Please Turn to: Nehemiah chapter 8
As you can see, the title of my message this morning is "The Water Gate Incident."
Those of you who were at our Sunrise service last Sunday may remember that I mentioned the Watergate Scandal —
When President Nixon tried to cover up his illegal activity and was eventually forced to resign as president of the United States.
And I almost apologized this morning for mentioning it two weeks in a row,
But in reality, I’m not going to say anything else about Richard Nixon this morning.
And we’re not going to talk about the Watergate incident that happened in Washington D.C. in 1974.
Instead, we’re going to talk about another Water Gate incident that happened in the year 445 BC.
Neh 7:73b-8:3 — When the seventh month came and the Israelites had settled in their towns, all the people assembled as one man in the square before the WATER GATE. They told Ezra the scribe to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded for Israel. So on the first day of the seventh month Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, which was made up of men and women and all who were able to understand. He read it aloud from daybreak till noon as he faced the square before the Water Gate in the presence of the men, women and others who could understand. And all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law.
So far in the book of Nehemiah, we’ve seen how Nehemiah went about accomplishing the work given to him by God —
— rebuilding the walls and gates of Jerusalem.
The work was begun in the first month, and it was completed on the twenty-fifth day of the sixth month.
And I have to make a correction to some of my previous sermons from Nehemiah:
I’ve been assuming that the months being mentioned in the book of Nehemiah were the Jewish months,
But I just learned that the names of the months in the book of Nehemiah were actually the Babylonian names for the 12 months.
Anyway, chapter eight begins on the first day of the seventh month — the month called Ethanim, by the Babylonians;
which would be about October 8, 445 B.C.
And the lesson for us in Chapter 8 is that after reconstruction, there is also a need for re-instruction.
That is, that all of us need to learn to see life from God’s perspective.
We need to change the way we think about ourselves,
and we need to change the way we think about life.
All of us grow up in the world and live in the world and learn many things from the world;
— ideas and attitudes that we sometimes don’t even realize are ungodly.
And so, we need to be re-instructed about these things.
The New Testament verse that we can compare with the lesson found in Nehemiah chapter 8 is
Romans 12:2 — "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind."
How can we renew our mind today?
The same way that God’s people renewed their minds in the time of Nehemiah: through the Word of God.
If you need to change things in your life, those changes will come through knowledge of the Word of God;
As Jesus said in John 8:32 — "...the truth will set you free."
If you have a new VCR and it’s not working properly, what should you do?
You should read the instructions.
Well, the Bible is God’s instruction book for our lives.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 — All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
And so, when something is going wrong in our lives, why is it that the last thing we think of is to read the Bible?
When, in fact, the Bible contains instruction we need to live righteous lives.
Also, the instruction book for your new VCR will tell you to push certain buttons and set certain switches and put the tape in like this.....
But what if you just ignored the instructions and pushed whatever buttons you wanted and set the switches all wrong....?
You’d mess it up!
And in the same way, the Bible is our instruction book,
but it will only help us if we do what it says to do.
The Bible says to live your life a certain way:
— Do this.....Don’t do that.....Live like this.....Don’t live like that.....
But what if you just ignore the instructions and do whatever you want and live however you like.....?
You’ll mess your life up just like you messed your VCR up!
So considering all of this, it should not surprise us that immediately after the reconstruction of the walls was complete,
There was a great hunger among these people for re-instruction from the Word of God.
And so they all gather before the Water Gate (which is probably the gate that led to the Spring of Gihon outside the city walls).
This morning, we’re going to look through chapter 8 at some lessons and principles about the Word of God that we can use in our lives today.
THE FIRST LESSON that caught my attention as I read Nehemiah chapter 8 was at the end of verse 3:
"And all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law."
And the lesson is this: THE BIBLE DESERVES YOUR COMPLETE ATTENTION!
Turn to Luke chapter 10
We should be eager to learn what the Bible says
If there was a student at SLU who enrolled for 28 units, would you say he was "eager to learn?" Probably.
But what if he only went to one class each week for one hour?
Would you say he was "eager to learn"? NO!
