Neh No.12 Building through preaching

And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the water gate, and they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded to Israel. And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation, both of men and women, and all that could hear with understanding, upon the first day of the seventh month. And he read therein before the street that was before the water gate, from the morning until midday, before the men and the women and those that could understand, and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law.

And Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood, which they had made for the purpose, and beside him stood Matthiah and Shema and Aniah and Uriah and Hilkiah and Massiah on his right hand, and on his left hand, Paddaiah and Mishael and Malkiah and Hesham and Hajjabadana, Zechariah and Meshulam. Now you understand why I haven't asked you to join in the reading this morning. And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people.

And when he opened it, all the people stood up. And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands, and they bowed their heads and worshipped the Lord with their faces to the ground.

And also Jeshua and Barney and Sheribiah, Jamin, Aqab, Shabbathiah, Hodeidah, Massiah, Kelitah, Azariah, Jehozabad, Hanan, Peliah, and the Levites caused the people to understand the law, and the people stood in their place. So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly and gave the sense and caused them to understand the reading. And Nehemiah, which is the Teshothah, and Ezra the priest, the scribe, and the Levites that taught the people said unto all the people, This day is holy unto the Lord your God.

Mourn not, nor weep. For all the people wept when they heard the words of the law. Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared.

For this day is holy unto our Lord. Neither be ye sorry, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. So the Levites stilled all the people, saying, Hold your peace, for the day is holy.

Neither be ye grieved. And all the people went their way to eat and to drink and to send portions and to make great mirth, because they had understood the words that were declared unto them. Now I'd be grateful if you'd turn to the book of Nehemiah and we're going to continue our study of this slender volume by looking into this eighth chapter and the first thirteen or twelve verses rather, the first twelve verses in particular will take our attention this morning.

I wonder if I made the observation, you would agree with it, that preaching in these days is underrated. Preaching is underrated. There are many churches where a sort of ten-minute slot is given for the exposition of the Word of God, and woe betide that preacher who goes beyond the allotted span.

And before now I've heard it said that to be popular, one should be brief, and the deduction is drawn that in these days it is impossible for people to concentrate upon the exposition of the Word of God for longer than a few moments. It seems quite incongruous, quite illogical when you contrast the hours that some people, and I'm not criticising this at all, would give, shall we say, to watching the tennis from Wimbledon, or the cricket from Lourdes, or the football from Argentina, but the amazing thing is that when you come into the church, or into a church building, and when the Word of God is turned to, the conclusion is drawn, it must be quick, it must be brief, because well you see, we can't concentrate. And yet it is in the economy of God, preaching that has been selected as the medium whereby men and women shall be saved.

Throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament, and on into the history of the early church through the Middle Ages, and throughout the whole saga of revival, it is obvious that God sustains this method whereby men and women are reached with the glorious gospel of Jesus, the method being preaching. Moses is apprehended in the backwoods of Midian. He's been looking after the flocks of his father-in-law for many a long year, and he suddenly spies a phenomenal sight, a bush burns and is not consumed.

With curiosity heightened, Moses approaches the phenomena, and he takes his shoes from off his feet because he realizes he's on holy ground, and he receives a commission from God to go back to Egypt and to deliver the Hebrews from the bondage of that country. And Moses is given a spokesman, even his brother. They shall go to Egypt, and they shall go as preachers to declare God's Word.

Jeremiah is a somewhat shy, sensitive, reticent fellow in a seminary, if you please, some miles from Jerusalem at a village called Ananoth. He has thought in terms of some country parish where he'll be able to continue a ministry for God when he qualifies. But the hand of the Lord is upon Jeremiah, and he is confronted with the task that his parish shall be none other than Jerusalem.

And God sends Jeremiah into Jerusalem as a preacher. And he goes down the cobbled streets, and he proclaims the Word of the Lord. And when you're confronted with the greatest example of all, our Lord Jesus, in the opening chapter of Mark's Gospel, the first thing that you're told about Jesus is that he came preaching.

And when Saul is converted on the Damascus Road, and news of this is divinely conveyed to Ananias, he is told that Saul is a vessel selected by God to convey his ministry, the Gospel, to the Gentiles through preaching. And when the preacher proclaims what he has to say, he comes in the name of God to hoist before the people a message that he has received from the Lord. So Jesus spends time with people hour after hour, divulging to them what he in turn first received from his Father.

