Turn with me to Nehemiah chapter
eight. It's three books before the Psalms. I pray that the Lord would bless
us this morning This has been one of the most enjoyable passages
for me. Nehemiah chapter 8, and we're
going to read the first 12 verses. 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. 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, before the men and the women and those that could understand,
in the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book
of the law. And Ezra the scribe stood upon
a pulpit of wood, which they had made for the purpose, and
beside him stood Mattathiah and Shema, Andaniah, and Uriah, and
Hilkiah, and Maasaiah on his right hand. And on his left hand,
Paddaiah, and Mashael, and Malkiah, and Hashem, and Hashbodana, Zechariah,
and Meshulam. 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. And Ezra blessed
the Lord, the great God. And all the people answered,
Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads
and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. Also, Yeshua
and Benai, And Sherebiah, Jaman, Acob, Shabbatai, Hodiah, Maasaiah,
Kalita, Azariah, Josabad, Hanan, Peliah, 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." I love this text. The Lord has
blessed it to me, and I beg that He would bless it one more time. This morning's text is verse
4. It says, And Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood,
which they had made for the purpose, and beside him stood all these
men. Now, when we see names like this
in the Scripture, our tendency is to skip over them. And it is especially horrifying
to read them publicly. It really is. But these men are
our brothers. These men are our brothers. They're
children of God. These men are preachers of the
gospel. These are men whom the Lord has
committed to the concern of men's souls. And I thank God for these
men. I truly do. These are men whom
God honored by recording their names in his holy word. Of all the people throughout
history, He chose these men and He recorded their names in His
Holy Word. These are men whom God has now
used to declare the Gospel to every believer who reads the
Word hereafter. I thank God for these men. I
don't speak of myself. Not at all. Not at all. But I thank the Lord God for
every man whom God has raised up to stand on a pulpit of wood
and preach free and sovereign grace. I thank God for these
men. When I think of the men whom
God has used to preach to me, I thank God for these men. How beautiful are the feet of
them that preach the gospel of peace. I'm so glad the gospel
of peace came to me. Bring glad tidings of good things. Each of these men in verse four
and notice verse seven, we have more brethren in verse seven,
but we're not going to look at them for the sake of time. We're
only going to look at the men in verse four. Each of these
men, their names mean something. People used to choose names because
they meant something. Normally, they chose them after
the child was born. It meant something. I don't think
anybody does that anymore. They choose a name because of
how it sounds with the last name or how many people do we know
that already have that name? But these men, their names mean
something. And the meaning of their names
represent what Ezra preached to the people. What the people
heard, what they believed and what caused them to be so happy. As it says, make great mirth.
So let's look at these names. In verse one, it says they spake
unto Ezra to bring the book of the law. They spake unto Ezra to bring
the book of the law. And in verse two, Ezra brought
the law before the congregation. He brought the law. In verse
three, he read therein for six hours. And all the people were
attentive to the law. In verse eight, they read the
law distinctly, they dotted all the I's and they crossed all
the T's and they caused them to understand it. for the first
time, the law. They saw it for the first time.
The end of verse 9 says, all the people wept when they heard
the words of the law. Because they didn't know the
law before. They had no idea. They were shocked. They were
shocked at seeing God's holiness for the first time. They were
shocked at seeing his requirement to stand in his presence. They
were horrified at seeing their own sin, really, for the first
time. And they were ashamed of who
they are, really, for the first time, not who they were, who
they are. They were afraid for their lives. They were truly afraid for their
lives. They learned what the wages of
sin really is for the first time. Not just physical death. Spiritual,
eternal death. They were convicted. They were
all in the same boat. There was not one man there who
could help another man. They were all in the same boat.
They were all damned. They had no hope at the hearing
of the law. That's why they cried. It says
they wept. Grown men wept at the hearing
of the law. Then Ezra the scribe stands up
on a pulpit of wood and he tells them something that causes them
to stop. They stop crying and they listen.
