In the sense of take
away the things that distract or that cause problems for us. But this was not to elevate the person,
but to make the word more easily heard that Christ might be elevated
as he ought to be. You know, there are practical
aspects of worship that are necessary, and we need to attend to them. Someone's got to attend to them.
Somebody does. Somebody built that pulpit, planned
it, and for the purpose, because I don't know whether it was Ezra
or Nehemiah or who said, you know, there's going to be a crowd
here. We need to get this to where, and if the Lord blesses
this, we need to plan. We need to be ready to do what's
necessary that the gospel might go forth in power. Now look at
verse 5. So Ezra opened the book in the
sight of all the people, for he was above the people, just
physically, not in his position or anything. And when he opened
it, all the people stood up. Now, when God's word was read,
people came to attention. They showed respect. And that's
what this is about. But did you ever wonder why our
pastor and other grace pastors often begin or end a service
of worship with prayer? Well, look at verse 6 and we'll
get the reason for that. And Ezra blessed the Lord, the
great God, and all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with lifting
up their hands and they bowed their head and worshiped the
Lord with their faces to the ground. This is the verse that
led me to Nehemiah. I was looking up, how did this
Amen thing get started? And the answer is that It means, this word, amen, means
literally... So be it. It means so be it. And that's when the word is read,
I mean, sometimes men say, amen. You hear it softly in places.
It's not to draw attention to ourself or anything, but it's
just so impressed, men say sometimes amen. They're saying, so be it,
so be it. And part of it is traditional
in some places, but this shows it's biblical. When he read the
word, people said, amen, amen. And again, we don't do this to
draw attention. In worship, nothing ought to
be to draw attention to ourselves. But it means literally, it's
the truth. It means we agree. And the raising of hands in this,
I spent a lot of time reading old writers about all this, and
everyone agrees it's not what you're seeing in television today.
All of this stuff just draws attention to us away from the
Word. So it's not that. But what this
did mean is that people weren't sitting in pews or chairs, they
were on the ground. either kneeled or seated. And
when they raised their hands, it wasn't like this. It was like
this. It was a bowing sort of thing. And what it meant was when the
word was read, what was said about God, what was said about
Christ, the people said, I surrender. I surrender. I agree with that. I agree what's being said about
me. The awful things the word says
about me, and I agree about the glorious things it says about
Christ. Raised hands is not to draw attention, but it's one
bows their face to the ground and absolutely agrees it's submission. Worship before and unto God and
his word. But look at verse 7 here. And then it says that in addition
to those 13 men, there was also Jeshua, Bena, Shuribiah, Jaman,
Acab, Shabathay, Hodiah, Messiah, Kaliada, Azariah, Josabed, Hanan,
Peliah and the Levites, don't forget, and the Levites, caused
the people to understand the law, there's that phrase again,
and the people stood in their place. Now, what this is saying
is that there were 26 men, in addition to Ezra, involved in
this service. And you say, why so many? Well,
God has many more men than we think to preach the gospel. And
Ezra needed some assistance because it was a six hour service. And when Ezra became weary, these
men would come up and spell him. That's what Brother Tony is getting
ready to do in a little while. It's what Luke's gonna do tonight,
is spell our pastor. There are occasions where it's
appropriate. And the Lord will raise up as
many prophets and helpers as he deems needful. And they may
not all preach, they may not all read, they may not all pray,
but one of the surest signs of God's blessings on a people is
that he'll raise up men from within an assembly to do these
things, to aid and assist. And his, you know, his pastor
When he needs assistance, has men he can call on. And in whatever
need arises. You know, somebody built the
pulpit. Somebody did that, okay? And
I don't know all the things that need to be done, but some of
you men think, you know, we all think a little differently. We're
all a little odd or different, and that's okay, isn't it? And
I'm grateful when somebody says, you know, the bushes need to
be trimmed. And all of a sudden, they show up and they get all
trimmed. And, you know, we just do things that the Lord lays
on the heart. And let me tell you that we may
think that's a little thing. Bill Knapp-Polk is not a little
thing had you been in Ezra's place down low going, trying
to get everybody's attention. And so let's not, there are no
small things, even though they are small things. Does that make
any sense? It's all needful and important, but You know, another reason there's
so many different men that preach the gospel, have you ever tried
to explain something to somebody and you just go, now, this is
how this works and this is, you know, whatever, and you're looking
at the person and you go, they don't have a clue what I'm saying.
