Wednesday Evening Services 7 PM - Reconstructing the Heart - Nehemiah 7-8 - Pastor Ryan Nichols

God, I just pray that you would use these songs just to soften our hearts, God, just to draw us closer to you, to give us some time of quiet, just to think about you and talk to you. Lord, I just pray that you would give us time for your glory. In Jesus' name. I got nothing new. How could I express?

I could sing as I often do. And every song I do. So I throw up, raise you again and again. Because all that I have is a heart.

But I've never, because all that I have, you've got a lot. Because you've got a lot. Except for his heart. And we should be only counting. If things are good, if things are bad, God, I just pray that you would help us to follow you, whatever that looks like in our life, whatever we're dealing with. I pray that we would be conscientious to not depend on ourselves

or our careers or even our family, God. But learn what it means to depend on you. Just pray for Pastor Ryan as he comes up to teach from your word. Lord, I pray that you would fill him with your spirit, that you'd give him a gift of teaching, that you'd let him proclaim your word boldly.

Good evening. Good evening. If you brought a Bible with you, please open up to the book of Nehemiah, chapter 7. Nehemiah, chapter 7. I gave the message tonight the title, Reconstructing the Heart. So we've given an overarching title to the book of Nehemiah of reconstructing the self-destruction. So, of course, the children of Israel had been taken captive for many, many years.

And part of that was that the walls were destroyed. The walls around the city were destroyed. Well, when they came back to rebuild the temple, it was wonderful that they had a temple. But Nehemiah had heard that the report that the walls were torn down and they were subject to all of the attacks of the enemy. And so God laid it on his heart to do the work that needed to be done

to build the walls. And so he was granted permission. So he goes back and starts this building project there in Jerusalem. And in 52 days, he gets all of the walls around Jerusalem reconstructed. And that first six chapters of the book of Nehemiah is the reconstruction. The reconstructing of the walls, the reconstructing of the city, if you will. But when we get to chapter seven and on through the rest of the book of Nehemiah,

it has a lot less to do with the walls of the city and it has a whole lot more to do with the condition of the heart of the people. And so what we're going to see is what was done with the walls of the city now has to be done with the condition of their hearts spiritually. It needs reconstructed. And so that's what we're going to talk about over the next few chapters, particularly tonight in chapters seven and eight.

So picking up in chapter seven, verse one, we actually see somewhat of a practical chapter with the organizing of the city. It says this. Now, when the wall was rebuilt and I had set up the doors and the gatekeepers and the singers and the Levites were appointed, then I put Hananiah, my brother, and Hananiah, the commander of the fortress in charge of Jerusalem, for he was a faithful man and feared God more than many. And I said to them, do not let the gates of Jerusalem be opened until the city is built.

Do not let the gates of Jerusalem be opened until the city is built. The sun is hot. And while they are standing guard, let them shut and bolt the doors. Also appoint guards from the inhabitants of Jerusalem, each at his post and each in front of his own house. The city was large and spacious, but the people in it were few and the houses were not built. Then my God put it into my, we'll get to that in just a moment.

So he starts organizing the leadership of the city. Again, there's a danger right now that he's going to face as the leader of Jerusalem. The building project is done. And for all intents and purposes, it would be easy to sit back now and go, the work is done. We can just relax. But the problem is, just because the work of the wall was done didn't mean that the attacks of the enemy were going to end.

And so he needed to make sure he had the right people in place to not only be in charge of the city and to have the structure of the city that was necessary, but also to protect against any attack of the enemy that would still be mounted, even though the walls of Jerusalem were not built. Even though the walls of the city had been constructed. And I tell us this because I think that's important for us to remember as believers, is that sometimes God will do a great work in our life, especially when you first start walking with the Lord. God does a great work and perhaps delivers you from an incredible number of things.

Or maybe there's an area of your life that you have sought God's deliverance in or God to work in you. And you've watched God do an incredible amount of work in your life, and you kind of are in the honeymoon phase of what God has done. And it's easy to sit back and go, I think I'm pretty good now. I think life is going to be okay. Here's what I have found.

Anytime I sit back and say, I think I'm pretty good now, I'm not pretty good now. Okay? And it means that just because the walls of the city are built doesn't mean that I can let my guard down. And that's one of the biggest lessons we have to learn as believers in Jesus Christ, is I would love to tell you that on this side of eternity, you're going to go through a season where there's no battles.

