This morning, we want to continue our current verse-by-verse study titled, When Considering a Building Project, Take a Lesson from Nehemiah. But before we go to Nehemiah, let me invite you to open your Bibles with me to the book of Colossians in the New Testament, Colossians chapter 1. Colossians chapter 1. Every church has an emphasis or a focus, whether well-defined or not. And every church has certain priorities in light of their emphasis and certain means to fulfill those priorities. For example. The Roman Catholic Church has an emphasis on dispensing grace through the sacraments, which then makes the bloodless sacrifice of the mass and continuum payment for our sins a priority so that they teach that one can receive forgiveness on the installment plan basis through the means of the priesthood, the sacraments, and the religious system. That is their emphasis. Charismatics emphasize the sign gifts, that all the gifts are for today, and thus in charismatic churches you find people prophesying and speaking in tongues and other kinds of things like that, so called. In the Church of Christ, if you were to go there, their emphasis is on water baptism. because they believe in baptismal regeneration, not as an infant, but as someone who is old enough to understand what they're doing. Yet, nevertheless, one has to be baptized in order to ultimately go to heaven. That is their emphasis. If you're going to go to a signs and wonders church, oftentimes they will be involved in doing things like being slain in the spirit and holy laughter and so forth. Or if you're going to go to a vineyard type church, the emphasis is going to be again on contemporary worship and a gospel of surrender. Surrender. The question remains, what does the Bible teach us regarding what should be our focus and our emphasis here at any church, but here specifically at Duluth Bible Church? And I call your attention to Colossians chapter 1 and verse 28. It says, him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus." Notice, Him we preach, and Him refers to the antecedent in verse 27, namely Jesus Christ. Paul says here, Jesus Christ is the one who we repeatedly preach. And we do this by warning every man false teaching and by teaching every man the truth and we do it in all wisdom with an objective that not only would they be saved but they would mature and grow and be presented perfect or complete or spiritually mature and whole in Christ Jesus and so again it's Jesus Christ that is preached sufficient and and supreme, the one whom we must trust in order to be saved, as a result of getting saved, the one we are to yield to, to walk by faith each day in his sufficiency, to do his will, knowing that one day he is coming again. And thus, the emphasis of Duluth Bible Church should be on preaching Jesus Christ. And as we think of preaching Jesus Christ, we can't help but think of preaching the gospel. And we see here in Colossians 1, beginning at verse 3, these words. We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of what? Your faith. And what was your faith in? Christ Jesus. And what was the result of being born again? Your love for all the saints. And what was the basis of this? Because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel, which has come to you as it is also in all the world, and is bringing forth fruit as it also among you since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth. Now notice, first of all, their faith is mentioned. Their faith. And their faith was in Jesus Christ. But you can't put your faith in Christ if you don't know the truth about Christ. That's why they needed to hear the gospel. And in hearing the gospel, they put their faith in Christ. Not in the church, not in a ritual, not in something they could do for God, but in what God did for them and the person and work of Christ. The result of that was a love for other believers as they now were born again and given the spirit of God, which gives us a unity among other believers. And it's all because of the hope which is laid for you in heaven. And the word hope in the Bible speaks of something that is absolutely guaranteed, but it's future. You see, they had the absolute assurance that one day when they died, they were going to go to heaven. Not because of their works, but because of the work of Jesus Christ. And thus, when they understood the gospel and believed it, they knew for the first time the grace of God in truth. And isn't that what the song says? Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. And so we preach Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ in the gospel? is about his person and work and accomplishment. And the moment you put your faith in Christ, you're saved, and it's guaranteed one day you're going to go home to be with the Lord. And based on that assurance and that foundation, now you can grow as a believer, you can learn to walk by faith, you can be progressively sanctified and saved from the power of sin in your life. That is available to you. But it all starts with the gospel. Until you're saved, you're not wired for sound. And until you know you're going to heaven, you're not really prepared to live on earth either. You know, it's kind of like the big game tomorrow night. As I think of the big game tomorrow night, I couldn't help but think that you certainly realize that in the game of football, there is no game without the ball. Players can put on the gear, they can wear the helmets, they can walk in the cleats, but there's no game without the pigskin. And nothing really matters much in football if you don't have the ball. And when you think about it, that little piece of pigskin controls a lot of things. A touchdown is only a touchdown measured by where the ball is. The first down is only a first down measured by where the ball is. You're onside or offside in relationship to the ball. And whether it's a catch or an incomplete pass depends on control of the ball. Everything has to do with the ball. Three points or a lack of three points has to do with where the ball went. Isn't it amazing? You can have all the other stuff right, but if there's no football, you just wasted your Saturday afternoon. And in the Christian faith, it is possible to have a bunch of stuff right. You can go to a particular church, you can carry a Bible, you can use the right Christian lingo, you can have all the accessories of Christianity, and