Thank you, Drew. Open your Bibles with me this
evening to the book of Nehemiah. The book of Nehemiah. It's not often that we preach
from this book. I think in my Bible, I looked
and I had some notes dated 2007, so, and it's certainly not my
desire that any of us would leave here this evening saying, oh,
we heard a message from Nehemiah. My desire is that we'd see Christ.
With this passage, this text, and this evening and anytime,
anytime we bring a message from God's Word, We want to find Christ. That's
the key to any scripture, is finding Christ. Even the most familiar of passages. If we can't see Christ in that
scripture, we've missed the point. We've walked away with a poor
message. If you've not found Nehemiah
yet, find the book of Psalm and just turn back a few books. The title comes from verse 12.
If you look at verse quickly, look with me at verse 12. Here we read, "...and all the
people," Nehemiah 8, verse 12, "...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. They made great mirth, great
joy, a reason, a reason for rejoicing. That's the title of the message
this evening, A Reason for Rejoicing. Now look with me beginning with
verse 1. I just have two or three points
this evening that I'd have us to see here. And the first is
this, the manner, the manner in which we worship. Look, beginning
with verse one, it says, 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 Israel. We see here they gathered, the
people gathered together. They gathered as one. I believe most who have been
away from the assembly for any length of time would readily admit that there's
no substitute for public worship. No substitute. We love listening
to the messages in the car or in the living room, but truly
there's no substitute for public worship when God's people gather
together. In Hebrews 10, verse 25, we read,
forsake not the assembling of yourselves together as the manner
of some is, but exhorting one another. and so much more as
you see the day approaching. It's our duty, but it's also
our privilege to gather together and worship, worship as God's
people, to meet together and worship. When we do so, Almighty
God is glorified and deserving, and deserving of such in his
people. The believer is edified. The believer is instructed from
God's Word. We're comforted from God's Word. The Scriptures say this, it's
through the foolishness of preaching. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. Here we read the people
They gathered together. You see that? Do you still have
the text? And they gathered together. And this is so important. They gathered together as one. They weren't divided. They weren't
split over this. Frank had mentioned this in a
message. And boy, I confess, I'm guilty of this. quickly we
split hairs on things and find fault. Here we read, they gathered
together as one. In John chapter 17, this was
our Lord's prayer to the Father. He prayed to God saying that
they all may be one. As we're one. As God the Father,
and the Lord Jesus Christ are one. As thou, Father, art in
me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us. That the world might believe
that thou sent me. His people, his church, may be
one. Every believer united as one
as God the Father and his Son are united as one. One in faith,
believing, believing the Lord Jesus Christ, that salvation
is in, by, and through the Lord Jesus Christ. One in love, loving
the Lord Jesus Christ, loving Him, and loving one another. In John 16.35, our Lord said,
By this shall all men know that you're my disciples. How? By how big a building you've
built? By how big the playground is? By how big of a fitness center
we've built? By this shall all men know that
you're my disciples if you have love, one for none. Love. They gathered together as one. And they said this. They said,
bring the book. Did you see that there in the
passage? Hey, bring the book. Bring the law of Moses. Bring God's Word. Isn't that what we do when we
gather together? It better be, isn't it? We bring God's Word. Isaiah wrote
this. He said, to the law and to the testimony, if they speak
not according to this Word, it's because there's no light in them.
Bring the book. Bring God's Word. He said, bring
the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded
Israel. In Luke 24, our Lord says this, beginning at Moses
and all the prophets, He expounded the things concerning Himself. In John 5, the Jews sought to
kill the Lord. He had healed a man on the Sabbath
day. And they were upset. They were
upset that he healed a man on the Sabbath day. They were upset
that he called God his father, making him equal with God. And
he told them this. He said, if you'd believe Moses,
you'd believe me, because Moses wrote of me. Bring the book. Bring the book
of the law, that which declares the Lord Jesus Christ, the holy
scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation. Look at Nehemiah 8, look at verse
2. Ezra the priest brought the law
before the congregation, both of men and women and all that
could hear with understanding on the first day. of the seventh
month, the manner in which we worship. Who was there? Who was
present? And here we see men, women, all
that could hear with understanding, much just like this crowd, just
like this crowd that's gathered together this evening, men and
women, even some young children, but they can hear. They can understand
what's being said, what's being read here. Bring the book. and
the children and the parents gathered together. Verse three,
and he read therein before the street that was before the water
gate from the morning until midday. Now, sometimes we look at our
watch a few times during the service. Consider that for morning, early
in the morning, till midday. I was thinking about this. Back
after that ice storm, we met over at Summit. Sean, you found
us a space over there for an evening to worship, and Maggie
had the little ones with her, and I had, you know, we read
the scripture, and then there's a special one. Well, She thought
reading the scripture was the message. I guess I'd read a longer
scripture that night. But she was, needless to say,
was a little disappointed. And I think if we're honest,
we probably all find ourselves in that category from time to
time. But they met from morning till
midday for the men and women and those that could understand.