And they listen to what he has to say. And sometimes they are gathered at the break of day, and they continue with him until the dawn, and their own desires for food go by the by because they are satisfied with what he has to say. And when Almighty God pinpoints his Son in front of three disciples on one occasion, I refer to the incident on the summit of the Mount of Transfiguration, Almighty God says this is my beloved Son, hear him, hear what he's got to say.

Sometimes I think to myself, if only Jesus was here today, I'd sell all that I had in order to go and to listen to what he has to teach. But you know the Lord Jesus is here today. He does speak.

He speaks through his body, which is his church. The New Testament tells us that when a man is filled with the Holy Spirit, when a fellowship knows the Holy Spirit resting upon them, then the Lord God, our Savior, he pulsates his energies through the body so that he speaks to his people in several fashions. And in the 20th century, we need to hear the Word of God more and more proclaimed through the redeemed community.

Now, why am I saying all this? Well, simply because in this eighth chapter of the book of Nehemiah, you come across a man who engages in a preaching ministry. And this chapter has a great deal to teach us about this whole phenomenon of proclaiming the Word of the Lord. You remember from our study last week how Nehemiah's objective in coming to Jerusalem has been realized.

The wall has been built. The gates have been rehung. And you might well have thought that at the end of the sixth chapter, the words the end should have been placed because the story is completed.

But Nehemiah realizes, as every sensitive Jew would, that though the walls were complete, they in themselves did not represent the fortification, the strength which Israel required. They needed more than just external fortifications. These people were to become strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.

And this would happen only as they responded to a strengthening preached message on the part of a man who suddenly comes into prominence in the eighth chapter of this book. I refer to Ezra. Ezra has been in Jerusalem for thirteen years.

But it's only in the eighth chapter that you are brought face to face with him. He's been a silent spectator. No, a participant in the work that Nehemiah has been doing.

Nehemiah is an administrator. Nehemiah is someone who can enthuse other men, charge them with a vision. And he marshaled, you remember, a veritable army that went to the wall and rebuilt it.

But now with the fortifications complete, with the gates hung, it's time for Ezra to emerge out of the background, from obscurity, and to proclaim the word of God to the assembled people by the wall that has just been rebuilt. Nehemiah realizes that the strength that has physically come to Jerusalem because the fortifications are now intact, must also be reproduced spiritually as the word of God is proclaimed and as the Hebrews absorb it. So I say in this eighth chapter, you come across a fundamental principle rooted in the word of God that it is through preaching that men and women are strengthened in their faith.

It is through the prophetic word that the redeemed community is marshaled into a powerful body that can do things for God. So we find Ezra coming into prominence and proclaiming God's word to the people. And there are six things that I want to spell out to you about the preaching that you read of in these verses which I think will be helpful.

And that's why I want you particularly to check the verses through as I refer to them. The first observation I make, if you're making notes, is this. And they all, for convenience, begin with ah.

The first observation is the preaching was by request. The preaching was by request. Look at the first verse.

All the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the water gate and they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses which the Lord had commanded to Israel. Here were people who desired more than anything else to hear God's word proclaimed. And the request is underlined in the form of a pulpit that they actually made.

Look at the fourth verse. Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood which they had made for the purpose. And the pulpit was a high one.

Look at the fifth verse. All the people could see him because he was above all the people when he read the book. Have you got the scene? Here's Ezra now moving into prominence after Nehemiah's work has been achieved.

The pulpit has been built over against the wall. The wall acts as a sounding board to project the words of Ezra. And all the people in their hundreds, in their thousands are on the street gathered together for a tremendous convention.

And the initiative was not taken by Nehemiah nor Ezra it was taken by the people. As they had been engaged physically working for the Lord so their spiritual hunger had deepened and they wanted to know what the Lord God would have them to do. So by request they gathered together to hear the word of the Lord.

And every eye is upon Ezra. Which reminds me of the scripture in Luke's Gospel, the fourth chapter where you read of the Lord Jesus in the synagogue back there in Nazareth. And it's the first time that he makes his public debut as a preacher in his hometown.

He walks down to the front of the synagogue. He unfurls the scroll and he starts to read. And we hear that every eye is upon the Lord Jesus Christ.

That is the comment of the Gospel. Well here in Nehemiah's day we see the preacher Ezra over against the wall. Standing on the high pulpit with the sun just beginning to break through creating light on the scene.

Here was preaching that will build the people as they had in turn built the wall. And the preaching was at the request of the folks who gathered. But moreover notice this.