You're going to go through a season where everything is smooth sailing. And you're going to go through a season where everything is smooth sailing. You may go through a short season like that, but you need to know a short season like that is preparing you for the next battle. And I want to give you a really good, happy report about that, but this is just the reality of the world that we live in, is that we always face battles.

Let me give you a for instance. So God's blessing us here at Calvary Chapel. I think we can all agree with that. It's been kind of fun to watch. And you go, hey, look, we've got this cool new building over here. We have all these sweet lights in here. And all of a sudden, the lights stop working, right? Why, all of a sudden, did the lights stop working? Why, all of a sudden, did the lights stop working, right?

I have no idea. We just showed up. Apparently, when I was on vacation, they showed up here on a Sunday morning to start getting things ready. And the strobe light was on, and they were uncing up here on the stage, only it wasn't a dance party, right? It was just the strobing of the lights. And it was okay. Everything worked out good. And then I come back. Thank you, Jesus.

I came back, and everything really went crazy. Many of you were here that Wednesday night when we had a dance party USA, right? When the lights were strobing, and we were like, uh, uh, uh, across the stage. It was amazing, right? And so we have some really good folks here that came and worked on the lights, and we were like, praise Jesus, the lights are fixed.

Fun fact, they're not. We're back at it again. And I would love to tell you that there's going to come a point in time in your life when it's like, the battles are done. Everything's good. I can sit back and relax. But on this side of eternity, you can have rest in the Lord, but you need to know there's always another battle. And so he knew that, and so he said,

I've got to appoint the right people to the right place. And so he started off saying this. He says, I set up the doors, incredibly important to have. Feels like if you're going to have walls, doors are the next right move. Set up the doors, but then he set up three things. The gatekeepers for safety, the singers for the worship, and the Levites so that the work of the temple

can continue to be done. So he sets up those three groups of people. And then he put two people in charge. Interestingly enough, their names were very close to each other. One's name is Hanani, and the other's name, is Hananiah. How many times do you think they got their names wrong? How many times do you think they said the wrong name to the wrong person? I'm going to say a lot of times.

But we're given a little commentary on these two men that Nehemiah put in charge. First of all, the first one was his brother. This is not the commentary I want you to pay attention to, but it is kind of interesting. The first one was his brother, Hananiah. If we were to go all the way back to the very beginning of Nehemiah, you would find that there was one man

who gave Nehemiah the report of how bad things were in Jerusalem. And that man's name is Hananiah. That's Hananiah, the brother of Nehemiah. So this man has a heart for the city, so much so that he brought the report of what was going on in the city to his brother, so that something could be done about it. So he knew this was a good man for the job. But we're told two things about these men.

End of verse 2. Number one, they were faithful. Number two, they feared God more than many. Can I tell you, if you're looking for two really good qualifications for people that you will surround yourself with, for people that can help guard the gates of your life, help guard the gates of your home, to be the accountability that you have in your life for the people that you're going to put in charge of things, look for these two things.

First of all, people who are faithful. We need to be, and we need people who do what they say that they're going to do. Lots of people have good ideas. Lots of people have good intentions. But as my old wrestling coach used to tell us, shoulda, coulda, woulda never did, right? And so you can have all of the best intentions in the world, but that doesn't make you faithful.

What makes you faithful is the day in and day out showing up and doing what needs to be done. I'm reminded of what we're told in the book of, I believe it's 2 Timothy. No, I think it was 1 Corinthians. He said, let a man so consider us as stewards of the mysteries of God. And among stewards, one must be found faithful. That's what God's looking for. That is ultimately the test of whether or not

you are successful in what God gives you to do. It's not how. The world views success. It's not how even oftentimes we as the church view success. Success is being faithful. Are you going to faithfully do what God has called for you to do? So number one, they were faithful. But number two, they feared God more than many. And listen, there should be a healthy fear of God

in the people of God. And understand, there's a mature fear of God and an immature fear of God. And we need both of them at points in times in our life. The immature fear of God is, is knowing that at any point in time, God can strike you down, right? Like that immature fear of God is what brought you to know Jesus in the first place. As you went, oh dear God,

you can strike me down because of my sins. But that's just a surface level beginning of the fear of God. It's an important part. I don't want to discount that. And we must maintain our understanding of the holiness of God. But eventually we have to mature beyond the desire to not have God strike us down. And we have to move in. And we have to move into the mature fear of God.

And the mature fear of God is, is the desire to not hurt the Father's heart. That's the mature fear of God. Why do we not live in sin? Because it will damage the heart of the Father who gave His Son for me. It will damage the relationship that I have with my Father. Let me give you a little bit of an illustration. When I was a kid, I had a healthy fear of my father.