still not have the main thing, namely Jesus Christ, as your Savior. And if you don't have the main thing, everything else is a waste of time. Just like we can't play football without a ball, you can't be saved by God's grace without the Gospel. It starts by being born again. through putting your faith in Jesus Christ, God who became a man who died for our sins and rose again to save us, outside of us and in spite of us, through what he did for us, so that these Colossians could know with absolute certainty in the future they're going to heaven. They had that hope. And then built on that, they could live the Christian life. And you see, any theology that doesn't give you absolute assurance of salvation, based upon the work of Christ and the Word of God, is not the Gospel. And I say that because there are people who are going to shine a light on Christ and they'll say, he's gone and he died for his sins and he rose again, look at what he did. And then they take that big spotlight and put it right on you. And now you have to repent from your sins. You need to ask Jesus in your heart. You need to give back. You need to. And notice what they did. They took it right off the personal work of Christ, and they put it on you. Where the gospel says, look at what he did. You need to believe in him. And it points you right back on him, not on you. For you see, the gospel isn't about what you can do for God. It's what God has done for you in Jesus Christ. And this is so confusing, even in Christian circles today, in evangelical circles, from popular teachers, who on one hand tell you, Christ died for your sins and rose again, and then they slip you a mickey. And if you're not careful, you don't even know it. I'll give you two examples here. We'll take John Piper for a minute. He says, election is unconditional, but glorification is not. There are many warnings in Scripture that those who do not hold fast to Christ can be lost in the end. So if that's true, can you know for sure you're going to heaven? You can't. Here's another one. No Christian can be sure that he is a true believer. Well, that's really nice. I thought Paul said, I knew your faith in Christ. Hence, there is an ongoing need to be dedicated to the Lord and deny ourselves so that we might make it. Dear friends, that is salvation by works, I don't care what you call it. John MacArthur says something similar. Salvation comes from a life lived in obedience and service to Christ as revealed in the scriptures. It's the fruit of actions, not intentions. The life we live, not the words we speak, determines our eternal destiny. On the one hand, they'll say you're saved by grace, and then they'll make statements like that, and you cannot synchronize those two properly. They don't mix. It's like law or grace, oil and water. It doesn't mix. And so we preach Christ. We preach that He died for your sins, that He rose from the dead, and through faith alone in Him alone, you can be saved and know it. And then learn how to now walk by faith in Christ like you've been saved by grace in Christ. And that's why as you look at Colossians 2 with me, We see again how we preach Christ when it comes to sanctification. In Colossians 2, verses 6 and 7, it says, "...as you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him, and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving." Notice, you walk in Him, in dependence upon Him, just like you had received Him. And how did you receive Him? As supreme and as sufficient. He's Christ Jesus the Lord. He is God who became a man. He was sufficient to die for your sins and be raised from the dead, and now He's sufficient for everything you need in the Christian life. And this is something you need to be taught after you're saved. That's why in Colossians 3, 1 through 4, He says, if you then were raised with Christ, and notice Christ, notice the emphasis here. Seek those things which are above where Christ is. sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things in the earth, for you died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory." And you see, as you think of your position in Christ, being raised with Christ, that's only enjoyed by faith. You can't see that. In fact, when a church moves away from the Word of God, and they move away from a grace perspective, which is only enjoyed by faith, they inevitably begin to emphasize the externals, the atmosphere, a whole lot of shaking going on, and everything else, because you can no longer just enjoy this by faith. And while I'm certainly not against legitimate emotion as a byproduct of responding to the Word of God, apart from the Word of God being preached, That byproduct cannot happen, nor be legitimate, if indeed it's manifested in some kind of form. You see, Him we preach. And as we preach Him, and as we preach the Gospel, and as we preach Him as sufficient, and we preach Him as supreme, and we preach our position in Him, this then overflows in priorities of evangelizing the lost, because they need to hear the Gospel. of edifying the saints, because they need to know their position in Christ, and of equipping the saints so they can be used in serving the Lord. But all of this has, as its final expression, the exaltation of Jesus Christ. See, it kind of works like this. It starts with evangelism, because until you're saved, you're not wired for sound. But once you're saved, now you need to grow. That's edification. And as you grow, you need to get equipped so that you can, in turn, evangelize and help establish other believers in the faith. And so this goes around, all with the objective of glorifying Jesus Christ. Now, a critical and integral means of fulfilling these three biblical priorities, with the bottom line emphasizes of exalting Jesus Christ, is the preaching and teaching of the Word of God. And as we think of one of the greatest spiritual revivals ever recorded in the Old Testament, let's go now to Nehemiah chapter 8. Nehemiah chapter 8. We've seen in chapters 1 through 7 the reconstruction of the walls under the leadership of Nehemiah by the providential grace of God, done in merely 52 days. But what value is it to have an external physical fortress and not have internal spiritual life and growth? And that's why in chapters 8 and 9 we see the re-instruction of the people. And in verses 1 through 8 we're going to see ten elements of the revival at the water gate. We begin in verse 1. Now all the people gathered together as one man in the open square that was in front of the water gate. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded Israel. So Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly of men and women and all who could hear with understanding on the first day of the seventh month. Then he read from it in the open square that was in front of the water gate from morning until midday. Before the men and women and those who could understand in the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law. So Ezra the scribe stood on a platform of wood, which they had made for the purpose. And beside him at his right hand stood 13 other men. Verse 5. 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 as were blessed the Lord, the great God, then all the people answered, Amen, Amen, while lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. Also, several other men helped them out. That's how I'm going to get around saying all these names today. And the Levites helped the people to understand the law, and the people stood in their place, so they read distinctly from the book and the law of God, and they gave the sense and helped them to understand the reading. Now, flowing out of this is going to be a tremendous revival, which we'll examine in detail this Wednesday night. But notice the elements that were involved in causing this revival. First of all, we noted last Wednesday night, it started privately with God using primarily the diligence and ministry of one faithful believer, namely Ezra. Now it didn't end with one, but it started with one. And you know, sometimes in your own home, or in your own family, your neighborhood, or your school, or whatever. It might just start with one, one person who is willing to respond to the Lord and willing to respond to his word. And who knows what kind of an effect that will have on others. Secondly, we noted it involved a willingness by the people to publicly assemble to hear the word of God. Verse 1 says, and all the people gathered together as one man in the open square that was in the front of the water Notice they were willing to publicly assemble to do this. In fact, if you weren't willing or you didn't see the need to publicly assemble, you weren't able to hear the word of God there. There was no webcast. There was no, can I get that CD? There was none of those things. And we're reminded as well, even in our day, with those other opportunities available, to still not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as we see the day approaching. Thirdly, this revival involves the people requesting to meet together. The people requesting to meet together. Verse 1 continues, and they told Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses which the Lord had commanded Israel. Notice it was the people who initiated. It was the people who wanted this. And they said, what we want is the book. You see, it indicated they were hungry to learn God's word. And remember, it wasn't a book as we know it. It was the word of God on scrolls. and scrolls. And I ask you, when you came today, were you hungry to hear the Word of God? Were you saying, Lord, I want to hear your voice through the pages of Scripture? I want to hear, as it were, what I need to hear, not maybe what I want to hear? You see, I'm concerned about apathy at Duluth Bible Church, those who have the spiritual yarns, those where familiarity breeds contempt, taking for granted The Word of God being taught here, and the need in your own life? Do you come with a hunger to learn the Word of God or not? You see, the fourth thing this involved, it involved the people wanting to hear the Word of God, and in particular, the Law. See, they didn't want to hear just anything. They wanted to hear only one thing. The Book. The Word of God. And in particular, the law of Moses. Now, we know as a covenanted people, under the law, this would have been the Bible they needed. This would have been the instruction manual for them. Now, we know the law cannot save, nor can it sanctify. But the law does set forth the holiness of God. It did set forth the principles of God for that dispensation. It was, as it were, their marching orders, and they wanted to hear what God had to say. Now, we know we live under grace, that while all the Bible is for us, not all of it is written specifically to us. And we can study Nehemiah and derive from it great principles that I trust have been helpful. But we do so from an epistolatory perspective in light of the teaching of grace that allows us to rightly divide the word of God and grab what we need and leave what we don't in the right sense of the word. Now what is this underscore regarding both the authority and sufficiency of God's Word? That the Scriptures unmixed with human philosophy and a religious tradition is all that was requested and needed. You see, they didn't want the Bible plus, they wanted the Bible alone. And so much of today's preaching is a little Bible mixed with pop psychology, a little Bible mixed with religious tradition, a little Bible mixed with human philosophy, a little Bible mixed with the social gospel, a little Bible mixed with mystical experience. But if they're going to understand the Bible, they know they needed someone to communicate it to them, too. So who did they ask to do this and why? Well, verse 1 tells us, and 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. Ezra the scribe. Why? Because he was known as a man of God, who knew the word of God, and who loved the word of God, and could communicate the word of God to them. Now, why was this true of Ezra? Because there were many other scribes and priests that weren't capable of really doing that, as there are many preachers in our land who could never teach you the Bible. In fact, even on the average seminary in the United States, they hardly get taught the Bible at all. But why could Ezra do it? Well, we saw in Ezra 7, in verse 10, these words. For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel. You see, he prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord. That's the vertical. And to do it, the vertical, and then to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel. He pursued the Word of God in his own life. He studied it. He cherished it. He treasured it. He analyzed it. He prepared his heart to seek it and to do it. You see, he wasn't like some who view the