to us from Nehemiah chapter eight. We'll read the first 12 verses. Good morning. Nehemiah chapter eight. And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the water gate. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses that the Lord had commanded Israel. So Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly. Both men and women and all who could understand what they heard on the first day of the seventh month And he read from it, facing the square before the water gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand. In the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law. And Ezra the scribe stood on a wood platform that they had made for the purpose. And beside him stood Matthias, Shema. Ananiah, Uriah, Zechariah, and Messiah on his right hand, and Paddaiah, Mishael, Melchijah, Elsham, Hashbanah, Zechariah, and Meshulam on his left hand. And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people, and he opened it, and all the people stood. And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people answered, Amen, Amen, lifting up their hands. They bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. Also, Jeshua, Benai, Cherubi, Jemim, Aqob, Shephaziah, Hodiah, Meshiah, Talitha, Ezra, Zabadad, Hanan, Eliah, the Levite, helped the people to understand the law while the people remained in their places. They read from the book, from the law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense that the people could understand the reading. And Nehemiah, who is the governor, and Ezra the priest, the scribe, and the Levite, who taught the people, said to all the people, this day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep. For all the people wept as they heard the words of the law. Then he said to them, go your way, eat the fat, and drink sweet wine. Send portions to anyone who has nothing ready for this day. It is holy to our God. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. So the Levites calmed all the people, saying, Be quiet, for this day is holy. Do not be grieved. And all the people went their way to eat and drink and to send portions and to make great rejoicing, because they had understood the words that were declared to them. Thus far, the reading of God's holy word. You may be seated. As we think about the history of the nation of Israel, there are many highlights. For example, the Passover Exodus from Egypt, the crossing of the Jordan into the promised land, the tumbling of the walls of Jericho, the inauguration of David as king of Israel, the dedication of Solomon's temple. We read a very rich and celebrated history. But with those highlights also come lowlights, personal and corporate sin that led the people of God away from their God, all of which culminated in them being utterly destroyed and exiled from the land for a time. The rich past of a treasured nation that was loved and cared for by their God seemed at stake to be almost lost and forgotten, a great nation that was no more But as we have seen, God did not forget his people because God does not forget his promises or his covenant ever. That covenant that he made with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the nation of Israel and indeed with us, God remembered and was faithful. And so God raised up the nation out of ruins underneath the leadership of Nehemiah. And so for the last several weeks, if you've been with us, we have seen this work, the rebuilding of the wall and the restoration of the city. And you might ask the question, and you might say, for what? What purpose? What purpose would they have in restoring this city of Jerusalem? Well, I tell you for what purpose. It was for the purpose of worship. And you see that in our passage this morning. In fact, this has always been the purpose of God. Worship is the very reason that God called Abraham out of the land of Ur, out of the land of the Chaldeans. It is why God rescued the Israelites out of Egypt and brought them into the Promised Land. And again, in this book, in Ezra and Nehemiah, when the people are brought back from exile, and as they establish their security, what is the very first thing that they do as the people of God? They worship. And that is continuing to this day. He is, that is God, God is gathering a people, His people, in order to worship, that is not some secret or hidden agenda. As I said, that is the purpose ever since the formation and the creation of mankind. In fact, you can't even read the opening words of God's book without understanding that. If you just take the first three books, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, What do we read? Well, in broad terms, we read in Genesis about the creation, the creation of the earth, the creation of mankind, and as a result, their fall, their sin, their sinfulness. But what do we read in the next book? We read in Exodus that God rescued his people. Rescued his people, not only from Egypt, but rescued his people from their sin. So we see salvation. But then when we go on to the next book, what's the next book? The next book is Leviticus. What do we read about in Leviticus? Well, we read about spiritual formation, namely worship. And so you see in the very first three books, creation, salvation, formation, spiritual formation and worship. And so we see that this is God's purpose from the very beginning. And this is God's purpose For you, if you wanna know what is God's purpose, why does he have me here, I tell you what it is this morning. It is for you to worship the God Almighty. And you are not just to sit around and twiddle your thumbs until you get to heaven. Rather, you are saved unto worship, in order to worship. And even when you get into heaven, and then again in the new heavens and the new earth, what is it that we, as the glorified people of God, will be doing? We will be worshiping. Worship is central to the Christian life. It is the essence of the Christian life. And so the church of Jesus Christ, as a redeemed humanity, we have one primary function, it is to worship. And this passage tells us how and why. It's not to