Message: How to Listen to a Sermon (04/18/2021)

let me read for us the word of god now nehemiah 8 verses 1 through 12 this is the word of the lord and all the people gathered as one man into the square before the watergate they told ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of moses that yahweh 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 watergate from early morning until midday in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand and the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law and ezra the scribes stood on a wooden platform they had made for the purpose and beside him sid madanaya and shaman and naya uriah hilkiah masaya on his right hand and pedia and michelle malcaja hashem hashebadana zechariah and muslim 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 of the people stood and ezra blessed yahweh the great god and all the people answered amen amen lifting up their hands and they bowed their heads and worshipped yahweh with their faces to the ground also jeshua binay charabaya jamin akube shebataya hodaya messiah keletaya azariah jazabad hainan pelaya and the levites helped the people to understand the law while the people remained in their places they read from the book of the law of god clearly they gave it sense so the people understood the reading nehemiah who was the governor and ezra the priest and the scribe and the levites who taught the people said to all the people this day is holy to yahweh 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 and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready for this day is holy to our lord and do not be grieved for the joy of yahweh is your strength so 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 send portions and to make great rejoicing because they had understood the words that were declared to them this is the word of god and i pray that he would seal it in your hearts it was 500 years ago to yesterday april 17 1521 where martin luther's trial began in worms he was summoned there by the emperor and the pope together it made for what was certainly the trial of the century this is a year or obviously a time period where there was no social media no court network no cnn and yet all of europe was captivated by this trial luther of course had already nailed his 95 theses to the church door in wittenberg and this led to the protestant reformation he had declared that salvation came through faith alone and not through the sacraments of the church that the scripture was the authority and not the rules and the edicts of the catholic church and he had been branded a heretic he'd already had to defend this on numerous occasions well this trial was convened by charles v he was the belgic emperor of the holy roman empire he had inherited the title king of spain and so in that sense he was a spaniard but ethnically he was from belgium and all of europe did not necessarily accept his rule much of europe honored the pope as opposed to charles pope leo the tenth uh who was of course italian and there was a complicated political dynamic going on where europe was split between the emperor and the pope and yet they had found a common enemy in luther luther was from in germany or a saxony as it was called then and his uh protector the one who had leadership over him was frederick and again frederick was leading germany who was looking out for germany's interest charles was leading europe supposedly and leo was in charge of the church none of those three guys agreed on anything but this trial of luther was a chance for them to put aside their differences and bring luther to account for his teaching luther traveled across europe too verm's for the trial on his way there he was met by parades of people that were cheering him on and some praying him some mocking him some jeering at him as i mentioned this captivated europe's attention it was a very well-known event despite the lack of newspapers or anything like that everybody knew what was happening the trial began on april 17th where uh emperor charles had piled up on a table many of the books luther had written they made a massive exhibit it was he was prolific author and there was piles of books there and luther was asked if given the fact that church he condemned his books as heresy what he thought about that and if he would recant his writings he didn't respond and so he was asked just directly are these books even yours luther and luther agreed that he did indeed write them and so the next question was asked do you recant and luther surprisingly asked for more time this is the second question of the trial he traveled across europe to get there every the pope was there question number two luther asks can i have more time to pray about this and so they granted it luther went back to his room that night and prayed and presented himself 500 years ago to this very day april 18 15 21 before the judge uh the inquisitor who is leading the trial on behalf of the pope and the emperor who was asked again luther do you recant these works luther's answer which i had remember i have memorized but i'll read it so i don't mess it up luther said well one-third of these books are about germany and the german people i can't possibly recant my own culture what a german thing to say huh one-third of them contained teaching that the catholic church approves of it is the catholic church's teaching so to recant them would be to commit heresy a very shrewd answer indeed and then he said but one third of them contain the truth of scripture and i cannot recant that i will only if you can show me where there are errors in logic or scripture the emperor was enraged and demanded an answer without horns is what he said an answer that was straight a simple answer luther do you recant these works again i will take over reading a translation luther of course was not answering english but i'll read a translation to english of what he said he said since we see your majesty and lordship seek a simple answer i will give it to you in this manner neither horns nor toothed you want to do without horns i'll give it to you without horns or teeth i just love that phrase unless i'm convinced by the testimony of scripture or by clear reason for i do not trust either the pope or the councils alone since it is well known that they have often aired and contradicted themselves i am bound by the scriptures i have quoted and my conscience is captive to the word of god i cannot and will not recant anything since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience may god help me amen now that answer it is not an exaggeration to say that that answer turned the social fabric of