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Part 8: “The Restoration of God’s Word”
Neh. 8:1-12
Bible Knowledge Quiz
Who was the greatest comedian in the Bible?
Samson. He brought the house down.
Who was the greatest male financier in the Bible?
Noah. He was floating his stock while everyone else was in liquidation.
Who was the greatest female financier?
Pharaoh’s daughter. She went down to the bank of the Nile and drew out a little prophet.
Who is the shortest man in the Bible?
Knee-high-miah
Intro – this is my first Bible…just after I returned to the Lord at age 17…loved it…so fresh, new…still love the Bible…which is what God wants to talk to us about today…who here loves the Bible?…I want that for all of us…
…we are now on the home stretch in our series in the book of Neh…
Brief Recap: we have followed the rebuilding of the walls of Jer. making the connection that our lives are like those walls…there is some degree of brokenness...damage...parts of our life are crumbling, in need of repair...doesn’t mean that we’re completely ruined...for some it’s just a little area.....for others there’s lots of rubble…
....but for all of us there is a need for restoration and rebuilding....
-confident that God has been at work…progress has been made in many of our lives over these past several weeks…
The wall rebuilding project under Neh’s leadership is finally completed at the end of ch. 6… and now from chapters 7 on, the focus shifts from the walls to the people…
…from construction to instruction…from physical labor to spiritual growth…
…in the first 6 chapters Nehemiah himself is the main figure, but in chapters 7 to the end, Ezra the priest becomes the main figure…because the focus is now on the spiritual rebuilding of the restored people of God…
…and in ch. 8, which we will look at today…the starting place for a restored spiritual life is the word of God…God’s word is restored to the people of God and the effect is transformative…
…after 70 years of captivity in Babylon, most of the Jewish exiles returning to Jer. had never really known the Law of God, the OT scriptures God had given to them…other than what the older generation would have told them, they had no opportunity to learn the scriptures while they were in captivity…essentially they had experienced a 70 year famine of God’s word…
Amos the prophet described this in Amos 8:11
“I will send a famine through the land— not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD.”
God’s people were starving spiritually…malnourished because of a lack of God’s word in their lives…
So with the walls of Jer rebuilt, with the temple in place, now the practise of faith is restored under Ezra the priest and we get to see what happens when God’s word rains upon thirsty, dry souls… the effect God’s word has upon hungry hearts… how life springs up and people are revived through the power of Gods word…
Before we jump in, let me ask you how your relationship with the Bible is going these days? your relationship with God thru His word…meeting God through His word, spending time reading the scriptures on your own, sharing what you’re learning from the Bible with another believer…hearing God’s voice through His word…how’s that going? That’s what God wants to talk to us about this morning…
…prayer…read 8:1-12…(Stand as I read…)
The People Respond to God’s Word
…these spiritually starved people of God are hearing God’s word read to them, many for the first time in their lives…and the result is overwhelming…they stand for hours, drawn in by what they’re hearing, they’re attentive to God’s spoken word for hours on end…
-they respond with praise and worship to what they’re hearing…bowing before the Lord with their faces to the ground…
-they are able to understand what they are hearing…the meaning is made clear to them…
- engaging emotionally with what they are hearing… many of them are weeping…
-that weeping turns into great joy and celebration as they go off to share a meal with one another and to send gifts of food to others and no doubt to talk about what they had just learned…
And although we stopped reading at v. 12, further on in the chapter perhaps the greatest response to God’s word takes place…the people of God show that they are not just committed to gaining information from God’s word, but they are actually committed to obeying what they hear…changing their lives in obedience to God’s word…to bringing their lives into alignment with God’s word, commands, standards…
How We Relate to the Bible
So again I ask, how is your relationship with the written word of God these days? how do you respond to God’s word?
• “user agreement” relationship – click agree without reading the details…
• “Bible on Demand” rel – read when you need it; esp when trouble or crisis hits…rest of time neglect…
• “3 Healthy Meals a Day” rel. – regular, consistent diet of God’s word…
“The Joy of the Lord is Your Strength” v.10
-verse we love to quote, but not sure I have understood what it means:
When we experience God’s joy, we gain strength spiritually, emotionally and physically. Sorrow and grief bring weakness; God’s joy restores strength.
The joy that we’re talking about is not the joy of natural temperament. We are all wired differently…some people are naturally joyful and upbeat; others are gloomy and pessimistic. But that is not what this joy is. Also, the joy we’re talking about here is not the joy of circumstances; when things go well. When things go well in life we feel joyful; when things go bad we feel depressed. Naturally. But that is not the joy we are talking about here.
We are talking about the joy of the Lord. And the Bible teaches that it is both possible and necessary for all believers to experience the joy of the Lord, no matter what our temperment or how good or bad our life is going. There are numerous commands in the Bible to rejoice in the Lord, be glad in the Lord, etc. Experiencing God’s joy is both a response and a choice. Some have to work at it more than others, but it’s available to all. How you ask?