worship however we want to worship. We're not to create the worship, that is paganism. We are to worship in a prescribed way. So if you've ever wondered, Why we do what we do. Why we put such emphasis upon elements of our worship. Why our worship is different from others. And perhaps it is very different from what you have experienced before and are used to. Hopefully this passage will show the scriptural mandates and means for our worship. And so it's very important indeed. We'll see that in three points this morning. We'll see the church, that is the Old Testament church, and then us as the New Testament church are called to the same. We see the church gathering expectantly, listening attentively, and then responding rightly. First, the church gathering expectantly. As we have seen, the walls were completed in 52 days. And again, I cannot emphasize this enough. This wasn't just nation building, or this wasn't even primarily about their protection. Yes, the walls were meant to protect. Don't get me wrong. Israel had many enemies. They had constant opposition, as we have seen. But once they had the walls, once they had the security that is needed, once they had secured their freedom, They don't use that freedom for freedom's sake. Or they don't use it just to have safety in their homes. They use the freedom to worship. And I think that is a very important point, especially a point that we should make on this 4th of July Sunday. This is a good reminder to us. This is something that our nation's fathers and mothers understood, that when they established this country, they were fleeing from a place where they didn't have such freedom. They could not say what they wanted to say. They could not gather. as we are able to gather together to worship freely. And so they left those lands to establish this land, this country that we know as the United States of America. And in the establishment of this country, they made a list, a bill of rights, as we call it. And the First Amendment, the first thing that they put on their list as a sense of top priority was what? the freedom of religion, the freedom of religion, the freedom of speech, the freedom of the press, the freedom to peacefully assemble without any interference of the government. Why did they make this their number one priority? Well, in many ways, it was a reaction to what they left. They knew exactly what it was like not to have it. And they said, as long as this is a country, as long as this is a nation, we want to protect this freedom. But I want to also think that they were biblically steeped, that they understood the scriptures, and that they understood that this freedom that we have, that we enjoy, is given to us ultimately by God. It is a right, it is a privilege, and it is a right and a privilege that many men and women have fought and even died for, the right to ensure that freedom to us. And so let us understand. Let us not be mistaken. This freedom is not given for us to do nothing, or this freedom isn't just given for us so that we can have a day like today eat hot dogs and hamburgers and watch things explode in the sky. No, God has given us this freedom so that we can and would worship him. And so there is nothing more appropriate on this Independence Day than for us to use our independence, to use our freedom to worship the Almighty God and then to go eat hot dogs and hamburgers and watch things explode in the sky. in celebration of what God has given to us. What a beautiful privilege that is. And I don't say all of that because this is just the 4th of July or because I'm trying to be overly patriotic. I say this because I believe this truth correlates with our passage this morning. Like Nehemiah and the Israelites, as they secured their freedom, they used it to worship. And our forefathers did the same. They established the land that the first freedom in that land is to worship. Again, praise God. What a privilege. And we ought not take that for granted. But we see as they gathered, it says in verse one, they gathered as one man. And you notice that they all gathered. It says, and all the people gathered as one man. Man, it wasn't just a few. It wasn't just those that felt like gathering. No, they understood the significance of this event and what God was doing. We know from chapter seven that we saw last week that it was about 40,000 men and women and children. And so this was quite a gathering. And as I said, notice it says that they gathered as one man into the square. meaning that they had a unified purpose. No one was saying, hey, what are we doing? Or why are we doing this? Shouldn't we be doing something else? Isn't there a better use of our time and our resources and our newfound freedom? No, if anything, this is the very reason that these people left the exile and endured the hard travails of many years. and the hard work of establishing the wall, it was so that they could engage in this very act, the very act of worship. And we need to understand that as a church. The church is not to be a social committee. It's not to be a social country club. It's not even to be a social action committee. Yes, there is fellowship. We hope to have some of that today. Yes, there is to be outreach. Yes, there is to be committees, probably too many committees. If you're part of the Presbyterian Church, you know that there's probably too many committees. But none of that, none of it is primary. All is secondary. All of it comes out and comes forth from our worship. And so let me make it very clear. If you don't have worship, you don't have a church. You are not the church. We are saved and we are gathered in order to worship. What we are doing this morning, is primary to our existence. If we don't do this, we might as well shut the door. We might as well go find and do something else. But notice, again, it's not to worship. However, we want to worship. It's to worship in a specific way. Look at what verse one says. It says, they, that is the people that gathered, told Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses that the Lord had commanded