He was not a mean guy. He was not a mean guy. He was not a mean guy. He was not a mean guy. He was not a mean guy. He was not a mean guy. He was not a mean guy. scary guy. But when he meant business, he meant business. And you knew what that looked like. And with that one eye, he would give me that look. And I went, you know what? This is going to end bad. I know what this means. And I had this fear of my dad in that way, because I knew that things

were going to roll downhill fast and he was going to deal with me. But I remember the last time I ever went and did things that Jesus really didn't want me to do. And I came home and I confessed all of those things to my parents. And I will never forget the words that came out of my father's mouth in that moment, because he could have beat me with a thousand rods and it wouldn't have hurt as bad as what he said. He looked at me and said, you know, I suspected something was going on,

but I trusted you. And I remember I would have just as soon been had the tar beat out of me at that moment than to hear my father say that. And so from that moment on, I had a different sort of fear of my dad. It wasn't fear that that he could take me out, although that was probably still a real possibility. But I had a different sort of fear of my dad. And so from that moment on, I had

a different sort of fear of my dad. And so from that moment on, I had a different sort of fear of my dad. And so from that moment on, I had a different sort of fear of my dad. And so from that moment on, it was the fear that I was going to damage my relationship with somebody that meant so much to me. And that's kind of what it is with that fear of God that we have. First, we have that immature.

That's what brings us into right relationship. But once we're in that right relationship, we say, I don't want anything to mess with that. And so I will fear God in that way. And so these men had these two things going for them. They were faithful and they feared God more than many. So I said to them, don't let the gates of Jerusalem, they were sort of in charge of the gates of Jerusalem, but

of how the gates were going to be operated. Don't let them be opened until the sun is hot. That's probably when there's less traffic. And close them before the sun is no longer hot, because that's the least amount of traffic that was going to be the safest thing. It says the city was large and spacious. The people in it were few. The houses were not built. But there's two other types of

guards he's going to set up. Notice what it says in verse 5. Then God put it in my heart to assemble the nobles, the officials, and the people. Oh, no, I still missed it. This is what I needed to say right here. Verse 4. Now the city was large and spacious, and the people were in it, and the houses were few. Where am I missing this here? Follow the province. They returned to Jerusalem.

I missed something here. It was at the end of verse 3, and I skipped right past it. Appoint guards from the inhabitants of Jerusalem, each at his post, and each in front of his own house. Not only did he set up the way the gates were supposed to be established, but he said, not only do we need to guard the gates, but we need to post guards all along the wall. In other words, there was more than one gate, and so he posted a guard amongst all of the

gates that went throughout the place. And he posted all of these throughout the walls. But there's a third place where he said to guard. Did you take note of it? Because I almost missed it. In front of each man's house. In other words, everyone that had a house in Jerusalem, this was your job. Guard your home. Guard your home against the things that could come in.

Guard your home against the things that could potentially cause danger. Or hazard. Because if everyone guards their own home, then the city will be safe. And can I tell you, we each have a home. Not just a physical home, although I think that should be guarded too, but you should guard your home. And what is allowed to come into your home. And I mean the home of

your heart. Because each of us needs to set guard over that in our lives. Because if we don't set guard over that in our lives, then slowly but surely the enemy will creep in. He can creep past the gates. And pretty soon we find that he's living inside of our home instead of blocking him out. And so he sets these three guards up. And then as I kept skipping to verse

five, it says, God put it in my heart to assemble the nobles and the officials and the people to be enrolled by genealogies. And I found the book of the genealogy of those who came up first in which I found the following record. We are not going to read the next 60 verses, okay? That is the record of everybody that came back. It's the almost exact same record

that's given to us in the book of Ezra. But that's the record of the people that came back. But I think that there's something interesting to point out about this genealogical record of those that came back. God took note of everybody who returned to Jerusalem. I said on Sunday, I think it was Sunday. My head is swimming right now. There's been too many things. I think it was on Sunday I said,

there's three things that God keeps track of, right? I have found two more. None of them are sins. I just want to point this out. I found two more things that God kept track of. We know that God keeps our names written in the Lamb's book of life. God keeps track of every time that we talk about him. God keeps all of our tears in a bottle. Right here it says that God kept track of

all of those that came back to Jerusalem, which I think is awesome. Because God was like, no one's ever going to know who these people are, but I know who they are because their heart was for Jerusalem. Their heart was to come home and to have that pioneer spirit to establish themselves here. But you know, I found one more place that I thought was kind of interesting. It was in the book of Ezekiel. I don't remember the chapter

at this moment. I feel like it was somewhere around chapter 7 or 8 of Ezekiel. But God told an angel to do something in the book of Ezekiel. He said, I want you to go through Jerusalem and I want you to keep track of it. I want you to mark everyone who sighs, everyone who groans, in their heart at the sin that is around them. And I don't know why that just really stuck out to me, but I got to thinking