Bible like a cat views a piece of yarn, just something to play with. I have questions, but no intent to really do anything with it. And then, as a result, to teach the Word of God to others. By the way, have you prepared your heart to seek the Word of God? Do you prepare your heart to do the will of God? Do you prepare your heart to then teach the Word of God to others? And you see, Ezra was not only willing, but he was capable of teaching the Word of God. And I say that because there are those who are willing, but they're not really capable. You know, oftentimes in these small group Bible studies, I call them shake and bake, smoke and coke, share and care Bible studies, that people get together who know nothing of the Bible and pool their ignorance and come out knowing nothing more. In fact, they're even more convinced. Now, I'm not against small group interaction, as it has certain advantages, and I'm certainly not against personal Bible study. I'm for it. In fact, the Saturation Saturday yesterday for our youth was all designed to help them better study the Bible for themselves. But a lot of these small group gatherings, which call themselves Bible studies, are only a time in which well-meaning people pool their shared ignorance because no one really is qualified to know and teach the Word of God. And sometimes this happens on a college level. I'm amazed how college students will pay thousands upon thousands of dollars to go to a university or a college to supposedly sit in a class of someone who's qualified to teach them something. They don't just buy the textbook and say, well, I'll study it myself. No, they sit under that. And then, when it's all said and done, when it comes to a Bible study, they think everyone's qualified to teach. And I'm not discouraging personal study, I'm just saying, let's have balance in this thing. And let's recognize they have a clue what they're saying. And in many cases, they don't. And I've said this before, and I'm not saying this out of arrogance, it's by the grace of God, it's because of giftedness and the blueprint. But you will learn more here in one year in studying the Bible than you would learn in 10 years studying it by yourself. And then when you study it by yourself, it'll make that much more sense. That's the way God designed it. Because he's provided teachers to the church, and he's provided the Holy Spirit to use the Word of God. And remember, in those days of Nehemiah, not everyone even had a Bible. I mean, no one said, did you bring your scroll today? I mean, there weren't available scrolls. So they had to publicly assemble, and they wanted someone qualified to read them and teach them the Word of God. So who came to hear the reading and teaching of the Word of God? Look at verse 2. So Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly of men and women and all who could hear with understanding on the first day of the seventh month. Notice, men, women, all who could hear with understanding. That's called children. Children. Men, women, and children. This is quite remarkable because you remember in most cultures in the Middle East, even to this day, they don't think about teaching women and children. It's only the men. But not in the Jewish culture and not in the Christian understanding of the Word of God as well. You see, anyone who was able to understand was encouraged to come. And we can learn from this that all ages, can understand, need to hear, and be expected to learn the holy scriptures. That's why in Sunday school, guess what we do? We teach them the word of God. And we encourage them to memorize scripture. And I trust that we're complementing what's going on at home, not simply totally filling in the void. When it comes to our young peoples, we concentrate on teaching the word of God. When it comes to college age, we concentrate on teaching the word of God. When it comes here, we concentrate on teaching the Word of God. In fact, we're convinced there's only one thing we can do better than the world, and it's really to give you the Word of God, and that's what we're going to emphasize. We tell our young people we're not here to have fun with the phonies or to cater to the carnal, but to work with the willing. And if they're willing, they will benefit from it. And you know what will be the caboose to that? They'll have fun, too. But that's not what we target. It's like this gal who asked me years ago about our young people's mental health. She said, you guys play Twister? And you're young people? And I said, Twister? She said, yeah, you know, when you get down and you make these human Twisters and people, ah, that sort of thing. Uh, no. Uh, does yours? Oh, yeah. Da-da-da-da-da. And I'm thinking, Twister. Now, I'm not against kids having fun and playing some games, but Twister. Can you imagine someone not saved in hell saying, you know, I went to young people's. Really, what did you do? I played Twister. Whoa, did you hear the gospel? No, we just played Twister. Now, in some churches, it would be a step up if they're not preaching the gospel that you played Twister. Because that way, they didn't really screw you up. Nobody's going to heaven saying, I played Twister. I could go to heaven now. No one's thinking that way. But so often, the gospel is garbled. Remember, this revival started privately with one man. It involved the willingness by the people to publicly assemble to hear the word of God. It involved the people requesting to meet together. It involved the people wanting to hear the word of God, in particular, the law. And number five, it involved the public reading of the Word of God. The public reading of the Word of God. Verse three, then he read from it, literally from within it, in the open square that was in the front of the water gate. Now he didn't read all five books of the Book of Moses in five to six hours. You can't do it. But he read from within the book. He read from within it, as we're going to see, there was pauses and explanation given, and so forth and so forth, which are the good components of expository preaching. Don't involve the public reading of the Word of God. Now, why is this the right place to start in Bible study? Because reading is the first step in observation, which allows you to examine the context and content of the passage you're studying. You see, as you read through a passage, you get the flow of thought, you see what precedes it, what