This preaching was heard with respect. With respect. Watch Ezra as he climbs the scaffolding up into his ready made pulpit.

He's got 13 colleagues alongside him. These men with the strange names that I had to try to repeat. And Ezra has got the holy scroll under his arm.

And he starts to unfurl it. And what do we read in the fifth verse? That when Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people all the people stood up. They listened to what was being said with awe.

With reverence. This was no casual performance. Here were people who were sensitive enough to realize that when the word of God is opened something sacred is happening.

The people stood up. And as Ezra sees the sight of these folks getting to their feet he lifts his arms and he blesses them in the name of the Lord. And spontaneously responding to what he does for them we find the people lifting up their hands to the Lord and shouting Amen.

Amen. And that's a Hebrew word as you know. Which means so be it.

We present ourselves before you not just Ezra but they're addressing the Lord. We present ourselves before you and we lift our hands to you. Our hands which we apply to the work at the wall.

Our hands which are clean which you require before a man can offer worship. And spontaneously what a tremendous sight it must have been those thousands of people standing to their feet raising their hands to the Lord saying Amen. Speak.

For we want to hear what you have to say. The preaching of God's word is a holy thing which demands awe and respect when it's done in the power of the Spirit. These people hadn't got their eyes on the sundial or in the 20th century their eyes on their watch.

These people had their eyes on the preacher and they were concerned to hear what he had to say because they believed that God would speak through him. Here was holy activity in which they were engaged. The preaching was by request.

It was heard with respect. And what is more? It was regulated preaching. It was controlled preaching.

Look at the 5th verse. Ezra opened the book and when he opened it the people stood up. And then go on to the 7th verse.

We find that Ezra and his colleagues caused the people to understand the law and the people stood in their place. So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly and gave the sense. This is what I mean by it being regulated preaching.

It was controlled. Ezra didn't come along to pass comment on the international situation. On whether the Persian Empire would maintain its hold over the Hebrews and the rest of the countries that it was now looking after.

And the preacher who in the name of God comes into the pulpit in the 20th century should be controlled by the very word of God that he is proclaiming. Ezra is expounding the book of Deuteronomy and his preaching is controlled by his exposition. Now in the 20th century what are we to look for? Well we are to look for expository ministry.

For a person coming along and expounding not what is their thinking on any particular issue but breaking open the word of God. The pulpit is not a place for someone to pass comment as the basis of their address on the policy of apartheid in South Africa or on the so-called political philosophy of the national front or on women's lib or on any of the other subjects that are being debated in the 20th century. It may well be that as preaching continues as the word of God is expounded then that word will relate to these topics but those topics in and of themselves are not the subject for preaching.

The preaching that these people responded to was what Ezra had to explain to them from the word of God. Not his views but rather an exposition of scripture. And this preaching which was by request heard with respect and was regulated by the book which was being explained was also relative.

It was relative to the people. What Ezra had to say applied to their own hearts. This is why they listened for so long.

This is why Ezra in turn employed the 13 other priests who were at the side of him so that they could explain to the people so that all would understand. Here you see is the objective of preaching being defined in the Bible. The 8th verse.

These men read in the book in the law of God distinctly and gave the sense and caused them to understand the reading. You see, if any Tom, Dick or Reuben happened to be in that particular congregation and didn't understand what was being said then the whole object of the enterprise would be defeated. It was for ordinary people to understand that the book of Deuteronomy applied to them.

I love this scene in English history of Whitefield when he's at Bristol. He's now preaching in a church. Many of the churches wouldn't listen to him.

Very often preaching inspired by the Spirit has been rejected by the establishment in this country. It's an unfortunate thing but it's a fact. So Whitefield went to people who needed the Gospel and who he believed would respond to what he had to say.

And outside the colliery in one district near Bristol he proclaimed the Word of God. And these miners coming up from the night shift they didn't go home. They listened in the early hours of the morning to what this man had to say believing that His Word was direct from the Lord and would be applied to their own hearts.

And they found that it was indeed relative preaching. It related to them. As he expounded the Word of God and of Jesus who died for those whose souls were as black as the miners' skins were black.

Their hearts were moved. They responded to what Whitefield had to say. This was preaching the like of which they hadn't had in their chapels.

This was preaching that affected them. This was preaching that they could understand. My dear friends one of the very purposes of coming together as a community into the tabernacle on a Sunday and hearing the Word of God is that that Word may be relevant to your own life and to your own lifestyle.