God does keep lists and he keeps lists of the most amazing things. And so every time your heart finds itself groaning, not because you're angry that there's sin in the world, but because your heart hurts that there's sin in the world. Because your heart hurts because you know what sin does to the world that's around us. God keeps track of that and he's like, man, take note of that.

He's groaning. He's sighing. Because of everything that he sees going on in the world today. And so God keeps track of all of these people that came back and the offerings that they make. And we'll jump all the way down to the end of verse 73. It says, now the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers and the singers, some of the people, the temple servants and all Israel lived in their cities. And when the

seventh month came, the sons of Israel were in their cities. So you've kind of got that. You've got this little break that takes place. I want you to notice what happens in chapter 8 verse 1. Because in chapter 8, I've entitled it back to the word or real revival. It says this, all the people gathered as one man at the square which was in front of the water gate. And they asked Ezra

the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses which the Lord had given to Israel. And Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly of men and women. All who could listen with understanding on the first day of the seventh month. And he read from it before the square which was in front of the water gate from early morning until midday. And the presence of the men

and the women, those who could understand. And all the people were attentive to the book of the law. Now, we're given a specific time stamp here. This is in the seventh month on the first day of the month. I don't think I had to put this up here. But you might in the margin of your Bible, because this is what I wrote in the margin of mine, write Leviticus 23

verses 24 and 25. Leviticus 23 verses 24 and 25. Because what it says in Leviticus chapter 23 is that in the seventh month, on the first day of the month begins the feast of trumpets. Interestingly enough, it begins what we call the fall feasts. And within about a 25 day time frame, it might be 15 day time frame, there's three fall feasts that will take place.

The first is the feast of trumpets. The second is what we call the day of atonement. And the third is what's called the feast of booths. Those are the fall feasts. And they're all very interesting feasts. Of course the feast of booths, we'll talk about in just a moment, had to do with their journey in the land. And the feast of trumpets, because trumpets are what were blown to bring

them all together. And of course that day of atonement was the day when when they would what's the word that's used? They would fast that day and and basically they would they would think about their sins and they would confess their sins and they would be dealt with with that atoning thing. So it was the first day and so they gather together at this place called called the Watergate, and not the hotel.

And they gather this place called the Watergate and Ezra brings the book of the law. And he's going to read the book of the law to them. Now I think it's interesting that they gathered at the Watergate. Because there's two things about water that are really specific spiritually speaking in scripture. Number one, water's always mentioned when it comes to God's Word.

God's Word is referred to as water that washes us, water that cleanses us. And so water's oftentimes synonymous with God's Word. Which is exactly what he's going to read to the people. But the second thing that's interesting is oftentimes water is also synonymous with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is referred to as the living water. As a matter of fact, Jesus, at the Feast of Booths, stood up in front of everyone and said,

All who thirst, let them come to me, and I will give you living water. And so it's interesting that he stands at the water gate where both the Word of God, empowered by the Spirit of God, are going to be given out to the people of God. And he brings the book of the law. Actually, it would have been... That's him unrolling a scroll, by the way. That's what the noise is.

And he brings this book of the law, and it says he read it. There's three things I think that are kind of interesting about what it says when he read it. First of all, it was all those who had understanding. All who could listen with understanding. In other words, anybody who was willing to hear what God's Word has to say could come and hear what God's Word had to say.

And I love that because there was no exclusivity. It wasn't like, well, I don't think you can really take this in, so you don't get to... You're not a part of the ruling class, so you don't get... No, anybody with understanding. Anybody with two ears to hear could come, and they could take in what God's Word had to say. The second thing I think is interesting is it says he went from morning until midday.

That word morning means first light. And so for six hours, he reads God's Word to them. Have you ever just sat and read anything for six hours straight? Listen, it is not the easiest thing in the world to do, right? Have you ever tried to listen to anything for six hours straight? A few years ago, we were on our way back from... Florida, we'd driven down to St. Augustine,

and we just liked driving eternally long drives, okay? And we listened to this great book. It's called Unbroken. And Unbroken is maybe the longest book I've ever listened to. It was literally the entire trip back, 22 hours. That was a long book. It was a really good book, but it kept us rolling that whole time. That's a long time to listen, though, right? Six hours listening to God's Word.