And they stand up and they say, Amen, with lifting up their hands,
and it says great joy comes over them so that when it's over,
they all go home and they celebrate with great mirth. Now, here's our question. What
did they hear? What did they hear? What did
Ezra say that caused such a change? What caused them to go from so
low to so high? Here it is. 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 his name means
the gift of Jehovah. All the people were crying and
sad and mourning because of their sins, and Ezra stood up with
a loud voice and declared, Jesus Christ is the gift of God to
sinners. The gift of Jehovah. For God
so loved, truly loved. That's the whole reason. Loved. So loved this sinful world He
gave. He gave His only begotten Son. Behold the Lamb of God which
taketh away the sin of the world. Now listen to that. It says in
verse 4, Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood which they'd
made for the purpose, and beside him stood Mattathiah and Shema. And Shema means echoing. Echoing. Tell it again. Tell it again. Say it again. There was a huge crowd of people
in the street, a great number of people, and Ezra had all these
men stationed out, and Ezra would say the gift of Jehovah, and
then the men would echo it again, and they'd echo it again. I love
to tell the story. I really do. Sing it o'er and o'er again. Christ receiveth sinful men. Once more to tell it, would I
embrace. I'm only a sinner, but the Lord
God saved me by His grace. I'm only a sinner saved by grace. This is my story. The Lord God
gets all the glory. I'm just a sinner, but He saved
me by His grace. Tell it again. It makes people
glad, so glad. Tell it again. It says in verse 4, Ezra the
scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood which they'd made for the
purpose and beside him stood Mattathiah and Shema and Ananiah. And his name means Jehovah has
answered. The people were crying, God be
merciful to us. God be merciful to us. We're
understanding the law for the first time. God be merciful to
us. And Ezra stood up and said, God
has answered you. Psalm 107 says, Then they cry
unto the Lord in their trouble and he bringeth them out of their
distresses. The Lord God has answered. If you ask, he said,
you will receive. If you ask, you will receive. If you seek, if you truly from
the depths of your soul seek the Lord Jesus Christ, not heaven
and not a blessing, if you seek the Lord Jesus Christ because
you have fallen in love with the Lord Jesus Christ, you'll
find Him. You'll find Him. If you knock
on the door, the door of heaven, that's Jesus Christ. It will
be open to you. It says in verse 4, Mattathiah
and Shema and Ananiah and Uriah. And his name means the light
of Jehovah. Ezra preached the light of Jehovah. John Newton wrote that song that
we love. And it says, when I look within myself, All is dark. It is so dark. It's black. All is dark and vain and wild. And he says, honestly, can I
deem myself a child? Is there any possible way I could
be a child of God? I see what I am. I am covered in sin and it is
black. It's so black. Ezra stood up
and said, there is a light. There is a light that shined
into a dark place. There is a light that causes
blind eyes to see. And Jehovah is that light. God
is light. He's a lamp unto thy feet and
a light unto thy path. The Scripture says, a light to
lighten the Gentiles. Look and live. When a sinner
sees, if the Lord ever opens his eyes and a sinner ever truly
sees, the first thing he'll see is his darkness. That's the first
thing he'll get a hold of, is his darkness. If he ever truly
understands his helplessness and his hopelessness, It will
cause that sinner to say, what must I do? What must I do? What must I have? What must I
possess to be saved? And our next name in verse 4
is Hilkiah, which means the portion of Jehovah. The portion of Jehovah. Ezra stood up and he said, Jesus
Christ is all you need. Jesus Christ is all you need.
We come to Christ empty handed. The Lord Jesus Christ is all
you need. Our next name is Messiah, which
means the work of Jehovah. Salvation is by a work. We preach salvation by work. His work. Jehovah did it all. The Lord
Jesus Christ paid it all. It is finished. It's truly finished. The work is finished. The sinner
says, well, did he do it for everybody? Did he do it for all
of us? No, he did not. The scriptures are very clear
on that. He did not. That sinner standing there said,
did he do it for me? If he didn't do it for everybody,
did he do it for me? Did he finish the work for me?