And you go, okay, well, let me try it this way. It's like this
and that and the other and then, And you're looking and you're
going, they do not have a clue what I mean. And somebody else
will suddenly go, let me try this. And in about six words,
they say it and the person goes, oh, OK, I get it. I get it now.
I get it. OK, I know just what you mean.
Ever seen that happen or had it happen to you? OK. You know,
I don't know. I don't have any idea. Why so many were there? It may
have been, like I've seen in Mexico, where Brother Walter
would stand there and Brother Henry would be speaking to a
mixed group of native Hispanic Mexicans mixed with those from
America who don't know anything about Spanish. All right? We had folks who had been raised
in Chaldea. That's all they understood. And
maybe one of these men spoke Chaldean. And that Ezra got up
and he said, and he paused, and Josabath over here, he's spoken
in Chaldean. But do we see there's so much
we just don't see if we take it on the surface and understand?
I mean, in the natural thought, well, what do they need 26 people
there for? Well, there may be reasons and things. The Lord's
business is so grand and mysterious and wonderful. But the way a
believer knows he's found his pastor, you know that is? His
pastor preaches and sitting out there we go, I get it. I get
it. No, just what he's talking about. He causes us, this phrase, to
understand the Word of God. now there may be several or many
preachers who do that for us maybe all 26 everybody got everything
I don't know but generally God tunes the ear of each of his
children to the voice of a particular man and that's our pastor that's
our pastor if you wonder why you have a particular love for
Gabe here's one of the reasons okay however all God's call pastors
preachers and teachers have one common skill It's obvious that
there are those who make more sense to you maybe than the next
person or to me. It may be that my accent offends
somebody. A lot of things at play in all
of this. But they all have one common
skill. You know what it is? This phrase,
they cause some portion of God's people to understand the Word
of God. We do all realize by nature,
we don't have a clue. We don't have a clue. I remember
the first time I opened a Bible, in my early 30s, and was trying
to understand, and it was like, it might as well have been in
Greek. And then the Lord sent Henry Mahan, and the first message
I heard, that's what he's talking, that's what this book's about.
You understand that happened to anybody here? It's how the
Lord does things. It's His will and His purpose.
But they cause some portion of God's people to understand the
Word. Actually cause that to happen. And there are usually those who
can teach children in such a way that they understand the Word
of God. Some have that gift, others don't. And that's okay. It's okay. Look at the last phrase in verse
7. And the people stood in their
place. Stood's in italics. What this says is that these
preachers caused the people to understand the law and the people
in their place. I hope this doesn't offend anybody.
I don't think it'll offend any of God's children. You know what
the Word of God, when it's preaching in power, will do? It'll put
us in our place. It'll put us in our place, on
our faces, centers before God, bowed low, worshiping Him. And you'll see the evidence of
my making that point in a minute. You'll see how they acted when
it was over. But look at verse 8 now quickly. So they read in the book, the
law of God, they read in the book in the law of God distinctly
and gave the sense and caused them to understand the reading
when these men read God's Word it was distinct and deliberate
it was slow but not too much and let me tell you what it wasn't
and this was a big deal in the preacher's class that Henry Mahan
taught we are not to do this so they read in the book in the
law of God distinctly. You get what I'm saying there?
We don't have to embellish the Word of God. It's plenty powerful
enough. We don't have to, you know, do
exotic things to get people to listen. It says what it says
to whom it ought to be said. It puts us in our place, and
it puts Christ in His place. What it says to whom it ought
to be said The reader should get out of the way. When we read,
it ought to be so they're not paying attention to us or think,
oh, he reads so well. It ought to be, we hear the word.
Injecting ourselves is never good. But notice the sequence
here. The first thing it says, it read
in the book, the law of God distinctly. They did that. And the second
thing is they gave the sense of it. Ever had a scripture read
and thought, I don't have a clue what that's talking about. I
don't have a clue. When I first read this portion
of New Math, I thought, I don't know what that's about. But John Gill
really helped me understand it. All right? We need God-taught,
enlightened, studious men that God will use to make sense of
it for us. Our pastor doesn't need a job.