europe upside down luther of course was essentially kidnapped hustled away from there where he lived out his life in pastoral ministry back in germany the church in all of european culture had been profoundly changed by that event that may seem like an exaggeration but the whole concept of the function of the church in society changed because of what lutheran said even the architecture of a church building let me give you this basic example before luther answered that question a church building was uh cramped there were no pews everybody would stand if there was a pulpit for the the priest to speak from it be off on the side and the center was the altars perpetually there the altar where mass was offered and you know the bread was offered and the wine was presented and that's what took place at the center of the church everybody looked at that they stood around it that was there was a center aisle so the priest could walk down to the mass that was the focal point of the church when luther gets back to wittenberg he changes all that he has pews put in so you can sit down and listen to preaching you can hear the word of god preach he removed the table from the center and replaced it with a pulpit from which he would preach now you look at protestant churches today and we maintain that same architecture you're all sitting in pews we don't make you stand for the sermon because we are driving home the point that you are sitting under the authority of the word of god even something that every evangelical church does although many probably don't know why we have a portable communion table there's spiritual truth in that it's not fixed right here in the front it's not the focus of the worship service and we're not celebrating communion it's moved out and we celebrate it tonight it'll be moved back in and it's placed underneath the pulpit from which the word is preached even the sight lines of this place the doors and the pillars and everything is funneled towards the middle where the preaching takes place buildings are designed that way culture has changed christian culture has changed to highlight the importance of preaching over the sacraments now i said there's this is almost unrivaled how luther's answer changed european culture but i want to take you to nehemiah 8 today because you see a similar change in nehemiah chapter 8. we just read this verse as i read the 12 verses perhaps you're thinking you know there's lots of names in here and maybe even zoned out a bit but what you are seeing here i want to just make it clear what we just read is the total transformation of religious worship in the jewish world because of what took place here in nehemiah chapter 8. before nehemiah chapter 8 when people got together to worship what they did is that there were often sacrifices the synagogues back then if they had seats at all would have been along the side there was no focus in the center there was no focus on preaching or teaching maybe a scroll would be read maybe not but certainly there would have been some sort of presentation some sort of sacrifice most common at the temple anyway that's the way jewish worship functions what happens here changes that what happens here is that they call the priests they call ezra the scribe and ezra comes forward and rather than presenting a sacrifice even in the temple do you notice this does not take place in the temple it's out by the watergate away from the temple in the corner of the city where there's a massive field and the whole city gathers there they don't gather in the temple they gather in a field the largest open place they can find where there is a pulpit built and the word of god can be preached in a pulpit to the gathered congregation this transforms religious worship in israel after this event now synagogues would be built with benches built with places for people to sit and hear the scripture read and taught when you get to jesus's lifetime it was normal for a rabbi to stand up and read a portion of scripture or even give a commentary or a teaching on it that's coming out of nehemiah chapter 8. this is a very unusual scene in the bible to my knowledge there's only four times in the old testament outside of this where the word of god is taken and read to people for their instruction moses when he received the word of god read it to the israelites gathered together joshua when they crossed in the promised land had everybody gather together in joshua and read the word of god to them baruch who was jeremiah's associate stood at the city gate and read from the scroll as people came in and out the hardly a gathered congregation he was more like a street preacher really and of course you remember what happened to his scroll the king grabbed it and burned it and josiah in two kings 23 when he discovered the law of god hidden in the temple discovered the scroll it had never been read before in josiah's lifetime this is late in the kings this is second kings 23. towards the end of the monarchy they couldn't remember the bible being read out loud to the people before this didn't happen josiah grabbed it read it and revival took place nevertheless the israelites were exiled banished for decades from the promised land because their failure to keep god's law now they're back in the land they've built their temple their temple is consecrated now they need to protect the city the temple is going to have gold and and things that are worth worth money hidden inside of it it needs to be protected with the wall the temple is going to need priests and people are going to have to repopulate jerusalem in order to sustain temple worship which is important because the temple is going to lead to the messiah jesus when he comes will be presented in the temple like he is at his birth after that he's going to come to the temple again when he starts his ministry and cleanse it he's going to declare that the temple is his father's house in john chapter 2 and in matthew 12 he's going to declare that he is the lord of the temple so this is a huge deal this temple worship had to exist to present the messiah to the world the wall had to exist to present temple worship and so when the ball is done when the temple is done the israelites are turning their attention to god's word and they demand not for more sacrifices in the temple that's not what they clamor for they want to hear from the word of god and so they fetch ezra they tell the scribe bring out the book and you teach us as i mentioned this is a colossally a new event in the old testament nothing like this that happened before let me give you an outline today as we go through this how to listen to a sermon i want to