In the same way, if the only time you spend studying God’s word is Sunday morning for about an hour,
Then I would say that you also are not "eager to learn" God’s Word.
Verse 3 says that the people listened to the Word of God from dawn until noon!
That is eagerness, and we should all be the same.
This lesson reminds me of Mary and Martha:
Luke 10:38-42 — As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!" "Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."
Here was Martha — so busy; cooking, cleaning, washing....
And here was Mary, listening to the words of Jesus.
Learn this lesson today from the response of Jesus:
Reading your Bible (learning the Word of God) is more important than cooking.
And reading your Bible is more important than cleaning.
And reading your Bible is more important than washing.
The people at the Water Gate in Nehemiah chapter 8 gave God’s Word their COMPLETE ATTENTION.
And so should we.
Well, let’s move on...
Nehemiah 8:4-6 — Ezra the scribe stood on a high wooden platform built for the occasion. Beside him on his right stood Matti-thiah, Shema, Ana-iah, Uriah, Hil-kiah and Maase-iah; and on his left were Peda-iah, Mishael, Malki-jah, Hashum, Hash-bad-danah, Zechariah and Meshullam. Ezra opened the book. All the people could see him because he was standing above them; and as he opened it, the people all stood up. Ezra praised the LORD, the great God; and all the people lifted their hands and responded, "Amen! Amen!" Then they bowed down and worshipped the LORD with their faces to the ground.
The next lesson from Nehemiah chapter 8 is that THE BIBLE DESERVES YOUR RESPECT.
Notice that Ezra the priest appears for the first time in the book of Nehemiah.
Remember that in the Jewish Bible, Ezra and Nehemiah were considered to be one book;
sort of like the New Testament books of Luke and Acts.
Thirteen years earlier, Ezra had led a group of Jews from Persia to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple and to teach the Law of God.
Apparently he had been in Jerusalem all during the rebuilding of the wall,
but Ezra was not the one God had called to do that work, so he remained in the background.
But now, when the people have finished their work,
they are eager to hear from the Word of God so they again asked Ezra to lead them in this.
They built a high stage and Ezra stood up there and read God’s Word to the people.
And here’s what stood out to me in verse 5:
When Ezra opened the Bible, all the people stood up.
Have you ever been in a courtroom? Or seen one on TV or in a movie?
What happens when the judge walks in?
The bailiff says, "all rise."
And everyone stands up...................out of respect for the judge.
Well, no one deserves more respect than God.
Revelation 7:9 — After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb.
Revelation 7:11 — All the angels were standing around the throne
So Ezra is standing up on the stage and when he opens the Word of God, all the people stand up — out of respect for God’s Word.
And this is what gets me: They stood there from dawn until noon listening to the Word of God.
How did it make you feel when I told you that you would have to stand for my whole sermon?
You were probably a little bit upset — maybe even angry.
But we also need to show respect to God’s Word:
And what that means mostly for us today is not that we should stand during the sermon, but that:
We should do what the Bible tells us to do.
We should not do what the Bible tells us not to do.
And we should live our lives like the Bible tells us to live our lives.
Have you ever heard of Shirley MacLaine? (She’s a fairly famous actress)
I have no respect for Shirley MacLaine.
She is an ungodly, atheist — and I don’t respect her.
One other thing that Shirley MacLaine is famous for is her books.
And her books are the kind of books that give you suggestions on how to live your life.
And I would never, never, never do what Shirley MacLaine told me to do in her books.
And I would never live my life like her books tell me to live my life.
Because I don’t respect her.
But I do respect God — more than anyone else.
And so I try my best to do what God tells me to do in his book.
And I try my best to live my life as God tells me to live in the Bible.
And so should you.
Because if you don’t do what the Bible tells you to do.
And if you do what the Bible tells you not to do,
Then you’re being disrespectful to God’s Word;
You’re being disrespectful to God himself.
The Bible deserves our respect because it is the Words of God.
Let’s look now at verses 7-8:
The Levites — Jeshua, Bani, Shere-biah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Ma-aseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan and Pela-iah — instructed the people in the Law while the people were standing there. They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people could understand what was being read.