The third thing I think is kind of interesting is, is that it says all of the people were attentive. It's a great word that's used there, right? Like all the people were just soaking in everything that Ezra had to say. Now, I think this is kind of interesting because Ezra had prepared himself for this very moment, hadn't he? Isn't it interesting that we switch now from Nehemiah to Ezra?

Ezra is now the main character here in the book of Nehemiah because Nehemiah's job is sort of on hold. The walls are built. He's handed over the leadership. He's handed over the leadership to Hananiah and Hananiah. And it's this first day of the seventh month, and everybody gathers together. Nehemiah just sort of steps back. He gives the stage to Ezra, who stands up in front of everybody

and is just reading God's Word. What prepared Ezra for this moment in time? Well, if we were to go all the way back to Ezra, chapter, I believe, 7, it would say that Ezra set his heart to know the law, to obey the law, and to teach the law. To others. You never know what your preparation is getting you ready for. You never know what your preparation is preparing you to do someday in your life.

And sometimes we despise the day of preparation. We despise the day where nothing really big is happening. You can imagine Ezra living in an exiled land, and here he's a priest with no temple. But he's like, you know what? I don't know when this is going to work. I don't know when I'm going to need this. But I'm going to study the law. And I'm going to obey the law.

And I'm going to be ready at any point in time to teach it to someone else. Well, now his day has come. Now it's here. And I want you to think, what else prepared him for this? What else prepared him for this is that all the way back in a foreign land, there was a man by the name of Nehemiah, who heard about the problems going on in Jerusalem. And what did he set himself to do?

He set himself to start praying. And the prayers of Nehemiah are being answered in the reading of the law, by Ezra, because he's built the physical walls. And now Ezra is preparing the spiritual heart to be reconstructed in this group of people. Friends, don't underestimate the little things that we do, like giving ourselves to prayer, giving ourselves to study, and giving ourselves to be ready for whatever God has for us.

That's why we're told in Scripture to be ready in season and out of season. Because you never know. You never know. You never know. You never know. You never know. When opportunity is going to lend itself to you, and you need to be there with the truth of God's Word. And so, he stands up in front of everybody. He's reading the law for like six hours. And it says, the people are attentive to the book of the law.

But then he gives us a little commentary on the procedure that Ezra used. Verse 4. It says, Ezra the scribe stood at a wooden podium, which they had made for the purpose. And beside him stood... I'm going to try here. Mattathiah, Shema, Ananiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, Maaseah, on his right hand, and Padaiah, Mishael, Malkijah, Hashem, Hashabadana, Zechariah, and Meshulam on his left hand.

And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was standing 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. Come on. While lifting up their hands, and they bowed low, and they worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. Does this sound familiar to maybe what we do today?

Except for the fact that you all don't stand up while I teach. He stood behind a wooden podium. It was kind of on a stage because he stood above the people. And he delivered the law to them. This is the first time standing behind a podium, and the word podium is used in Scripture. And from this point on, in the nation of Israel, they will form what's called the synagogue model.

And the synagogue model is just like that. A teacher would stand up in front of everyone at some sort of a lectern or a podium, unroll a scroll, read a passage of Scripture, as we're going to see in just a moment, explain the passage of Scripture to them. You ever wonder why we do church the way that we do now? Well, this is when it began to be established, is that this is kind of how they do it.

This is kind of how they did things. And so he stands up in front of everybody, and he's got some guys winging him, right? I don't know if they were making sure he didn't fall off the stage because this was a new situation, although that feels like maybe the right thing in this particular moment. There's a sidebar. So there's a football coach, and he was with the L.A. Rams.

He may still be with them, his name's Sean McVay. And Sean McVay gets a little geeked up when he coaches. I'm not a big fan of his, but I do like this. He gets really excited, and a coach gets in trouble if he goes past the sideline onto the field. And so he has a guy that, like, pulls him back every time he gets a little too excited and runs up on the field.

I've got a good buddy that's volunteered to do that for me if I get too close to the edge of the stage, to be right there behind me to pull me back just in case I almost fall off the stage. There's been a couple of times where I thought that that might be necessary, but anyway, I think that might be why those guys are there. So they're all winging him, right? You've got this picture in your mind.