Is my salvation accomplished? Well, our next name is Padilla. And it means whom Jehovah remembered. Ezra said he came. To redeem
a particular people. He came to redeem a particular
people. That's what Padai means, whom
Jehovah redeemed, I read it wrong, whom Jehovah redeemed. He came to redeem those who are
under the law, that's who he came to redeem, those who are
under the law, those who carry the burden of the law and the
people said, that's me. He said he came for those who
are found lacking under the curse of the law. Those who are imprisoned
by sin, bound by the flesh, and they cried, that's me, I'm cursed
by the law. Ezra said, if you are. If you
really are, if the Lord has revealed that to you. Because you go ask
the average person. Are you bound by the flesh? Are
you cursed by the law? Are you incarcerated by your
sin? You say, no. But if you are, if the Lord has revealed that
to you, if you understand that outside of Christ you have no
hope and you have no help, then, Ezra said, you are free from
the law. You're free from the law. And
it's such a happy condition. The Lord Jesus Christ bled. There
is remission. Cursed by the law. Bruised by
the fall. The Lord Jesus Christ redeemed
us. Once for all. Ezra said, tell
them all. Echo it again. Go tell them all.
That's good news. The people heard good news. Our
next name is Mashael, which means who God is. Ezra told the people
who God is. He said, make no mistake about
it. Who is God? Jehovah is God. Who is Jehovah? The Lord is Jehovah. Who is the
Lord? Jesus Christ is the Lord. The
Lord Jesus Christ is God. He's the highest God. Our next
name is Malkiah, which means Jehovah is King. He's the one
who reigns. He's the one who rules. All authority
is in his hands. All things are in his hands because
our next name is Hashem and it means rich. Everything is in
His hands. This gift of Jehovah is no small
gift. It's rich. Ezra told those poor and needy
sinners of the riches of His grace. It is rich. Free gift. And there's plenty for all. Plenty
for all. All who have a true need. All
who have a need. There's plenty for all. Our next
name is Hashbodana, and it means whom Jehovah esteems. And that's Jesus Christ. He esteems
Jesus Christ and all who are in him. God the Father said,
this is my beloved son and whom I'm well pleased. And I love
that song that we sing, it says, hiding in thee, hiding in thee. If we are hiding in Him, then
He's well pleased with us. Hiding in Him. I know the people
heard that and thought, Am I? Am I? What if I'm not? What if I'm not hiding in Him?
What if I'm found outside of Him? What if He says, depart
from Me? I never knew you. Ezra said unto the people, Zechariah. And his name means, whom Jehovah
remembers. Whom Jehovah remembers. Do you know who the Lord Jesus
Christ remembered? of all the people he could have
remembered. It wasn't a ruler or a priest
or a king. It was a thief on a cross. The people thought, I deserve
to be a thief on a cross. I'm a sinner. I'm a murderer. I've hated in my heart. I'm a
liar. I'm a cheat. Maybe he'll remember
me. Maybe he will. Maybe he'll remember
me. Ezra stood up on a pulpit of
wood and said, the vilest offender who truly believes that moment
from the Lord Jesus Christ, a pardon receives. When they heard that,
they all said, praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Our last name is Meshulam, and
it means friend. The Lord God said, Abraham, who
was a worthless, sinful worm, just like you and me. But the
Lord God said, Abraham is my friend. I love him. And I'm going to bless
him because he's my friend. While our Lord walked this earth,
the Pharisees said, what in the world is he doing? He spends
all of his time with publicans and sinners. As the people cried over their
sins, Ezra stood up and said, Jesus Christ is the friend of
sinners. And greater love hath no man
than this, that he laid down his life for his friend." That's
what Ezra said to the people when he, in verse 5, opened the
book in the sight of all the people. Verse 6 says, Ezra blessed
the Lord, the great God. And all the people answered,
Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands. And upon hearing this,
they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to
the ground. Oh, they said, I'm not worthy
for this. I'm just not worthy for this. This great gift of
Jehovah, everything that he's done, I'm unworthy. Verse 12
says, all the people went their way to eat and to drink and to
send portions. They all wanted to give sin portions. As I have received, I want to
give it to you. What do you need? He has given
me all things. Everything I have belongs to
Him. What do you need? I'll give it to you. All the
people went their way to eat and to drink, and to send portions,
and to make great mirth." They were so thankful because they
had understood the words that were declared unto them. I pray
the Lord would give us an understanding of the words. May He bless His
Word. Okay, you're dismissed. Bye.