follows it, who's it written to, what's it about, instead of just verse plucking when you pluck a verse here and a verse there. And while I'm all for comparing Scripture with Scripture, one must pay very careful attention to the context and then examine the content. Otherwise, you can make a Bible verse stand in all fours and oink. And you can teach anything you want. And that's why observation, careful observation, is to lead to correct interpretation, which should result in appropriate application. And these are the three basic steps of Bible study. And observation largely begins with reading the passage. And that's what they did. There was the public reading of Scripture. And so often observation is bypassed. They read it and then jump to interpretation instead of saying, now what's the context and what's the content here and let's look at these words and so forth and so forth. They just jump to interpretation. Or they may even jump to interpretation and say, now what does that mean to you? How does that make you feel? And the fact is, it doesn't matter what it means to you, and it doesn't matter what it makes you feel, first of all. What matters is, what did God say? And what did the original writer mean? And once we grab that, then we can make appropriate application to our lives. And so there was the public reading of the Word of God. Now, how long did the reading of the Scriptures last? Look at verse 3 again. Then he read from it in the open square that was in the front of the water gate from morning until midday." Wow. In the Hebrew, it's literally from the light of day to midday. Five to six hours, and you thought our services were long. In fact, I asked the question, would you have attended and stayed? I had to say and stayed because you might have attended for a little while. Five to six hours. Would you have attended and say, well, you know, I'm a really busy man. Really, isn't it funny how we find time for what we value? Some people don't think twice of spending five to six hours going fishing or getting ready to go fishing. They spend money, they do all this, they're going to go fishing! They don't say, five to six hours in a boat? Are you kidding me? They say, I can't wait to spend five to six hours in a boat. But when it comes to hearing the Word of God, I sure hope this isn't too long. Or hunting for a few hours, you know. They get up at three in the morning in order to walk in the dark and trip over ruts. In order to sit in a cold deer stand. In order to hope the elusive buck or doe comes by and shoot it. And they sit there for hours and freeze sometimes. And they say, I can't wait to do it tomorrow. And it's all done. I'm just amazed. And you know, that's between you and the Lord you want to do that. But I'll tell you this, would you be willing to do the same for Jesus Christ and learning the Word of God? And if you're not willing to do that, you're goofy to do that for a buck. In fact, I was thinking even of a football here in the big game tomorrow night. I was thinking of a Metrodome. You know, and again, people, they'll pay buckles, mucho buckles to go to this game. They'll drive from Duluth, they'll park 15 blocks away, spend 25 bucks to park, walk 15 blocks. They'll go into the Metrodome and all these screaming fans, you can't even hear anything. And the guy next to you is spilling beer on you. Can you imagine if you came to church and someone spilled beer on you? You'd say, I'd never go back there again. The guy spilled beer on me. What do these people say? I'm coming back, I can't wait. So then, you know, at the Metrodome, I'll be a little personal here for a minute, you go to the men's bathroom and you stand in these lines, 12 deep, 8 across, and urinating a trough! A trough! Can you believe it? We had troughs downstairs. Here? I'm not going there. Why not? You gotta urinate in a trough at Duluth Bible. I can't do that. Will you do it for the Vikings? Well, yeah! He's doing it here in the Word of God. No way! How goofy can we be? But we can. And then you turn around and you do it again next time. And I'm not against it. You want to go to a Vikings game, that's fine. Would you be willing, though, to give Jesus Christ at least the equal priority? if not top billing? Would you even can a game for Jesus Christ? And do you hear the Word of God if it came right down to it? I always thought, what would happen if the Vikings ever got to the Super Bowl? What would ever happen? I know hell would freeze over, but besides that, I mean, what would happen? Especially, we surely don't want to have a church service during that time. That happened once. I was at a church service with the Vikings during the Super Bowl, and this was before iPhones and all that stuff. I knew one believer I was sitting next to, happened to be the pastor's kid, that he had a radio with a transmitter in there. And he was pumping his fist at times when the preacher wasn't saying anything worthwhile. Now, let me make this practical for a minute. In a fall Bible conference this year, some of the speakers went kind of long. Was the first thing that came out of your mouth, boy, that was long? Or was, boy, I was really glad to hear the Word of God today? Have you become apathetic? Do you have the yawns? What do you value? What's the bottom line? You don't see the people here standing for six hours complaining. Maybe they did, but we don't see it. And they wanted to hear the Word of God. And not only do you want to hear it, here's the next thing, number six. It involved the people listening attentively to the reading of the scriptures for the purpose of understanding them. Listening attentively. Verse three. And those who could understand in the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law. Now you notice this is in italics, we're attentive, because the Hebrew words aren't there, but the Hebrew sentences put together in such a way that that's the only conclusion you can come to. In the ears of all the people of the law. Oh, to the book of the law, excuse me. We're what? We're attentive, is the idea. And I would say there's a great difference between active and passive listening. Now you think about it for a minute. You think of active listening. You want to hear and you're listening carefully because you really want to hear this. Passive listening, oh, you're hearing the sound, but you're not engaged and you're not interacting. It's kind