He's got, like, a choir with him, basically. And as he preaches, everybody stands up. Everybody stands up in honor of the reading of God's Word. And as he reads God's Word, Ezra blesses the Lord, his God. And all the people answer, amen, amen. Again, if he was in the South, they would say, come on, right? Like, they're hearing what he's got to say. They're excited about what he's got to say.

He blesses God by what he's got to say. And all they can do is agree. As a matter of fact, sometimes they fall down and worship the Lord while he's giving out this law. Now, I don't know that he started in the book of Genesis and worked his way all the way through the five books of the Pentateuch. Probably he started in Deuteronomy and gave sort of a summary of the things.

I don't know if you've ever read Deuteronomy. It's not an overly emotional book. You know, it's not the Psalms. It doesn't elicit a lot of emotion. And yet, as the people are hearing the Word of God, they are moved by the Word of God. Why? Because the Spirit of God is at work. Because Nehemiah had prepared for him. Through prayer, Ezra had prepared through study.

And the Holy Spirit was at work in the people. You say, Ryan, the Holy Spirit hadn't come yet. Want to believe? Are you serious? Because the Holy Spirit was absolutely at work. He may not have been indwelling the people, but it was still him at work through his Word. And so, he's reading it to the people. And I want you to notice what happens next. Verse 7.

Also,

The Levites explained the Law to the people while the people remained in their place. They read from the Book of the Law of God, translating to give the sense so that they understood the reading. See what they're doing there? They're explaining it to the people so that they understand what it means. So that they can then apply it to their lives and the way that they live.

He didn't just blanketly read the Law. Although, if he would have done that, it would have probably been enough. But they took the time to explain it to the people. We have a term for this in the church today. It's called expository teaching. He read through the portion of the Law and then explained what was being read. As a matter of fact, from what it tells us here,

it sounds like some of these men were amongst the people, occasionally taking breaks from the reading of the Law to discuss what it actually was. That's what he means. If you will, they occasionally broke off into small groups and there was more explanation that was made. Meanwhile, every time he would speak, he would not only translate it, because many of them probably did not speak Hebrew at this point in time, but also he would give the sense, in other words, the understanding of what the Word said.

Gee, I wonder where we came up with this idea, the way that we handle church today. This is kind of where it came from, is that expository teaching of the Word. The Word of God. Listen, I'm not trying to say there's a right way and a wrong way to do church. I am trying to say there's a biblical way to do things, and the biblical way to do things is to give out the Word and to explain the Word.

Because the Word of God, empowered by the Spirit of God, when explained, changes the hearts of the people of God. That's the way God does things. And the problem in the culture today is nobody wants to take the time and the energy, and the effort to explain the Word of God. You know why? Because it's hard. It is hard work to get into God's Word, understand what it means,

and then to give that out to someone else. I've told this story before, although it's been quite a few years now. I'd always heard growing up, and I grew up in an expository church, with a guy who taught the Word very, very, very well. And so I never was around a church where the Word was not taught. Then I go off to a Bible college, where expository teaching and preaching in the Word is what we were taught to do.

And so my wife and I, not long after we got married, we went and visited a church in Emporia. And the pastor, and you have to understand, I love to hear the teaching of the Word of God, right? Like I just soak that stuff up. And so we go to this church, and you know, you never know what to expect in another church. And the pastor gets up, and first of all, there was a bell choir to start things off.

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with the bell choir, I'm just saying that's different for me. So the bell choir plays, the pastor gets up there, and he reads the portion of Ephesians chapter one. It's like the richest portion of Scripture, right? Like he just laid a porterhouse stake out there, and I was ready to get my utensils out and just start going.

And he goes, you know, passages of Scripture like this are sort of like a giant ice cream. And I'm like, yeah, they are. Let's start eating, man. And he goes, I just don't even know that we could ever take it all in. Now, let me tell you about our summer program. And I was just going, well, put me in, coach. I'll work on it. I think we can figure something out here.

Let's just start working our way through it. I mean, maybe you haven't done the work to prepare this thing, but surely we can just take a little bit of time and look at these things, and know that we can do it. And know that all of the spiritual wealth that we have is laid out right here in Ephesians chapter one. Maybe we should talk about it for a minute. And he went on to give this boring speech about

whatever their summer give ice cream to some kids program was. And I was just like, and then, you know, I'm sorry. I'm not even telling you what church it is. It's okay. And then some lady gets up afterwards and says, I was moved by pastor's message today. And all I could think was, are we in the same church? The only thing that was, well, anyway, nothing good was moved in that servant today, right?