take this event from nehemiah chapter 8 and i want to apply it to you today for how you can listen to his sermon you encounter god's word here in nehemiah and i want to talk to you about how you can listen to god's word like the israelites did back then first way you listen to a sermon is eagerly eagerly you see this in verse one all the people gathered as one man in a nehemiah 7 we get a list of about 40 000 people that are there but now it's broken down to just this massive amount of people it's as if there was only one they're in the square by the watergate this is a vast and open area and they told ezra the scribe to bring the book ezra nehemiah of course they're partners in this they were working together nehemiah was the political leader ezra was the spiritual leader so far nehemiah it had been a political war it had been political opponents they were opposing the building of the wall and so the focus was on nehemiah but now the wall is done and we're returning to the spiritual principle behind this and so they summon ezra ezra was known as a religious leader he was known as someone who studied the word of god and applied it and so they wanted him to bring the book their eyes are no longer on nehemiah they summon ezra and they demand it they told it's translated told here but it's this notion of they demanded they they called ezra and they wanted the word of god they wanted the book of the law of moses that yahweh had commanded israel they knew god had commanded his word to be read and it had not been read and they're demanding it they summon the priest and say bring us the word bring us the word now some more educated people might sneer at this they might sneered a group of thousands of people gathered together with a very old book in hand or a very old scroll in ezra's case in hand and say what are you doing i mean i want you to appreciate before we go on this morning how unusual it is what you are doing here this morning you know the world is going on out out there kids are at soccer and people are in stores and they're cutting their grass and they're doing things productive right now and you have said no to that you've said no to that this morning you're not at soccer you're not mowing the grass right now you're probably daydreaming about it this afternoon perhaps but you're here with an open book in front of you a book that was written thousands of years ago in this case 2 400 years ago this book of nehemiah written by ezra to hear me explain something that was written so long ago that you've carved out this time and you've put yourself before the word and there's an eager expectation for that they're clamoring bring the books that you can study it so just picture how unusual that is that people who aren't here think that you're out of your minds do you understand that yeah i hear that do you believe it you're out of your minds and you're here around the word of god acts 17 verse 11 paul says these jews speaking of the bereans were more noble than all those in thessalonica they received the word with all eagerness examining the scriptures notice that paul says these jews are more noble as the word of jesus because they're eager to hear the word of god so when paul is talking about the nobility of people in his mind he's not talking about royalty he's talking about the quality of a person i want that to resonate in your heart for a second when paul talks about the quality of a person he's talking about their desire to hear the word of god the health of a church listen to me the health of a church is not seen in the numbers of the church it is not seen in the the power the beauty of the music of the church although certainly that's important the health of a church is seen in this area how eager are the people to hear the word of god that's it are you hungry for the word of god do you desire to hear it do you have an eager anticipation to hear the word of god you can ask yourself this this very personally in your own heart as the week goes through are you eager to hear the word of god on sunday that is a mark of a mature believer you know let me give this as an opposite example for me listen sunday comes every week for me you ask me how i'm doing sunday is coming you know a captivate i had a college student once asked me what i did all week i loved that question what do you do all week okay college student imagine that you have a 30 page sherm paper due at the end of the semester that you will present for 45 minutes in front of your class you're going to be working on that all semester long and you're going to be nervous about it and you're going to be gauging your whole semester going to that point i have two of those every week so yeah sunday dictates my week flip that around from the congregation's perspective are you drawn towards sundays are you eager to gather in a place where you can hear the word of god taught so your heart can be strengthened are you eager to hear the word of god that's the mark of a mature believer that they're eager to hear from the word of god so the very first the very most basic step of listening to a sermon is to want to listen to a sermon some of you may be here somewhat reluctantly perhaps your parents dragged you screaming and kicking which is not okay if you're 18 years old you got to be more compliant some of you here perhaps because your husband or your wife made you came or your parents are visiting from out of town and so you're putting on a presentation like oh hey we come to church every sunday yeah as you put it into your gps kind of weird they're not buying it you know but then there's an eagerness to have the word of god laid upon your ears and that's certainly what the israelites had in nehemiah chapter eight verse one first eagerly second way to listen to his sermon is patiently verse two ezra the priest who brought the law before the assembly both the men and the women and all who could understand what they heard that phrase understand it's the most common phrase in this chapter we'll talk about it later on when we get down to verse eight but just notice this all throughout the chapter this is about understanding the word of god this happened on the first day of the seventh month and he read from it facing the square before the watergate from early morning until the middle of the day this is a long time spent reading the word of god hours go by on this it's from the morning all the way to the middle of the day depending on how you carve that up some some commentators say three hours some say six hours somewhere between three and six hours what a far cry from the sermonettes for christianettes that mark so many of our churches today