Israel. They told Ezra, the scribe, to bring the book, bring the book of the law. And they gathered, expecting to hear from this. And we could even say from this alone, they gathered expecting to hear from God. And how do they hear from God? They heard from God through his word, through his book, the book of the law. Dr. Steve Lawson, who many of you are familiar with, says this, this is so desperately needed in churches today, for there to be a spiritual hunger in the pew, for the people to cry out to the pastor, bring us the Bible, bring the word of God. People need to begin to cry out. Pastor, could we have fewer announcements? Could we have more of the Bible? Pastor, could you tell us less about the culture? Can you tell us more about the Bible? Pastor, could we have fewer stories about your children? Give us the Bible. Pastor, would you fire the drama team? Give us the Bible. Talk to us like an adult. Pastor, could we hear less about the building program? Could we hear less about the budget? Could we hear more about the Bible? Pastor, could you shorten your introduction to your sermon and give us the Bible? Your front porch is bigger than the house. If we're to have a revival like what we see in Nehemiah 8, Dr. Lawson says, it's going to be incumbent that each and every one of us cry out to your pastor, bring us the book. Bring us the Bible. That's where this begins. And I say this as your pastor, there is nothing greater than to have a church. Pastor Myers and myself are thankful for many things, but there is none greater than a church that says, bring us the Bible. Bring us the word of God. Your primary task, pastor, is to bring us God's word, to apply it to us, to explain it to us, because we want to hear from the Lord, and we hear from the Lord through his word. This is exactly what the apostle Paul told Timothy, his protege. In 2 Timothy chapter four, in those very last words, the very last words that we know that the apostle Paul was able to write, he is able to write to Timothy. And what does he tell Timothy to do? He tells Timothy to preach the word. Essentially saying, Timothy, if you do not do that, then you have failed as a pastor and as a shepherd. That is what is needed. That was what was needed during Nehemiah's day. That is the same thing that is needed today. That the church gather expectantly to hear the word of God. I hope that is why you have come this morning and are saying, give us the book, give us the Bible, give us the word of God that will change and will reform. and that will make us alive." Well, second, we see that the church not only gathered expectantly, they listened attentively. And so it says that, verse 2, Ezra brought the law. He readily listened to the people because this was exactly what he was instructed to do. And notice it was not Nehemiah that did this. have thought that Nehemiah would have brought the book. The book is all about Nehemiah, but Nehemiah also knew his place. We know Nehemiah was not a priest. He was not a Levite. He was not a minister. And so we see here the right offices. Ezra most likely was an elder. Nehemiah, we would say, functioned much more as a deacon. And those are the same offices that are ongoing today in the church. In fact, in a few short weeks, we will have officer nomination once again, and Ezra and Nehemiah are a beautiful demonstration of what we should be looking for, the character and the qualities that should be evident. And so Ezra, the minister, Ezra, the elder, brought the book and he began to read. This is in verse three, and he read from it. facing the square. And this idea of reading from it was not just some dry, monotone reading of the Word of God. That word, read or read, can literally mean to cry aloud, to proclaim. It literally means to roar. That same word is used in Jonah chapter three when it says that Jonah cried out, 40 days, and Nineveh will be destroyed. I don't know about you, but I don't think Jonah was just saying that without any passion, that that wasn't an emotionalist plea, 40 days. This place is gonna be destroyed. No, that's not how he said it, did he? He was proclaiming it, he was heralding it. There was passion behind those words. And so Ezra is reading this with exerted efforts. And it might be the very reason why we have this list of names, other Levites that were up there on the platform with him, because they probably took turns reading sections of the law. And if that wasn't the case, it at least demonstrated that this was an act of camaraderie. that these were the leaders, and they were leading from the front. They weren't sitting in the back pew, so to speak. No, they were demonstrating that this is how we are going to establish ourselves as the people of God, upon the word of God. And so the emphasis was upon hearing. As I said in verse 4, they made a wooden platform for this purpose. Again, there was tens of thousands of people there, and they had no microphone. similar to what we had last week. We had no amplification, and so they needed to seriously project their voices so that the people could hear. And so they elevated for the purpose of all hearing. And men and women, as it says, could understand. Verse three, it says that their ears were attentive to the book of the law, literally their Their ears were turned, so to speak, towards the reading of the word. They didn't want to miss anything that was coming forth from the word of God. It's almost like a cat or a dog. If you have one of those at home, you know how their little ears can turn. towards what they hear. They hear sound. You see those little ears turning in that direction. That is how the people were. Their ears were like sonar, trying to listen to every word that was said. They were locked in. And that is so important. There's an idea. There's a thought out there this day, these days, that people today can't listen. We're told that Americans have short attention spans. and therefore we need some dramatic presentations in the pulpits. We need movie clips, or perhaps we need to incorporate dialogue into our sermons. We're definitely