Anyway, because it takes work. And that's what they did. They put in the work. But what we're going to see, not only at the end of chapter eight, but on into chapter nine and following, is that that work paid dividends because the people responded. Well, notice what it says. Verse nine. It says, Then Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest, and the Levites, who taught the people,

said to all the people, This day is holy to the Lord your God. Don't mourn or weep. For all the people were weeping when they heard the words of the law. And he said to them, Go, eat of the fat, drink of the sweet. Send portions to him who has nothing prepared. For this day is holy to the Lord. Don't be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. So the Levites calmed all the people, saying,

Be still, for the day is holy. Do not be grieved. And all the people went away to eat, to drink, to send portions and to celebrate a great festival because they understood the words which had been made known to them. As often happens with God's word, they were moved. They were moved emotionally. Because as the holiness of God was declared to them and as they thought back probably on their own lives

and ultimately how the nation found themselves in this place to begin with, the people just began to weep. They're just broken. Broken over what has happened to their nation and how they've gotten back to this place where they're in this grand city with this beautiful temple and there's still hardly anybody there. Because while the remnant had returned, there was still so much brokenness within the nation and they're weeping over it.

And Nehemiah and Ezra and the Levites start going, Guys, this is not a day to weep. This is a day to celebrate. This is a day to celebrate what God has done. This is a day to let the joy of the Lord be your strength. Well, I did some reading on this today. Alan Redpath had some great things to say about it as well as Chuck Swindoll and his commentary. And so I put together a little collaboration of what they said there

because I thought how do you allow the joy of the Lord to be your strength? I've heard this my entire life. As a matter of fact, there was a song that we used to sing. I won't sing it to you right now. But there was a song that we used to sing about how the joy of the Lord is your strength. It's a choir chorus where you go, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.

We all know what I'm talking about right now? Okay, good. If you didn't, I'm sorry. We'll sing it later. So I've heard this my whole life. And I'm like, what? Does it mean we're supposed to all go around laughing all the time? Like, life is good. God is good. My life's falling apart, but God is good. Right? Do we just fake it? No. How do you make the joy of the Lord your strength?

So I wrote down four things. Four things that I kind of gleaned from my own personal life, but from some of those things I read from Alan Redpath and Chuck Swindoll. The joy of the Lord is your strength. Number one. The joy of the Lord comes with the knowledge of forgiveness. The joy of the Lord comes with the knowledge of forgiveness. Matter of fact, this is what they told them to do.

Today is not the day to mourn. Go eat of the fat, drink of the sweet, eat the portions that has been given to you. You see, those are all of the things that were left over from a fellowship offering from a fellowship sacrifice indicating that because God had dealt with their sins, they now have fellowship with God. They said, go rejoice in the fellowship that you have with God because your sins have been forgiven.

And so if you want the joy of the Lord to be your strength, then number one, you need to remind yourself that your sins have been put underneath of the blood of Jesus. That God has dealt with all of the things that at one point in time He had against you, and now no longer does He hold any sin against you. Instead, you are now in fellowship with the Creator, which is what you were always intended for. And so you find your joy in knowing that your sins are forgiven.

Number two, joy comes as we know the character of God. As we know and understand the character of God. Do you know that that's what the law describes to us? It describes the character of God. Not only His holiness, but His goodness and His faithfulness and all of those things, they're ultimately laid out for us in His Word. The more that we know the character of God, the greater joy we have in our life.

Because as Joe was singing at the very end of worship, I can depend on God because I know His character. Therefore, I'm not held down by the aches and the pains of this world because I can rest in the character of a God who loves me so much. Number three, joy comes from resting in the promises of God. Joy comes from resting in the promises of God. I've had to put this one to work here recently.

Where I've had to say, Lord, I need some joy in my life and that can only come if I start resting in the truth of what You have to say and not the fear that I have in my heart. And not the angst that sometimes can rule my heart. And so I've had to find my joy in resting in the promises of God. But then number four, joy is a gift of the Holy Spirit. Joy is a gift of the Holy Spirit.

And just like we talked about last week with discernment, it's okay to ask for joy. Matter of fact, before we start laughing and the joy of the Lord is my strength song, before we start doing the ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha, you say, if you want joy, you must ask for it. Listen, there's nothing wrong with going to the Lord and saying, God, I don't feel very joyful right now. Could you fill me with the joy of the Lord?