for some of you the sermon is something you endure until you can move on it's something it's just you know perhaps you like going to church because you get to see other people and you get to you know have somebody pray for you and maybe you're lonely during the week and there's people who know you and love you at church and it gives your kind of weak structure and others of you perhaps are just coming because you come every week and it's what is expected of you who knows let me tell you where this gets divided when the sermon is preached are you patient in listening to it do you let it set in your heart are you going to sit there and listen until you are convicted by the word of god until the word of god strengthens you or is you already onto something else so you're already hoping you're already like us is going on too long it's 11 37 seriously the methodists are going to beat us to lunch there's got to be a patience to hearing the word of god come and have the sermon work on your hearts that you recognize that it's not about the length of the sermon but about the effect that it has in your heart and that you'll sit here in church and let the sermon work on you now believe me when i say long sermons are not necessarily better than short sermons i have heard some long sermons that have been horrible and i have heard some short sermons that have been great in fact the worst sermon i ever heard was from somebody in california and in our college ministry and it was going really really bad and it was basically gibberish and then he just ended 10 minutes into it he was like let's close it in prayer like he realized it was going bad close in prayer and everybody went on i don't i'm probably one of the only people that remember that sermon nobody remembered because it was short and everybody got to go and they were happy about that so i understand that lesson sometimes if the sermon is bad at least make it short i get that but you'll have to grant me this the longer the sermon is at least the more chance the preacher has to get something right or to say it from the congregation's perspective the longer the sermon the more likely you are to be convicted and encouraged and strengthened by it acts 20 you think this is you know three to six hours in the old testament what about the new testament acts 20 on the first day of the week gathered together to break bread paul came intending to depart the next day and began preaching so paul comes to a dinner with the congregation in acts chapter 20 comes to a dinner after dinner he starts a little sermon a little devotional time and he keeps going and he keeps going until it says in verse 8 of acts chapter 20 they begin to gather lamps in the upper room it's gotten dark and he keeps preaching and a young man named eutychus sitting at the window sank into a deep sleep as paul talked until midnight this is a dinner and he starts preaching and they get lamps and now it's midnight and uticus falls into a deep sleep it says acts 20 verse 9 and falls off of the balcony and dies oof hits the ground and being overtaken by sleep he's dead and paul gets up and goes over and raises it from the dead so that he can keep preaching eutychus becomes the patron saint of church kids everywhere so the two examples of scripture where we get time stamped on sermons you get six hours of nehemiah and five hours until midnight in the book of acts and so you can be okay with 45 minutes and some people say uh today's generation is a tick-tock generation they don't have the patience they don't have the ability to focus on a 45-minute sermon or hour-long sermon you know because they got 280 characters you know they got two minutes that's all they can handle i don't believe it for a second those same people just binge watched you know nine hours of lord of the rings last week they went to the tailgate party the football game that went to overtime and then to the after game party and now they're like oh that's 47 minutes of a sermon i can't handle that that's just too much sitting you know three hours you've got to be joking me the issue is not about the content and the issue is not about your focus or your attention span the issue is about your perception of the content so again ask yourself this basic question do you eagerly anticipate hearing god's word firstly secondly are you patient when you hear it wanting it to work on your heart wanting it to work on you thirdly you listen to a sermon attentively and you see this in the second part of verse three all the people were trying to understand it it says the men and the women and those who could understand and the ears of all the people were and here's the word attentive to the book of the law the word attentive means tuned in perhaps you've seen a cat who hears a sound somewhere across the room and you see the cat ear actually turn that's what this word means that the people are locked in they heard the sound and their ears turned to the preaching of god's word they're they're focused on it they're honed in radar has locked onto the preaching of god's word ezra may have had the only scroll in the whole city people didn't have pocket torahs this is it and ezra's got it and he's standing up and he's reading it and everybody is tuned in they recognize that they were just exiled for decades because of their sin and now somebody is reading them the word of god and they want to hear it they know that their life depends upon this so they're examining it closely the better something is the more closely you want to examine it the more intensely you want to experience it and that's certainly the truth of the word of god it's more precious beyond jewel sweeter than honey and so the people want to taste it they want to experience they're listening to it this comes from deuteronomy chapter 31 by the way so if ezra was reading the law he's reading the first five books of the bible we call or the torah that ends with the book of deuteronomy so as he's wrapping up this reading around lunchtime he's getting to deuteronomy 31 and deuteronomy 31 ends with this command assemble the people to read the law before them deuteronomy 31 verse 11. assemble the people so the word of the law is read to them assemble the women and the little ones and the sojourn or within your towns so they hear and they learn to fear yahweh and tell them to be careful to do all the words of this book so as ezra is finishing his reading that'd be one of the last things they hear get everyone together and tell them be careful to do this the point is that the preaching is supposed to lead to understanding which leads to the doing the instructions matter this is the most