Listen to this. The ears of the people were attentive
unto the book of the law. They met in a particular place,
the street that was before the Watergate. I don't know where
that's located at, but they identified it here, didn't they? A particular
place. We're in a particular place this
evening. We're on Hurricane Road. A particular place. You know,
in Acts 16, some of those folks, they met down on the riverbank.
They gathered together down on the riverbank for prayer. Over the course of time, folks
have met in their homes, people have gathered together in banks. They said one time that Roth
Barnard, he stood on a whiskey barrel in front of a saloon and
preached. I'm not so sure the essential
of the place. What's important is that God's
people are gathered together, bring the book, bring the word,
and a man stands to proclaim the Gospel. His people are gathered
together, the Scriptures are read, the message, a message from the
Scripture, from God's Word. And listen, when God Almighty
is pleased to meet with His people. That's what we read in Matthew
18. He said when two or three, just
two or three, are gathered in my eye. There am I in the midst
of it. God would be pleased to dwell
among his people. Well, look at the end of the
verse there on Nehemiah, verse three. It says that all the people,
all the people were attentive unto the book of the law. The
ears of the people were attentive. They were listening. They were
paying attention to what was being said. Listen to a couple
scriptures about this thing of listening and hearing. In the
books of Matthew, Mark, and twice in Luke, we read this. He that hath ears to hear, let
him hear. That's a pretty simple thing.
And I'm looking around here, and I think everybody I see has
at least one ear, right? He that hath ears to hear, let
him hear. Listen to what's being said. In Romans 10, 17, Paul wrote
this. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord, shall be saved. And how shall they call upon
him of whom they've not believed? And how shall they believe on
him in whom they have not heard? How important is it to hear,
to listen, to be attentive? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? My friends, if we've been given
a hearing ear, all be thankful, but take no
credit for it. Because we read this in the book
of Proverbs, the hearing ear and the seeing eye, God, Almighty
God, hath made both of them. Let's continue on in here in
our text. Look at verses four and five.
Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood which They had made for
the purpose. And beside him stood Mattathiah,
and Shema, and Annihah, and Uriah, and Hilkiah, and Mesa on his
right hand. On his left hand, Padai, and
Mishael, and Malchiah, and Hashem, and Hasbodanah, and 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. Ezra, he stood
there, right behind a pulpit of wood. And these men stood
on each side. And he opened the book. And we
read that when he did, he said, the people stood up. Now, I wouldn't encourage you. I'm not encouraging you to do
that. That would be a distraction. But the point being here is this. God's Word was being read. There's a respect. There's a
reverence that we approach God's Word in worship and even just
in reading God's Word. We sing that song. We've come
into this house and we've gathered in His name for this purpose,
to worship Him, to worship Christ the Lord. And I enjoy a time
of fellowship. I enjoy visiting with brethren
and friends. But nothing, absolutely nothing
is more important than worshiping. That's the whole purpose we gather,
is to worship and praise Him. I pray He'd give that to me.
I pray He would enable me to give me, to give us a reverence
for God's Word. A right attitude about worship. Praising and praising Him. Well,
that's my first point. The manner of worship. We gather as one. We bring the
book. We bring God's Word. We come to a place. We gather
together in a place to hear the preaching. There's a man to stand
to preach the Word. And we hear the Word. It's our desire to hear the Word. A reverence for the Word. The
manner. The manner in which we get. The
second point is this. What's the message? What's the
message when we worship? If you still have our text here,
look at verse 6. Bless the Lord, the great God,
and all the people answered, amen, amen, with lifting up their
hands, and they bowed their heads, and they worshiped their Lord.
They worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. And also, Jeshua, and Bani, and
Sherabbi, and Jamin, and Acob, and Shabbatai, and Hadijah, and
Mason, and Kalita, Azariah, and Josabed, and Hanan, and Peleah,
and the Levites, calls the people understand the law, and the people,
says they stood in their place. What's the message? What's the message when we gather
together to worship? First thing we read here is that
Almighty God is to be exalted. God is to be exalted. It said,
Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God. You know Nebuchadnezzar. Remember what happened to Nebuchadnezzar. When his reason returned to him,
he said this. He'd been brought low. Oh, he'd
been brought low. And he said, I blessed the Most
High, and I praised Him that liveth forever and ever, whose
dominion is an everlasting dominion, whose kingdom is from generation
to generation. Exalted. Almighty, almighty God. Ezra prayed unto God ascribing
blessing and honor and glory unto Him. Remember when King
David sent his servant to fetch Mephibosheth. He was going to
show mercy. And he sent him down there to
get Mephibosheth out of Lodabar. And it says when Mephibosheth,
the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, was come to David. What was his demeanor? He fell on his face. He fell
on his face and did reverence. David could have killed him,
and nobody would have been none the wiser. He fell on his face
and made reverence. He bowed. He bowed before the
king. Thomas had said after the Lord's
death, he said, except I shall see in his hands those nail prints
and thrust my hand into his side. He said, I won't believe. And
a few days passed, and our Lord was pleased to reveal himself
to Thomas. And he said, reach hither thy
finger. Behold My hands, reach hither
Thy hand, and thrust them into My side, and be not faithless,
but believe Him." Remember Thomas' answer? Thomas
answered and he said unto Him, My Lord and my God. Almighty God is to be exalted. The Lord Jesus Christ is to be
exalted. Listen, we're His. His dominion
is over all things, and we're to bow at his feet. The scriptures
say that, listen, at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow,
every tongue is gonna confess that he's Lord. Isaiah said,
behold your God. John Gill said this, he said,
he that was promised, prophesied, and expected, Emmanuel, God with
us, God in nature, God manifest in the flesh, God our savior,
God who is able to save to the uttermost, almighty God who is
sovereign in all things. That's the God of the Bible.
That's the God that the Bible declares. God who is able to
save. God is to be exalted. And look
what the people said. In our day, in our day, we say
that and what's man's response? Oh, that's not, that's not fair. They said, amen, amen. So be it, so be it. Well, let's
continue on here. Look at verses 8 and 9, again,
of Nehemiah chapter 8. 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 Tershatha,
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. Here we see something of man's
depravity in light of God's law. I remember Henry used to say,
a crooked stick's sometimes hard to see. But it's real evident
one that's crooked when you put a straight stick beside of it. And that's what the law does.
The law, it reveals a lot about us. The people mourned. When they
read the book of the law, the people mourned. All the people
wept when they heard the words of the law. Turn to Romans 3. Romans 3. Look beginning with
verse 19. Romans 3 verse 19. Now we know that what things
whoever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law,
that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become
guilty before God. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. For by
the law is the knowledge of sin. We're all under the law. And
God's law pronounces every son of Adam guilty. Guilty. Every mouth, he said, every mouth
stopped. Listen, usually when we're in
a little bit of trouble and we open our mouth, we're trying
to defend what we've done. We're trying to defend ourselves
or make excuses for what we've done. Try to justify ourselves. Turn to the book of Job. Job chapter 9. Probably save ourselves some
trouble if we learn this. Look at Job 9 verse 20. He said, if I justify myself,
If I open my mouth to justify myself, mine own mouth shall
condemn me. If I say I'm perfect, it shall
prove me perverse. Every mouth stopped, and the
whole world guilty before God. Listen, the law's not meant to
save. The law can't save. It can't
justify. The law can't make us righteous. Not the law. No, the law, it
does this. It declares every one of us guilty. Guilty before Almighty God. Dead
in trespasses and sin. The law reveals our sin and our
corruption. It reveals the blackness and
depravity of our hearts. Scriptures declare that the law
is a schoolmaster to do this, to bring us to Christ, to bring
us to the Lord Jesus Christ, to shut us up to faith in him,
to rest in him and him alone. Here in Nehemiah, He said when
they heard the law, they wept. What's the message of our worship?