To properly understand what this joy of the Lord is and how it can be our strength, we have to understand the context of this passage.
-these are returning exiles…have been in captivity in Babylon for 70 long years. They went there because of their sin and God’s judgment upon them. They have spent the last 70 years away from their beloved homeland, away from their temple, their freedom to worship God…they have been oppressed and subject to slavery…all the while painfully aware this is happening because they sinned against God as a nation…
But now they’re back home…forgiven by God…a restored people…whom God is now blessing and pouring out His favor and kindness…and they are being invited to accept this…not live as people who are being punished, but instead are being blessed…
That’s a good picture of what it means for you and I when we come to Christ for our salvation…apart from Christ we are living in bondage, slavery, punishment, we are enemies of God…but through the mercy and grace of JC, when we come to Christ for the forgiveness of our sins, we are brought home to Him…we’re established as His sons and daughters, loved with an everlasting love, safe and secure…not fearing punishment and God’s wrath anymore, but only His love and kindness…
The Joy of The Lord comes from:
1) genuine repentance from sin - 2 Cor. 7:10 “…repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret…”
2) God’s salvation (His love, acceptance and forgiveness)
Ps. 51:12 “restore to me the joy of your salvation…”
3) realizing God’s joy for us - Zeph 3:17 “…rejoice over you with singing…”
4) learning to enjoy God Himself - Ps 16:11 “you will fill me with joy in your presence”
So, to be practical, when life is rotten, one thing you can do to find joy…is to remember that you are a child of God…thank God for Who He is and what He has done for you…
And simply open the Bible…see it in God’s written word…read it, talk to God about it…Jer. 15:16 “When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight…”
Main Question: how is your relationship to the Bible these days? How connected are you with God through His written word? How would you like it to be? What changes do you need to make to strengthen your rel with the Bible?
For Us Today
You and I here today are very different than the returned exiles in Neh. 8…in the sense that we haven’t been deprived of God’s word…we aren’t starved for the Bible (at least we shouldn’t be…)
-esp you here today, many of you are well-versed in the scriptures, know the Bible, love the Bible, regularly read the Bible…in some cases you’re satiated with the Bible…feel like you’ve heard it all, read it all, many times over…
So the question for us is: how do we remain hungry for God’s word? how do we who have heard it all many times over find freshness in God’s word…how do we avoid becoming dull and routine and unmoved by the reading of God’s word?
It comes through being reminded of what God’s word actually is…and the various purposes God has given His word in the lives of His people…
God’s Word: (sheets on info table to take home)
• Life Jn. 6:63
• Truth Jn. 17:17
• Lamp Ps. 119:105
• Sword Heb. 4:12, Eph. 6:17
• Seed Lk. 8:11
• Milk 1 Pet. 2:2
• Bread Mt. 4:4
• Meat/solid food Heb. 5:12-14
• Mirror Jm. 1:23-25
• Eternal Is. 40:8
• brings salvation 2 Tim. 3:15
• Instructs, corrects, trains 2 Tim. 3:16
• equips for every good work 2 Tim. 3:17
• produces faith Rm. 10:17
• produces hope Rm. 15:4
• produces holiness Ps. 119:11
• produces freedom Jm. 1:25
• produces fruit Ps. 1:2-3
• accomplishes God’s purposes Is. 55:10-11
• washes/cleanses Eph. 5:26
• refreshes our soul Ps. 19:7
• makes the simple wise Ps. 19:7
• gives joy to the heart Ps. 19:8
• gives light to the eyes Ps. 19:8
• more precious than gold Ps. 19:10
• sweeter than honey Ps. 19:10
• great reward in keeping God’s decrees Ps. 19:11
• the story of God’s love for us Jn. 3:16
eg. Audrey’s love letter (books) to me…
-hold up old Bible…but this book is even more precious to me…I want the same for you…
My hope is that some of these truths about God’s word will inspire you again…give you a reason to connect with it (and Him) in a deeper way, seeking to hear God’s voice speaking a fresh word to you…
Conclusion and Response
-ultimately it is the work of God’s Spirit to open our eyes, ears, hearts, minds to God’s word, make it come alive, transform it from words on a page to a living word from God Himself…give us a desire (hunger and thirst) for God’s word…
God’s Spirit will help you love the Bible even more than you already do…He gives us love for the Lord which makes us love His word…
So all we need to do is to make a choice to open the Bible and read…and to find a group of people to do it with…discuss, share together, discern what God is saying together…
* what would that look like for you? what steps can you take to deepen your relationship with God through His word? who wants to love the Bible even more?
* by show of hands…who wants to go deeper in your relationship with the Bible?
Prayer…Worship…