important instruction guide in the whole world it matters this week i or last week i bought a power washer at home depot and i bought one of the ones that was like already assembled it was like a return and already been built and gave you a discount on like great i would pay more for the already assembled one honestly the only drawback is no instruction manual but you can download it and the guy's like if you need it it's self-explanatory i'm like yeah i'll need it is there an on button no okay i'm out this is the most important instruction manager for your life and it's not self-explanatory and the person who leads their life as if this world is self-explanatory will be a person who becomes narcissistic focused on themselves sinful shallow and sad that's the way that story goes and it requires a remarkable amount of humility for a person to break themselves and say listen i don't know how i'm supposed to lead my life i don't know the truth about god and i need to learn it well this is the book that helps you learn it and so tune in the instructions matter here's a very practical way to tune in for some of you you don't need this for some of you you should take notes during sermons this is this advice is free right here take notes and for little kids you write down the points on the screen it's easy for little kids to track in there's seven of them by the way if you're keeping track we'll get to all seven of them by lunchtime don't worry little kids can just write down the notes as you get older maybe start writing down cross references or other passages of the bible to talk about this or maybe you could go crazy here you could write down things you're learning from this or you could write down things you need to change in your own life or things you're going to do this week as a result of this you could write those down not everybody needs to some people can learn without that i'm not one of those people if i don't take notes and i'm listening to sermon it is in one ear it is out the other you'll ask me afterwards what how was church would the pastor preach on the bible but when i write notes it's like committed now to memory and i understand it i know where to find it in my notebooks i have notebooks in my office in order to find different sermons and that's how i remember it try that but pay attention to what's said so that you know how to live forcefully you listen to his sermons submissively submissively verse four ezra the scribes stood on a wooden platform they had made for this purpose that phrase platform by the way the only other place this is used in the bible is back in uh genesis 11 for the tower of babel it's translated platform here but the idea is this is a structure that reaches up towards the sky for ezra to climb on it perhaps it was made from the scaffolding that'd be along the wall that was just completed who knows but they manufactured this thing somewhat rapidly so ezra could ascend on it overlooking the people in the field the watergate there it goes down to a creek and then up a hill on the far side so you can fit a massive amount of people in this field there and they would be staggered they'd be you know they're standing but they're standing up a hill looking across the creek to somebody standing on a huge platform overlooking everybody sound would obviously carry i mean upwards of forty thousand people could have been there his sound carries he's elevated above everyone it says in verse four they made the platform for that purpose for that purpose beside him on this platform are all these levites six on one side seven on the other the thirteen levites gathered around him and like a phalanx here spread out behind him you've seen some of the churches have the benches on stage and the elders sit up on stage i kind of like that idea i think it's kind of cool that's what they did all the elders sat on stage here these levites sat up on stage behind the sermon demonstrating that they are supporting what's happening and it's going out to the congregation everybody is submitted to it though the levite sitting the congregation standing ezra elevated it's demonstrating that the word of god has authority even the tower of babel by the way was built from earth up to the heavens it was to demonstrate how people were trying to get to god on their own strength and god judged it and tore it down here you have a similar tower but for the opposite purpose it's not people trying to get to god on their own strength here it's ezra bringing god down to people through god's word the tower is a similar function though to bring god to man and that's what it demonstrated this book is divine it has authority over us the people then stand at attention here verse five ezra opened the book on the side of all the people he's above all the people and as he opened it the people stood up a congregation might stand when a bride walks into the room officers would stand when a general walks into the room or politicians would stand when the president walks into the room here the believers stand when god's word enters the room they're showing it reverence they're showing that they are submissive to it they're under its authority believe me when i tell you the world is not your spiritual authority the government of the world is not your spiritual authority the governments of the world do not have authority over your spiritual life the only authority that exists in this world over your spiritual life is the word of god elders might have some limited authority in your life only when they're confined to what the scripture teaches the second an elder goes a tipito outside of the authority of the bible their authority ceases the authority in the world the only supreme ultimate infallible authority in the world is the word of god and it is demonstrated by the scene over you over you the idea of it being over you is that you are submissive you're under it meaning you're submissive to it when god's word speaks his children obey so again you're asking yourself am i eager to hear god's word do i listen to it patiently so that i can learn attentively from it while i'm being submissive to it you're recognizing the word has authority if you don't grant the bible has authority over your life you're not going to get anything from a sermon of course so submissively number five you listen to his sermon reverently reverently and you see this in verse six more the levites who are standing there i practiced their names all week i nailed it one time this morning i'm not going to do it again they're all gathering around him they've bowed their heads now they've lifted up their hands in verse 6 as the people are worshiping