Well, God is to be exalted. We can't praise God high enough
and we can't pound ourselves into dust far enough. God is
to be exalted. It declares man's depravity.
The law declares man's depravity. And then look here again at Nehemiah
chapter 8, look at verse 10. Then he said unto them, people wept when they heard the
words of the law. Then he said unto them, go your way, eat the
fat, 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. Here, the people are pointed
all the way back in Nehemiah. They're pointed to the Lord Jesus
Christ. He said, go your way. That's
liberty. That's deliverance to the captives. He said, eat the fat and drink
the sweet. We feed on the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, send portions for whom
nothing is prepared. That just screams grace to me.
For the joy of the Lord is your strength. The healing of the
brokenhearted, deliverance of the captives, recovery of sight
to the blind, good news. Here he says it, the
joy of the Lord is your strength. Your place of safety, your stronghold,
your refuge, What is the joy of the Lord? Turn to Hebrews 12. We're almost
finished here. Turn to Hebrews 12. Do you have verse two of Hebrews
12? Looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith, who for the joy, the joy that was
set before him, he endured the cross, he despised the shame,
and he sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Instead of being in the bosom
of the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ came into this wicked
world. Instead of being in the form
of God, He took upon Himself the form of a servant. Instead
of the glory He had with the Father, He suffered the shame
and disgrace of the cross. Instead of a joyful and comfortable
life, he suffered the shame. Instead of temporal joy and glory,
he endured the suffering, the pain, the shame of the cross. That's the joy that was set before
him. He, did you read that? He endured
the cross. He despised the shame as our
substitute, as our sin offering. He endured the wrath of almighty
God. He was made sin. He was put to death on the cross. That which was reserved for the
For the worst of criminals, the joy of saving his people,
the joy of saving his elect. He said this. He said, I lay
down my life for the sheep. Let me ask you this. Is that
your strength? Is that your refuge, your stronghold? We rest in Him. We rest in Christ alone. Christ
crucified. The Scriptures declare this,
that He loved us and He gave Himself for us. The message. The message of Scripture. God
is to be exalted. Man's depravity. Guilty. Guilty before Almighty God. Dead
in trespasses and sin. The joy of the Lord. We declare
the joy of the Lord. Christ crucified. Christ being
made sin. And then last, look at Nehemiah
8 one more time here. The third point here. What's the grand result? What's
the grand result of this? You have verse 11. The Levites stilled all the people
saying, hold your peace, this day is holy, neither be ye greed. And all the people went their
way to eat and to drink and to send portions and to make great
mirth, great rejoicing because they understood the words that
were declared unto them. Great mirth, great joy. Great
rejoicing. They understood. They understood
what was being said, what was being declared. Their sorrow. Oh, they went from sorrow to
rejoicing. A reason to rejoice. We read there in our Scripture
reading, that man that found his lost sheep, Scripture says
he found it, laid it on his shoulder, rejoicing. Rejoicing. The eunuch over there in Acts
chapter 8, Philip preached Christ to him. Remember that? He went
to the Old Testament. He found that Scripture. He said
he began the same Scripture and he preached Christ to him. And
afterwards, that eunuch was baptized. What's the next thing we read?
He went on his way rejoicing. In Luke 15, 10 it says there's
rejoicing, there's joy in the presence of the angels. The presence
of the angels of God over what? One. One sinner that repented. And listen, when God's pleased,
when Almighty God in mercy is pleased to reveal to a man the
truth about who God is, just, righteous, sovereign. When he's
pleased to show a man who and what that man is, what we are
by nature, dead in trespasses and sin, without help, without
hope, and when he's pleased to reveal
the truth about the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ crucified. He's the savior of sinners. Figure out you're a sinner. It's
pretty good news to know that the Lord Jesus Christ came into
the world to save sinners. That takes on a whole new meaning
when I figured out that was about me. If a man or a woman or young
person, if the Lord's pleased to give them an ear to hear, to understand the gospel, to know this, that the Lord Jesus
Christ, he died for me. Without him, I have no hope. Without him, I have no help.
Christ died for me. He's all my hope. He's all my
salvation. Christ is all. That man or that woman or that
young person are going to go on their way rejoicing. Give
Him thanks that God in mercy has been pleased to reveal Christ
to us. A reason, a reason to rejoice. Pray God be pleased to bless
His Word.