of like with your kids. Here's the difference, active versus passive. I want you to go and clean up your bedroom. And 10 minutes later, there's no movement. And you say, I told you to go and clean up your bedroom. And they say, well, we didn't hear. Well, they heard, but they didn't hear. They had passive listening. And isn't it amazing to the same kids you can whisper, ice cream. And they hear. You know why? Because they want to hear. They want to hear. And when you come, do you want to hear the Word of God? Well, it might convict me. Do you want to hear it? It's going to convict you, it's going to encourage you, it's going to point you to the Lord, it's going to expose some things, it's going to fillet you at times. Do you want to hear that? Frankly, when I think of, oh, I'm going to listen to Deuteronomy taught, and that's what they were taught, that doesn't usually fire me up all that much, versus hearing the book of Romans or something. But that was their Bible. And you know what's highlighted several times in this passage is not merely hearing and being attentive, but the purpose of it all was understanding. Understanding. Not going through the motions, you know, we stood for six hours today. No, not playing church, not saying in effect, you know, a chapter a day to keep the devil away. No, God wants you to understand what you hear by way of the Word of God. And I tell, Those whom I train in Gibbs and so forth, if you're going to be a teacher, the issue is not did you say it, but did they get it? Now, sometimes it's not your fault. They don't really want to hear. They don't want to hear. The Lord Jesus many times preached to audiences that didn't want to hear. Jeremiah preached to audiences that didn't want to hear. That didn't want to hear. So did Isaiah. Doesn't matter how clear you are. They don't want to hear it. In other cases, Teachers just are unclear, or they shoot over their head, or they get intoxicated with the exuberance of their verbosity. Whatever that means. But notice the emphasis on understanding, verse 2. All who could hear with understanding, verse 3. Those who could understand, verse 7. The Levites helped the people to understand the law, verse 8. They helped them to understand the reading, verse 12. They understood the words that were declared to them, verse 13. The Levites were gathered to Ezra the scribe in order to understand the words of the law. Notice this emphasis on understanding, because you cannot rightly apply what you don't understand. Now, it's not going to stop with understanding, but understanding was a target in order to get to application, which leads us to the seventh element of this spiritual revival at the Watergate. Namely, it involved appropriate preparation for the effective reading and teaching of the Word of God. Verse 4 says, So Ezra the scribe stood on a platform of wood, which they made for the purpose, and beside him at his right hand stood thirteen other men. Notice he stood on a platform of wood. In the old King James, it said a pulpit. First time we have the mention of a pulpit. But when you think of a pulpit, don't think of this pulpit like he was standing on it. But this platform he was standing on. And maybe he had something. I mean, holding the scroll wouldn't have been easy. I'm not sure how they actually did all that. But it was in an elevated position so that the people could hear. His voice reading and then explaining the Word of God. Now what can we learn from this functionally? That it's wise to make the Word of God easily heard of all possible. That's why they prepared that platform for that purpose. To be above and to be heard. That's why Jesus at times got in a boat so he could speak across the water as a person's voice carries across the water. That's why at times he spoke on a hill and spoke downwind. That's why the early revivalists in our country, like George Whitefield, at times preached to crowds of 20,000. And you know how they'd line it up? They'd see which way the wind was blowing. And they would preach downhill, because how are 20,000 people going to hear somebody upwind against the wind? They're not going to do it. And that's why we're willing in our media ministry to do the kind of things needed in order for people to easily hear the Word of God. By way of mics or webcasts or CDs or other kinds of things. And we are grateful for those who minister in that media ministry. But you know, you can make a platform. You can have a mic. You can do what's needed in order for the Word of God to be easily heard, but that doesn't mean the preacher is prepared or that the listener is prepared for that. So what do we need to remember about the preparation of the teacher or the listener? Regarding the teacher, there needs to be preparation of heart and message. You do not preach in a vacuum. You preach out of the context of where you're at in your heart or where you're at in your growth. There needs to be preparation of the preacher and his heart as well as his message. Now I say that and I can apply this to Sunday school teachers or young people or whatever. You know what? You can work and get your message ready, but if your heart isn't prepared, you can preach it, but it's not going to be the same. On the other hand, your heart might be prepared, but if you didn't take the time to prepare your message, you're going to wing it. And you may get away with it a little, but it won't ultimately be all that helpful. because you really weren't prepared. It's got to be both. When it comes to the listener, there needs to be preparation of heart and body. Heart and body. So what do you mean? When you come to hear the Word of God, is your heart prepared? Now, we realize the times you come in cold and the preacher is warm. So what do you mean? You know, on your way here, you fought with your wife, or you had to discipline your kids, or you had a bad day at the office, or who knows what, and you got here, and it was still all going on in your brain, and you sat down, and we gave you a few songs to kind of recoup, but you still may not be there. And obviously, you want to start to get the person to focus on the Word of God. That's why a good introduction could be helpful to a message. But it also involves at times just time to pray, even in preparation. Lord, prepare my heart and prepare the teacher of your word tonight. It can involve confession of sin if needed, so there's