not to have monologue sermons, and if you do, you're to make them very short. You're to make sermonettes. If that is true, and to a degree it is true, that we can't handle the reading and preaching of God's word. The problem is not with our ears or our attention. The problem is with our heart, isn't it? The problem is with our heart. Because we have forgotten who is speaking. And it is Almighty God who's speaking to us through his word. If God came down this morning, and spoke to us directly, would anybody be looking at their walk? Would anybody be falling asleep? I think not. Or perhaps to put it in another context, if your cancer doctor was giving you the way that you could be healed, he was giving you the details of your treatment, you'd be listening to every word. everything that proceeded from that doctor's mouth. Let me tell you that what is in this word, this everlasting word that saves our very soul is so much more important than what a cancer doctor could say to us. And so there, don't miss it. Don't think I don't need it. Don't think I can tune out, or perhaps children, if your parents told you this day that they were gonna take you to the Disney World, You'd be so excited to hear everything that they would say about all the fun things that you would do on that trip. You wouldn't miss any of it. I tell you what, that would only last for a day, or maybe two days. If you have really good parents, three days. But it would come to an end, wouldn't it? What is in this world is about a journey that is far greater, that is far more important. And so this word isn't just for adults, it's for you kids. You need to hear it, you need to listen to it, you need to tune your ears towards it because this is God's word. Listen to what the Apostle Paul says to the Thessalonians, commending them. He says, we thank God constantly for this, that when you receive the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a word of men, but as it truly is the word of God, which is at work in you for those who believe. Notice what Paul says, it's not the word of men, but it is of God because that is what it really is. The people in Nehemiah's day heard it, so may we. We need to be attentive to it, our ears and our hearts tuned towards it. Yes, there is emphasis upon preaching. You want your pastor to have been well prepared, to have been steeped in the scriptures that week so that He can give you that which is important for you to hear, but there is as much importance upon you, the hearer, that you would listen. Just like in baseball, there needs to be a pitcher, but just as importantly, there needs to be a catcher. And so you need to catch that which God has given to you, and so use the time before worship service, and even the night before, to prepare yourself, to prepare your hearts, that you would tune in to this Word of God. And notice this. that they didn't just do this for just a little while. It says that they did this from the morning all the way until midday. In other words, they did this for about five to six hours. So none of you complain that I've preached too long, lest I go full Ezra on you. Not only did they listen to it, but as the word was being read, verse five, it says, as Ezra opened it all, the people stood. Same practice that we do here as well. We stand in reverence for God's word. You wanna know why we do that? Nehemiah chapter eight, verse five tells us. And not only that, there was not just reading, but there was explanation of it. You see that in verse seven and eight, you see the Levites helping the people to understand the law so that they could have the sense so that the people could understand the reading. So there was not only reading, but there was explanation. And that's where we get this idea of preaching so that you can understand the word of God. Well, what was the end result of all of this? End result was that the church, the people of God responded rightly. Notice what happened. Verse six, Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people answered, amen, amen, lifting up their hands, and they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. This should make us a little bit uncomfortable as Presbyterians. that there was more than just a cerebral response. There was a whole body response with their lips saying, amen, amen, lifting up their hands, bowing of their heads to the ground. It probably wasn't just everybody doing their own thing, but them doing it collectively and corporately. But what we see was that there wasn't just mental consent There was whole body, whole life consent. The Word of God was piercing their very hearts. That's exactly what Hebrews chapter four says, that this Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword. It discerns the thoughts and intentions of the hearts. Only God can do that. This is no dead book. This book is alive because the Spirit of God makes it alive. He's the one that is able to drive it down into our very hearts and down into our very souls. If you ever wanna know the proof for God, here it is. This is how you know God is real because he makes those that are spiritually dead alive. and does so through the reading and preaching of God's word. It's what's happened to each and every one of us. I'm sure all of our testimonies are different, but the thing that is the very same is that there is a portion of God's word, there's a portion of God's truth that made us alive through his spirit, because that is how the spirit works. In our new members class that we're having right now, we talked about that this morning. Yes, we had Sunday school this morning when you all had off. We were still there. And praise God that there was people there that wanted to hear, that wanted to listen. And we saw from John chapter four with the Samaritan woman, it says that the father is seeking those that would worship him. And then he goes on to say, the way that we are to worship, that we worship in spirit and in truth, that those are one in the same, that the spirit works through his truth. We need not doubt that. We need not try to find other, more