and praying they bowed their heads worshipped yahweh their faces are on the ground now the levites gathered around them verse 7. they're helping everybody understand the word of the law do you understand that this is all about worship they're bowing their faces they're raising their hands they're worshiping this is not a sporting event where they're cheering it's a worship event where they're giving praise and honor and glory to god they recognize the authority of what was said and they're responding to the authority of god's word by being submissive being under it now they're responding to that by lifting up praises to god by being reverent this is why churches should have their focus on the preaching of god's word not on strategic plans or not on visions cast by different you know pastor of vision and leadership or whatever blah blah blah blah that kind of stuff carries no weight in a church i hope that if i got up here and told story time you know told stories or lessons or thoughts that were on my heart that you would drive me out of this place you'd go to the elders and say hey bring us a preacher who preaches god's word not story time with uncle jesse you want the word of the lord so that you recognize this authority comes from god this is not a carnal gathering of people who want to quibble about this doctrine or that doctrine this is a solemn assembly of people who want to hear from god's word first thessalonians 2 verse 13 it says paul says we thank god constantly for this that when you received the word of god you received it from us and you received it not as the word of men but as what it really is the word of god i love that paul says thessalonians i grant you this you received god's word as if it were from god and not man i love that because if you remember to the bereans paul says i love you because you search out the word of god not like the thessalonians who only received it so this is not determinist here it's good that thessalonians received it as god's word but that's not where it ends you receive it as god's word so you can dive into it but it doesn't make sense to dive into it it's not god's word i heard somebody told me this week that about a phd where somebody got a phd in watching seven seasons of house and writing about the tv show house seven seasons of that and they got a phd in that could you imagine i think that would make you dumber but that's what phds do supposedly this book is from god it's not from man it's not contrived from human culture for entertainment it's god's voice to us i'm sure most of you understand the bible as god's word if it's god's word that means it's infallible it doesn't have anything wrong with it if it's infallible that means it's inerrant there's no errors in it every word is true because it comes from god who is truth i think most of you would agree with that but let me ask you this question it's one thing to acknowledge that the bible is god's word but it's another thing to live like it some of you might defend the bible as god's word but the question is do you treat it like it's god's word how do you treat it like it's god's word you do what it says recognizing that god is a speaker so you listen to his sermon eagerly patiently attentively submissively reverently then knowingly number six knowingly you see this in verses seven and eight the levites fan out now into the crowd so he's finished after several hours he's read the first five books of the torah several hours later the levites have fanned out to help people understand the law now ezra was not merely reading because as i mentioned the most common phrase in the nehemiah is understand the law so ezra is reading and giving people commentary on it he's helping them understand but now that he's done he's got this army of teachers that have fanned out into the congregation and they are also helping people understand that's verse seven they help the people understand the law while the people remain in their places this is abf time now the sermon is over everybody's breaking into small groups going to their abs and the levites come and visit your abf and they're helping the people understand what ezra had said what moses has said ultimately what yahweh had said it's now the levites it switches from third person singular as you're reading to third person plural all the levites reading in verse eight they read from the book from the law of god clearly they gave it sense so the people understood the reading this is the best definition you're gonna find in the bible of expositional preaching right here the kind of preaching that takes verse by verse line by line and tells you what it means and that's what we're doing i didn't choose this passage out of a hat i've been preaching through nehemiah one chapter after another explaining what every verse means that's what the levites are doing they're going into the congregation helping people understand what every verse means because if you don't understand it you can't practice it and that's the point of this the point is not knowledge the point is practice the point is godliness in your life when i was a high school kid before i was a christian i was at a big soccer tournament in denver and there was a team from mexico that was there and one of their players actually died in the swimming pool at the hotel drown in the swimming pool during the soccer tournament at the hotel i think it might have even been a lightning strike kind of thing and so they stopped the whole tournament and they did a funeral for this guy at the stadium that was at where the soccer tournament was and all the teams i mean i'm talking hundreds of teams this was a massive tournament all came and filled the stadium and for this funeral this kid from mexico died because the family couldn't afford to send the body back to mexico so it happened there and there was a catholic priest who led the funeral and he led the entirety of it in latin i spoke spanish and it was not spanish he led the whole thing in latin i don't think anybody in that stadium knew latin i don't think the american priest knew latin but this this priest had come from mexico and did the whole thing in latin it was astonishing and i'm wondering as a non-christian i'm sitting there wondering why what is the point of all of the latin what is the point of all that's happening it's not for our i didn't have this word yet in my vocabulary but i had the concept it's not for our edification it's not helping us maybe it's just ceremony or whatever that's an extreme example but i think there are many people who treat the bible like that that just as long as it's read or as long as it's taught it's almost