nothing hindering the word of God in that sense. But also preparation of body. This is where getting a good night's sleep, if possible, is helpful. This is why at times when we have college-age ministry on Saturday nights, I like them to start early and end earlier than when they do it on Friday night, so they don't drag their bodies in here, drinking mustard drinks by the court to try to stay awake. Because getting a good night's sleep is really helpful if possible. Not always, but possible. So it involved appropriate preparation. for the effective reading and teaching of the Word of God. An eighth element of this spiritual revival is it included great respect for God's Word. Great respect for God's Word. Verse 5 says, And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was standing above all the people, because of the platform. And when he opened it, all the people stood up. Hadn't even read it yet. Just opened it. Opened the scroll and they all just stand right up. You know why? Because they had a great respect for the Bible. Kind of like our national anthem. Let's all rise for the singing of our national anthem. Why? Because it's a way of showing great respect for what that flag represents. They all stood when the Bible was opened because they had great respect for the Word of God. And you know, when I think of that, do you respect the Bible as God's revelation and the authority for your faith and life? Does it dictate policy in your life? Do you check in with the Lord? Do you think in terms of what saith the Lord here? What does the Lord want here? What does the Word of God say here? Or is it basically, this is what I want to do. God bless my plans. In Jesus' name, amen. You know, it included great respect for God's Word. And not only great respect, but number nine, it involved immediate responsiveness to the Word of God. Immediate responsiveness to the Word of God. You see, when the book was opened, what happened? What happened? Verse six tells us. And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God. Then all the people answered, Amen, Amen, while lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshipped the Lord with their faces to the ground. Now notice, first of all, Ezra blessed the Lord. That's called prayer. So he opened the book and he prayed before they studied it, before they read it. And we do the same here. And all the people answered, Amen, Amen. So be it. I agree. This is the Word of God. This is what we want to hear. While lifting up their hands, you say, what does that mean? The lifting up of the hands was a symbolic expression of, I have nothing to offer you, Lord, but I am here to receive from you the Word of God. It reflects an attitude of dependence. dependence on the Lord. And they bowed their heads, their faces to the ground. This reflects, again, humility and submission. Now, when you have humility and submission, you have teachability. You have someone who says, I'm willing to hear. I'm willing to submit. I'm willing. Lord, show me what you want to show me. And God says, I can work with that attitude. I can work with that attitude. Not all phasers up. Mercy. Pastor Roxner almost said something. I almost got through. I caught that one in time. No. You see this immediate responsiveness and respect for the Word of God. Now the hearing of the word of God is critical. But do you recognize Bible study is not an end in itself? That it's to be a means to an end. You see, to come here today and just hear this, isn't going to ultimately help you unless you mix it with faith, unless you understand what it says, unless it finds application in your life. And I say that because there are some churches, doctrinal churches, who really emphasize teaching. And I'm thankful in that sense. They teach and they teach and they teach and they teach. But they give you the impression, if not outright say, that learning doctrine is an end in itself. It's what the Christian life's all about. And I would disagree with that. Learning doctrine is a means to an end. Otherwise, you'll be content with simply understanding without application. You see, 1 Timothy 1.5 says, now the purpose of the commandment is love, love towards the Lord, and then as a byproduct, towards others, from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from a sincere faith. And so there are some who are content with learning doctrine. There are others who are trying to stir up the fruits of learning the Word of God, like fellowship, and evangelism, and ministry, but they bypass sound doctrine. It doesn't work. And there's others who say, well, we're really into worship, not into studying the Bible. In fact, they view studying the scriptures at a, quote, worship service as being incompatible with worship. Now that's hard to believe, but it's true. Because they're looking at 45 minutes of music and drama and a little sermonette for Christianette at best. Is Bible study incompatible with true worship? And the answer is no when you understand true worship. Notice here, he's just opening the book and they already begin to worship. You see, worship means to give God worth. One of the greatest ways to give God worth is to be willing to learn of Him and listen to Him through the Word of God. When you stop and you listen to someone, you know what? You've just said, I believe you're worthy of listening to. That's worship. And if we get to know the Lord through His Word, Obviously, worship is going to be tied in to the Word of God. That's why Jesus said in John 4, 23 and 24, Now let's look at both sides of that. On the other hand, we're to worship Him in spirit. That speaks of our inner person. That means we're responding from the heart toward the Lord. But it's also in truth, consistent with the Word of God. Now, there are some who are, man, we're worshiping in spirit, man. Whoa! But, where's the Word of God? Nowhere to be found really. And there's others that we're learning the Word of God. Really. What do you think of it? When we worship, are you worshiping from your heart? Are you responding to the Lord? Are you thinking about the words? Are you saying, Lord, amen, amen? This is what I believe. Lord, I'm praising you in light of this song. I'm praising you through prayer. I'm worshiping you through giving. I'm worshiping you through paying attention to your word. And by your grace, as I leave this place, I want to worship you every day, throughout