creative ways. No, what you need, what everybody needs is the Word of God. Psalm 39 says that you have searched me and you know me. This Word applies to us in ways that are not human because it's not. It's superhuman. It's spiritual. It's the work of God. It brings conviction, it brings comfort. It wounds, it heals, it binds up. What God is doing in your hearts right now may be radically different than what God is doing in another person's heart. With one person, you can have conviction. With one person, you can have comfort from that same word. Why? Because God the Spirit is taking this word and applying it to us personally, in a personal way. because it comes from the divine physician who is performing spiritual surgery on our heart all the time. He's using it to revive us and enlighten us and to change us and to reform us. And he does so even now. We see in verse 10 that the people wept as they heard the law. They had not had this for so long. for so many years. They'd been exiles and strangers in a foreign land. For years they did not and were not able to gather like they were gathering on this day. Some of us during this last year went without worship for a few weeks and some for a few months and some for even longer than that, a year or more. And you know how difficult it was Think about doing that for 50 years. Can you imagine? And now they were free. And they used that freedom to worship, to hear from God. And so as a result, they were overwhelmed with emotion because they were doing that which God created them to do, to be in relation with their God. And also because it was humbling. It was convicting. When we compare ourselves to others, We might think of ourselves as all right. We might even think of ourselves as even better than others. But when we compare ourselves to the holy and mighty God, there is no comparison. We are but dust. And we see that their faces were in the ground. When we exalt God, mankind is humbled and should be humbled. So have we had those thoughts? And have we had those emotions? I'm not saying it has to manifest itself in tears every week, but are we at least sometimes overwhelmed with the privilege that we have to come into the presence of a great and mighty God, be with God's people, to hear his word, to tell you what a blessing. There's nothing greater on earth that we get to engage in than what we get to engage in at this very moment. And as a result, we should be humbled. Humbled in the light of who God is. Convicted, caught to the heart. That was what was taking place here. As the priests and the Levites read and gave explanation. But notice what it says. They also had to say, stop weeping. Because not only was that an appropriate response and a right response, it wasn't the only response. They had to say, this day is holy to the Lord, you see it in verse nine and 10 and even 11. They say, go your way, eat fat, drink sweet wine, send portions to anyone who has nothing. For this day is holy to our Lord and do not be grieved for the joy of the Lord is your strength. In verse 11, they even had to say, be quiet, stop weeping, stop crying. Notice they don't say, that's right, y'all should cry, y'all should mourn, y'all should weep, y'all should cover yourselves in dust and dirt because that is exactly what you deserve. No, that is right. But we also must equally say that God is gracious Our God is compassionate. Our God doesn't give us what our sins deserve. He gives us his mercy and he gives us his grace. And therefore, the priests and the people had to say, this is a time of rejoicing. Rejoice in God. Rejoice in each other. Not in sadness, but in joy. Because the joy of the Lord is our strength, so eat and rejoice and be glad. Beloved, we come to this table now as exactly what we are to do. Yes, we should be convicted. Yes, we should come humbly. Yes, we should be overwhelmed by our God, that this gift of Christ is ours. That thought is too great. It is truly too overwhelming. We can't comprehend it. And so even though we come in that conviction, we also should come in rejoicing, come in joy, come that he invites us to receive the forgiveness of sins. And so in it, we should be glad. In it, we shall rejoice because truly the joy of the Lord is our strength. And so this day, Be strengthened, be strengthened in the worship and the communion with God and with one another. I'll just close with this before we go to the table. As Pastor Myers mentioned this week, myself and Danny and David Owen and Jared Key were a part of the General Assembly. And there was several times in the midst of the business and the midst of the polity, and yes, even sometimes the politics, there was also worship. There was times that we would stand and we would rise and we would sing hymns together. And they are joined with several thousand people. To hear the worship unto Almighty God, it was beautiful. Bring tears to your eyes. It was a little forte, what we will receive one day, as wonderful and as beautiful as that was. There's one day when we gather together with innumerable things that will be far greater, far more overwhelming, because what we are created to do as the people of God is to worship. We worship Him today, We worship Him tomorrow, this week, Lord willing, next Lord's Day. We are to worship Him for all of eternity. And there is nothing greater. So come, rejoice, and be glad. The joy of the Lord is our strength. Join me in prayer. Our gracious God and Heavenly Father, we thank you for laying out for us the principles of worship how worship is to be primary to our thinking, to our thoughts, to what we do as a church. And so now, Lord, as we come before this table, as we come and receive these elements, would you give unto us that overwhelming sense of who you are? Would we understand the joy and the privilege of coming to your table? to receive, to commune with you, to be made one with the Lord Jesus Christ because of his body and because of his blood. May it fill us, O Lord, with the joy of the Lord. For the joy of the Lord indeed is our strength. We pray this all in Christ's name.