Now, I don't think that that means all of a sudden you're going to start laughing hysterically and rolling through the aisles. That is a misunderstanding of the work of the Holy Spirit of God. But it does mean that God can fill your heart with a joy that's unexplainable. It means that God can fill your heart with a joy that's unquenchable because that's what God's able to do.

And so he says, don't be sad. The joy of the Lord is your strength. And so all the people went away and they ate, celebrating the fact that they had fellowship with God. Only the response to the reading of the law did not stop there. Notice what it says in verse 13. It says, then on the second day, at the beginning of the seventh month, the heads of the fathers' households of all the people,

the priests and the Levites, were gathered to Ezra the scribe that they might gain insight into the words of the law. I love this. They came back for day two, right? And can we just be honest that when we really take in from God's word, you just want more? Like there's one thing that you really can't get satiated by and that's the true, pure instruction of God's word

because the more you hear it, the more you're like, ooh, tell me, tell me more, right? And so they came back day two. So they're excited about hearing more of what God had to say. It says in verse 14, they found written in the law how the Lord had commanded through Moses that the sons of Israel should live in booths, tents, during the feast of the seventh month.

So they proclaimed and circulated a proclamation in all their cities and in all Jerusalem saying, go to the hills and bring olive branches and wild olive branches. Myrtle branches, palm branches and branches of other leafy trees to make booths as it is written. So the people went out and they brought them and they made booths for themselves, each on his roof and in their courts and in the courts of the house of God and in the square of the water gate and in the square of the gate of Ephraim. The entire assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths and they lived in them.

And the sons of Israel had indeed not done so from the days of Joshua the son of Nun to that day. And there was great rejoicing. One of the things that they were supposed to celebrate is this feast of booths, often called the feast of tabernacles. And so when they came into the land, God said, this is one of the things I want you to do. Once a year, I want you to just have a great big camping trip

with all of your friends and your family. You don't necessarily need to go in the wilderness. It can be right in your front yard. Go camping in your backyard. But make a tent and go live in it for a little while. Just for a few days. Number one, to remember that this is exactly what your fathers went through to make it here. That they lived in tabernacles in the wilderness

to get to here. And it's a good reminder. This is what we came from, which helps us to celebrate where we are today. And you got to think that for these exiles that had returned, thinking back hundreds of years now to when their ancestors did this same thing, they probably thought, we escaped from Egypt and lived in booths while they got to the Promised Land.

We have escaped from Babylon and now we're in the Promised Land. So let's celebrate them by living in these booths. There's a second reason, though, why they celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles. And that was to celebrate the faithfulness of God. Because every time they dwelled in those tents, they were reminded that God was so faithful to them in the wilderness.

God was faithful to give them a pillar of cloud by day to protect them from the sun. A pillar of fire by night to protect them from the cold of the desert night. That God provided manna for them in the wilderness. And that God provided water for them in the wilderness. As a matter of fact, in Jesus' time, on the last day of the Feast of Booths, all of the priests and the Levites would go down to the Brook Kidron

and they would fill up all of these water jugs and they would come up to the temple and they would just pour them down the temple stairs to where there would just be water flowing through the temple. And that moment that Jesus stood up and he said, come to me all you who are thirsty and you will have rivers of living water flowing through you. As the water, reminding them of the faithfulness of God, was flowing down the stairs of the temple. And so, they read in the law and they responded.

They said, hey, the law says in the seventh month we're supposed to live in booths. Well, let's do it. They sent a text out through all of the city and everybody goes and gathers palm branches and myrtle branches and all of the other branches that they gather and they live in these booths. And it says they haven't done it since the days of Joshua. That doesn't mean that they never celebrated it.

It meant that this celebration was unlike anything they'd seen since the days of Joshua. And then it wraps up like this. It says in verse 18, and he read from the book of the law of God daily from the first day to the last. And they celebrated the feast seven days. And on the eighth day there was a solemn assembly according to the ordinance. There was a response both of worship, obedience,

and an even deeper hunger for the word of God. What a beautiful reconstructing of the hearts of the people. Amen. Father, we come before you. And Lord, I thank you for the examples in your word. And God, I pray that you would give us that hunger for your word. Lord, that you would give us that hunger to just hear the purity of your word be taught, to be in it for ourselves,

to know what it has to say. And Lord, may the pure milk of the word, Lord, produce in us the same sort of reaction that it would produce in us, Lord, response, hunger, and obedience. Lord, that it would cause us to worship you to an even greater degree. And so, Father, we just thank you and we praise you. Amen. Be blessed.