the day, in fellowship with you. And so we've seen today the elements of the Revival started privately with God using primarily the diligence and ministry of one faithful belief. It involved the willingness by the people to publicly assemble to hear the Word of God. It involved the people requesting to meet together. It involved the people wanting to hear the Word of God, in particular, the Law. It involved the public reading of the Word of God. It involved the people listening attentively to the reading of the scriptures for the purpose of understanding them. It involved appropriate preparation for the effect of reading, teaching of the Word of God. It included great respect for God's Word. And it involved immediate responsiveness to the Word of God. And lastly, it involved the expository preaching of the Word of God. Expository preaching of the Word of God. Verse 7 mentions these various Levites who helped the people to understand the law. And the people stood in their place, so they read distinctly from the book, in the law of God, and they gave the sense and helped them to understand the reading. Notice they read distinctly from the book, translating, explaining, and they gave the sense, they gave the meaning of what they were reading, and they helped them to understand the reading of the Word of God. Now we call this expository preaching. It involves such things as, until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and to teaching. So you read the Bible, you explain the Bible, you apply the Bible. verse by verse, passage by passage, so you end up preaching the Word and you reprove, and you rebuke, and you exhort, and this is needed. Timothy was told by Paul, for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. And certainly that time is here in so many circles. But according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers. They will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside. Now what is it about sound doctrine they don't like? One, the clear lines of demarcation and the absolute truth that sound doctrine communicates. But two, I believe, they don't want to be reproved. They don't want to be rebuked. They don't want to be exhorted. They want to be comfortable. And as I've said before, the role of the preacher, according to Vance Havner, is to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable. There's expository preaching that went on. And we'll develop this more on Wednesday night, but let me just say this. As these Levites help them to understand, isn't it good to know you have a helper called the Spirit of God, who can enable you as you study the Word of God and even hear it publicly taught to come to correct conclusions and to come to an understanding of God's Word. The very spirit of God that gave the prophets revelation and directed the writing of scripture is the very spirit of God who gives the reader illumination to impact his heart and his mind and his life. How does all of this apply here to Duluth Bible Church? Again, let's not lose sight of the emphasis. It's Jesus Christ. Let's not lose sight of the priorities and the purposes And let's remember, the primary means that God uses to accomplish this is the preaching and teaching of the Word of God. And that's why in our painting project here last month, right through these double doors, right over there is this big archway, and I just love what it says. May this be true of us for years. Preach the Word. So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. Pray for us to that. Come with a heart that wants to learn. And get equipped, even, to preach the Word yourself. But how does all of this apply to you? Again, the written Word is always to point you to the living Word, the Lord Jesus Christ. If you've never been saved by God's grace, today is the day. You can put your trust in Jesus Christ alone. And you can settle your eternal destiny today, right now, where you're seated, by putting your faith in Jesus Christ and what He's done for you. And if you're a believer and you've been saved by the grace of God and you know you're going to heaven, it's through that very means of the Word that God wants to illuminate your thinking more and more about Jesus Christ, about the richness of His grace, about your position in Him, of His great and precious promises, so that you can walk by faith and grow in grace. and serve the Lord and let your life count for Him. Are you willing? Are you willing to let the Lord do that in your life? Let's pray. Our Father, thank you again for the Word of God and for even this great revival we've been examining in Nehemiah. And may we take it to heart ourselves. What is it we really want? How much do we really treasure the Word of God? What are we willing even to sacrifice to hear it, or sacrifice to proclaim it, or sacrifice to get it out? What is our heart like? What is it we really value? And I pray, Father, because we can be very self-deceived about this. We know what's right, and we can say the right things, but our decisions belie us at times. Father, I pray that indeed you would speak to our hearts through this very passage. I pray that if we're apathetic, we would confess this and allow you to warm our hearts again toward your word and desire to hear it, to believe it, and to apply it. And again, Father, should anyone be here who is not saved, may today be the day they put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and his finished work on the cross. For we pray and ask it in Jesus' name. As we bring our service to a close today, we want to sing a closing song that reminds us again of the word of God. It's called Trust His Word, and let's stand as we sing together. Jesus made each star in heaven He created earth and sea He's the keeper of all knowledge What is past and what will be Yet He offers His great wisdom So you will not lose your way Like a lamp it glows every step It shows you can know His will each day. Trust His Word. Trust His Word. All God's promises are true. Trust His Word. When your pathway disappears, When your joy gives way to tears, when you're plagued with doubts and fears, draw his word. This will be our last hymn. He is not a distant stranger. He can be your closest friend. And He'll always listen closely when you share your heart with Him. Jesus walks the path beside you. He has been there all along. And He'll guide your feet when your step is weak and your stride