And I say this that unless it's relevant unless it's relative to you then it's pointless you coming here. May God enable us to make the preaching more applicable to everyone who comes along. Ezra and his colleagues had a great concern a great desire that all should understand.

And so they start in the reading of the book of Deuteronomy. And when people couldn't grasp the language they put it in more simple fashion. You know sometimes we can get very hung up can't we these days on translations and our various preferences for which translation of the Bible to use.

And often my heart is grieved by people who take up entrenched positions. Our main prerogative our main objective as evangelical Christians is to bring the Word of God to people in a fashion that they can understand. And sometimes we have to modify the English of the authorised version for it was written for people who lived some hundreds of years before ourselves and language changes.

Our concern is to proclaim the Word of God so that all shall understand never to adulterate never to twist it never to modify it but always with the supreme objective of making it clear. I don't know if you're aware that the authorised version itself went through several redraftings before it became the AV that we love and use as the basis of our pulpit reading here in the tabernacle. But even the AV had to go through a process of being redrafted.

Now I say that the objective here is when we come around the Word of God to explain it to make it relative to update the language if necessary so all shall go away having understood. And that these people were well served by Ezra and his colleagues is quite apparent because we read that this word cut them at the very core of their being. They were grieved.

They wept. Look at the ninth verse. All the people wept when they heard the words of the law.

They listened to what Moses had been told by God should be the lifestyle of the Hebrew community and they contrasted it with the way that they'd been living in Jerusalem before the advent of Nehemiah. They'd been back there some of them for years. The Jews had returned for 90 odd years after their exile in Persia.

And the things that they had been doing they were so contrary to the Word of God and their hearts were broken as a result. And I think again of those miners as they listened to Whitfield as he told of Jesus and of his love and of the sensitivity of the Son of God towards working class people their eyes filled with tears and little rivers went down their cheeks clearing away the grime and the dust of the coal. They wept when they heard the controlled preaching of Whitfield and they committed their hearts and their lives to the Lord God.

Preaching which will build the redeemed community which will make it strong was in this case by request with respect regulated, relative and what's more it was restorative. And with that we conclude our observations by restorative I mean this that when the Word of God cut the people it then went on to heal them for Ezra and his colleagues went amongst the people and they said, look we've expounded the Word of God to you, but don't let it make you mourn and weep and be filled with sorrow rather respond to that Word make your lives right with God for this shall be a day of rejoicing and in the New Testament we read of the ministry of Jesus a bruised reed he will not break smoking fire he will not, smoking flax he will not quench what does that mean? That when the Word of God is proclaimed in the power of the Spirit and it reduces you almost to ashes as it burns you up as you're horrified at the sense of your own sinfulness then the Word is applied in its restorative quality and you realize that God breaks that He might mend He wounds that He might heal and the very purpose of the Gospel is to show sinners the extent of their sin and then to show them the greatness of the salvation which God offers in Jesus and when a person realizes this then from that attitude of conviction they're transformed by the Spirit into one of worship and their songs and their hallelujahs they ascend before the throne room of Almighty God because this God has done such great things for them this God has sent a personal message which has been applied to their own hearts and they've responded to it and therefore they're filled with a sense of elation and we hear of these people praising the Lord this day is holy unto our Lord said the priest neither be ye sorry for the joy of the Lord is your strength preaching as the Bible defines it should come to a people who are hungry as this came by request to a people who are respectful to a people who come to a preacher whose thoughts are regulated by the Word of God to preaching that becomes relative to their own circumstances to the Word which when it's broken them will heal them and cause them to rejoice and my friend isn't it interesting to see that in the purposes of God he got his Nehemiah at Jerusalem to do one task he got his Ezra to do another and Ezra had all his colleagues standing alongside him also to engage in spiritual ministry which tells us what that in the work of God it's never a question of one man doing everything but everyone contributing the gift that God has granted to them so that the work of the Gospel can proceed so that some will build a physical wall and others will build spiritually within the redeemed community so that the work of God shall stand strong in the day of testing and the day of duress so what do we find in this eighth chapter preaching or rather building through preaching and may God continue to build in this sanctuary as his word is proclaimed Amen Father for your word we thank you and for the encouragement to study it more to come before it in community and in individual meditation with awe and respect and Father we believe that your word and our attention to it is but preparatory for us coming around this table to remember the man of whom the word speaks in all its pages even our Lord Jesus Christ so be with us as in a moment or so we break bread and drink wine together in remembrance of the greatest preacher and the greatest deliverer of all even our Saviour Amen