got a power to it like magic words it's not a magic book that you can read and casts a spell this bible only works it's only effective on your heart when you understand it you have to understand with your ears and with your head what is said you have to believe it with your heart listen if you understand with your head but you don't have faith it's not gonna it's not gonna help it's not gonna do anything to you you have to have faith in your heart understanding in your mind which merges with faith the holy spirit applies it to your life and that produces practice that's how the bible is effective in your life you have to know what it means if you don't know what it means you can't understand it jesus tells the parable of the sower and the seed the man throws seed everywhere and some sees lands on rocky ground and you know dies and some seed lands on hard soil and it grows and can't get roots and it dies and some seed lands in fertile soil and grows and produces fruit and jesus says the difference is that the one that produced a massive harvest represents people who knew the word and understood it that's the key mark do you understand the bible do you come to a sermon expecting to learn and then have it explained so that you understand it acts 18. paul says verse 27 that paul arrived in a city and he helped greatly help those who were there who believed through grace because he powerfully refuted the jews in public showing them from the scriptures that jesus was the savior this word here giving the sense it says in verse 8 of my translation some of your translations might say transl translated but translate is not the right word the hebrew word means to divide it's the word for a sword cutting things in half that's what the word means the levites fanned out and gave the text the meaning by dividing it by rightly dividing it obviously not ripping the pages but giving you concepts to you know giving you thoughts to hang your giving you hooks to hang your thoughts on telling you this means this and not that this means god is the father god is also a son god is also a spirit that there's only one god making distinctions in the word of god helping you teach you know teaching you that righteousness and justification those concepts are not taught from every passage letting you go to the right passages that's what this word divide means that they're dividing up the word of god so that you understand it uh you can't eat a whole a turkey hole you know a head to goblet or whatever you divide it up and you eat it in pieces and these are good and these are bad meat in this order kind of thing that's how the word of god is approached it is divided so that you can consume it 2 timothy 2 15. paul tells timothy do your best to present yourself as a worker approved before god who has no need to be ashamed who rightly divides the word of truth paul tells the hebrews that the word of god is sharper than a two-edged sword it can divide soul from spirit bone from marrow the point there is the word of god doesn't have a dull side to it it's a two-edged sword it's not a sword that only cuts on one side like a like a steak knife you know one side you can run your finger up and down when you clean it the other side you would cut yourself the word of god has no dull sides it will cut you wherever you touch it and so you understand the word of god when you let it cut your heart and when it gives you the theological constructs by which you can understand what scripture is saying crawford laritz who has preached here at emmanuel before he writes in his book about preaching he says i'm thoroughly quote i'm thoroughly convinced that the greatest need for the church today is the kind of preaching that raises the bar for low jumpers i love that line raises the bar for low jumpers he goes on to say the rate the way you raise the bar for low jumpers is you teach people concepts by which they grow in their understanding of god's word listen don't ever come to a church with a bible in your hand and not expect it to change your hearts come to church with your bible eager to submit to it and then to let it change your life and then finally number seven you hear a sermon happily happily verses 9-12 nehemiah who was the governor remember the previous governor had been fired by nehemiah through the emperor for opposing the wall building so now nehemiah is the governor i just love that the book reminds you of that nehemiah one he won the he's going to win the spiritual battle but he's also won the political battle too he's the governor ezra was the priest and the scribe and the levites who taught the people they said this day is holy to yahweh your god don't mourn and weep because the people were weeping while they heard the law since the day goes on everybody the whole congregation is gripped with weeping about their sin so much so the levites are telling people hey don't cry anymore have you ever been a church service like that imagine how powerful that would be where after the sermon the pastor has to go out and say hey stop repenting of all your sin you've repented enough come back next week you'll have more cinder pent up next week but go ahead and rejoice today that's what's happening to happen here the levites are saying you need to stop repenting stop the weeping this is supposed to be a time for rejoicing so they said to him go your way eat the fat drink the sweet wine send portions to anyone so the fat in in this culture is the easiest part to chew of the meat so it's the it's the best part of the meat to eat it's the delicacy the sweet wine they would add honey to wine to make it like a dessert kind of wine it was something you only did for celebration they'd mix their honey with it and that's what the priests are telling everybody go get the best part of the the goats go get the best part of the sheep slaughter them up get the the wine and mix honey into it and make this a happy celebration why are they upset that people are repenting well the people are repenting of course because they're hearing the word of god for the first time now and they're seeing all their sin they're broken by it which is good you need to be broken by sin you cannot become a true follower of christ unless you've been broken by your sin you have to realize listen if you want to understand what saving faith is it begins with you recognizing that you're a sinner you have to start this is the entrance this is the door here the door here to christianity i'm a sinner i've sinned against god and i deserve god's judgment if you can't utter that in your minds then the rest of this is gibberish so you have to begin with i'm a sinner and i need help