He has one. You know what it is? Making sense
out of this word for us who do have to go work. All right? And then the third thing it says
up there in verse 8 is, they gave the sense of it and they
caused them to understand, to believe. You know, believing does not require complete, total
understanding. It doesn't do that. Believing
does require some understanding. It just does. Some enlightenment. God's people may not see vividly
or is in a bright room, but they do see dimly. How? Some preacher
is used by God's Holy Spirit to flip the switch. You ever,
I'm old enough to where I remember when you went in a room and flipped
the switch, bam, you had light, 100 watts, right there. Now,
you know, you see these little corkscrew bulbs you put in up
there and you come in and you flip the switch and you go, I
find myself thinking, is the light on? Is it busted or is
it a 20 watt bulb or what's the deal? But you know, if you just
wait, if you just wait, okay, it comes on and finally you go,
okay, it's on, you know, the light's on and it's all right,
right? Ever do that? New believers, it's not BAM. I mean it comes on and we see,
but we see dimly. Give it a while. It starts to
grow. And you know what's going to
happen one day when we wake up in glory? BAM! It's going to
be a million megawatts of light. We're going to see it all. the
way it is we're gonna see him as he is and it will be enlightened
completely in the meantime you know closest thing we got come
in here and our pastor flips the switch I don't know how much
wattage is in that today but we'll see we'll see some because
as it says here as in that day in Ezra's day these men cause
the people to understand the reading of God's Word Verse 9, read it with me. And
Nehemiah, which is the Tershatha, and that means, Nehemiah was
the governor, by the way. That's what that means, Tershatha.
So he had a day job too, all right? As well as being what
he did there in this church. But Nehemiah, which is the Tershathim,
and Ezra the priest, the scribe, and the Levites that taught the
people, said unto all the people, this is when the service was
over, this day is holy unto the Lord your God. Boy, Sunday is
a great day for us, isn't it? Wednesday is the next best day
of the week to me. More not, nor weep. We say, what's wrong?
Listen, they had heard the word of God and it convicted them.
And they were like, oh, what are we going to do? And for all
the people wept when they heard the word of the law. Why were
they crying? Well, they told them who and what they were.
And then they, they were weeping for sorrow in that sense, but
then they told them who Christ is and they were weeping for
joy with that. And then verse 10. And 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."
That means these 26 men in Ezra needed to be fed as well. You
know, they didn't have time to be cooking. They spent six hours
preaching. And we know that principle, providing
for our pastor. For this day is holy unto our
Lord, neither be ye sorry, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.
God's people have reason to rejoice, to be happy. He brought them
good news. Go your way. What way is that?
Christ is the way. And then verse 11 and 12. So
the Levites stilled all the people, saying, Hold your peace, for
the day is holy, neither be you grieved. And all the people went
their way to eat and to drink, and they did send portions, and
to make great mirth, because they had understood the words
that were declared unto them. You know, no meal ever satisfies
us like coming back here for more, does it? I mean, I love
fried chicken, but you know, after, after about six meals
in a row, I might go, can we have spaghetti or, do we understand
that? But you know what? I don't want
anything different when I come here. I want the same meal. I
want to be told who I am and who Christ is. That's why God's
people just keep coming back for more and more and more. And you know what they were telling
him? Be happy. It's okay to be happy. We do understand his belief.
It's okay to be happy. Are we blessed beyond all people
on the face of the earth? We ought to be happy. Even though
we know what we are and we're heartbroken over that, we know
who Christ is and we have a reason to rejoice. What really made
them happy? They understood the words of
the law. Nothing made God's people happier
than hearing the gospel, being instructed in the word, and worshiping
their God. And then I want to read one more
verse. Look at verse 13. And on the second day, now we've
seen what happened the first day they got back, right? On
the second day were gathered together the chief of the fathers
of all the people, the priests, and the Levites, unto as were
described, even to understand the words of the law. There's
that phrase again. You know what happened? They spent six hours
worshiping That first day, they got back. And I know you ever
have somebody go, you're having a Bible conference? How many?
How long is it going to go? Days? And you're going to keep
doing that? They can't understand. Bless their heart. Let's pray.
They can. Maybe the Lord will bring them and they can understand.
But what this says, I mean, you know, and we think, wasn't six
hours enough? Well, apparently not. They came
back on the second day and did it all over again. That cannot
be explained. That cannot be made understandable
to an unbeliever. But it is not only made understandable,
it is made the harsh desire of all God's people by the Holy
Spirit, how? God sends a man to tell them
the truth to enable us to understand. Makes me, I came away from this
study thinking, I'm so thankful for our pastor. I'm so thankful
for those men who, you know, tell me the truth about Christ,
who come to visit and preach and carry on. Well, this, I think,
is a picture of what worship ought to be, what it can be,
and by God's grace, what it will be for us. All right, we'll take
our break now.