namely i need forgiveness now god shows you you can have forgiveness through jesus christ that christ died on this on the cross bearing the wrath for your sin so god will not judge you in hell for your sin like you deserve but god will give that judgment to christ who died on the cross and resurrected on the third day to atone for your sin now you can have your sins forgiven by placing your faith in christ but first you have to recognize that you are a sinner and be convicted like feel guilty about your sin because you are guilty and it should break you it should make your eyes well up with tears you should be confronted with your sin and it should hurt you inside knowing how wicked you are and you should be broken and then through faith you appeal to christ and he said jesus you have to forgive me for my sins and when christ forgives you for your sins now you can stop weeping and start smiling now you can rejoice because your sins have been forgiven let me say it still another way weeping when your sins are forgiven or mourning when your sins are forgiven is out of place in the same way that rejoicing when your sins are unconfessed would also be out of place if you have unconfessed sins then you ought not rejoice if you have unconfessed sins in your life you ought not be happy but if you've confessed your sins you know that jesus is your advocate before the father that he is in heaven appealing to you praying for you and when you confess your sins to him he's faithful and just and forgives your sins so that you can rejoice that's what's happening here everybody is broken and grieving and weeping about their sins and the levites go out and they say jesus is forgiving you god yahweh is forgiving you so your sins are taken away rejoice rejoice let me say it still one more way i love this passage let me say it one more way morning god gives us mourning over our sin to lead us to rejoicing rejoicing is the end rejoicing is what we're going to the chief end of man the main point of human existence is to glorify god by enjoying him rejoicing in him so the point of mourning and brokenness is to bring you to rejoicing the point of rejoicing is not to bring you to to mourning the point of mourning is to it's a one-way street mourning your broken over sin brings you to rejoicing and you delight in god now of course through the christian life you'll become exposed to more and more sins in your life the more mature you are the new sins you'll see and you'll mourn over those sins you'll be broken over those sins and god and you'll confess those sins and god will forgive those sins and you return to rejoicing again that's the trajectory the end of all this the chief end the chief reason god made the world is so you could enjoy him and rejoice in him not so you can mourn and be broken by him that's the difference mourning is the means to the end it's not the end the end is rejoicing god wants you to say the joy of the lord is my strength when i was a youth pastor i had a verse written on the wall in my office or not a work a quote written on the wall in my office most high school kids didn't understand it but it was a great conversation starter it's augustine from his confessions and said written in red stencil on my wall how sweet it was all at once for me to be rid of those fruitless joys those joys that i once so feared to lose and you you drove them from me and took their place you who are the sweets the true the sovereign joy do you understand that from augustine you once were terrified of losing the things that brought you joy in this life you wanted to hold on to the things you thought would bring you happiness so hard and again if you live your life like that you will be broken and narcissistic and miserable but how sweet it is when god drives those joys out of there he shoes them away and he shoes them away by his own presence he becomes your joy he takes the place of those things that you once so feared to lose and the joy of the lord will be your strength and so levites calm the people saying be quiet verse 11. this day is holy don't be grieved and the people went their way to eat and drink and to send portions and to make rejoicing because they understood the words that were declared to them everybody is happy they're giving away their joy they're giving away the fat of the the food they're giving away the sweet wine and they're giving it to their friends and they're all rejoicing because of what the lord had done in their life this is we're gathered together at church on sunday understand this is the war it is a joy war it's a war for your joy are you going to have joy in the world are you going to have joy through god and his word for you to have joy through god in his word you have to come to church eager to hear from the word of god you have to come to church patiently listening to it you have to come to church paying attention to it submitting yourself to worshiping god because of what he says trying to understand it so that it can produce the happiness of the lord in your life you fight back the temptations to worliness you drive out the joys the so-called joys the world offers and you cling to the cross of christ lord we're grateful for your word in our life and that you can bring joy out of mourning you can bring repentance out of sin and you can bring rejoicing through forgiveness lord we're thankful that christ died for our sins so that we can indeed rejoice i pray for anyone here today who is gripped by sin i pray that today they would confess their sin to you they would look to you jesus and see an advocate see a savior who is merciful who bids them to come and place their faith in christ i pray that your holy spirit would do that in people's hearts today that people would trust you and they would find the joy that comes through your word we ask this in jesus name amen and now for a parting word from pastor jesse johnson thanks for joining us today if you're in the washington dc area i would love to meet you personally at emmanuel bible church our service times and other church information is on our website at ibc.church if you want information about the masters seminary and the washington dc location go to tms.edu i hope this resource has been an encouragement to you and it helps you seek the lord daily serve others around you and share the gospel of jesus christ with boldness may the lord bless you

Channel: Immanuel Bible Church

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Keywords: Immanuel, Bible, Church, IBC, Springfield, VA

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Length: 53min 0sec (3180 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 19 2021