You see what’s happening here:
Ezra is up on the stage and the people are standing all around them.
Now, the phrase, "while the people were standing there" actually should say, "the people remained in their places."
And the phrase, "making it clear" could also mean that they were "translating it."
In other words, Ezra would read the Bible, but it was written in Hebrew and most of these Jews spoke Aramaic or the Babylonian language,
So while "the people remained in their places,"
These Levites would walk around among them,
1) Translating the words into Aramaic and Babylonian, and then
2) Making the meaning of those words clear.
So, there are times when some interpretation of God’s Word is necessary; we know that.
But, you should also be aware of a promise found in:
2 Corinthians 1:13 — (in which Paul says) ...we do not write you anything you cannot read or understand...
You don’t need to be a pastor or a teacher to understand the Bible.
God promises that there in nothing in His Word that you cannot read and understand.
John 16:12-14 — "I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you."
You don’t need me to tell you what the Bible means.
You just need to read the Bible and the Holy Spirit, living in you, will make the meaning clear to you.
Our next lesson comes from
Nehemiah 8:9 and verses 13-18— When Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to them all, "This day is sacred to the LORD your God. Do not mourn or weep." For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law.
Does this happen to you?
When you read the Bible and you realize that you have been disobedient, what is your reaction?
These people in Nehemiah chapter 8 mourned and wept when they realized how disobedient they had been.
God’s Word should always have that effect on our lives.
When you read the Bible and you find that you’ve been disobedient (even if you didn’t know it),
you should change your actions to match God’s Word
Verses 13-18 give us an example of how to do this:
The people heard that God’s Word commanded that they were to celebrate the Feast of Tents in a certain way,
but they had not done it correctly since the time of Joshua — more than 1,000 years before!
So when they heard that they had been disobedient,
they immediately went out and celebrated the Feast of Tents in the way commanded in God’s Word.
Now, some people don’t do this.
Some people, instead of changing their actions to match God’s Word, they change the meaning of God’s Word to match their actions.
A few years ago, there was a young man here in Baguio who was very interested in Lenae.
And he told her this.
But Lenae told him that she was not interested in him (maybe because she was already interested in me!) J
Well, several months later, he wrote her a letter saying,
"I think that maybe when you told me you weren’t interested in me, that maybe I misunderstood you.
I think that maybe you really meant that you were interested in me."
And he had deceived himself into believing the exact opposite of what Lenae had actually said.
And people do this with the things that God says as well:
The Bible says something very clearly and people say,
"It doesn’t really, mean that.....it really means this other thing..."
The cults are experts at this — especially when it comes to the belief that Jesus is God:
"When Jesus says ‘I and the Father are one,’ he doesn’t mean that they are one. He means that they have the same purpose."
We shouldn’t change the Bible to match what we believe or to match our lifestyle;
We should change our beliefs and our lifestyles to match what the Bible says.
Our last lesson from Nehemiah chapter 8 is found in verses 10-12:
Nehemiah said, "Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength." The Levites calmed all the people, saying, "Be still, for this is a sacred day. Do not grieve." Then all the people went away to eat and drink, to send portions of food and to celebrate with great joy, because they now understood the words that had been made known to them.
Does verse 10 sound familiar? Maybe if I read it in the King James Version:
Neh 8:10 — 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, now you know where that song comes from.
But the lesson I want to focus on in these verses is the joy that comes from the Lord.
Nehemiah said, "The joy of the Lord is your strength."
Literally he said, "The joy of the Lord is your fortress."
or, "The joy of the Lord is your protection."
This is still true today:
Rom 14:17 — For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit,
So we can see here that God is not satisfied with only righteousness and peace in our lives.
Paul tells us very plainly that the kingdom of God is also a matter of joy.
Without joy, our lives cannot be completely pleasing to God.
And the fact is that only Christians have a reason to be joyful,
because the joy that Christians have is eternal.
Any other kind of joy — other than the joy of the Lord — is only temporary.
1 Thessalonians 5:16 commands us to "be joyful always."
And joy is listed as a fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22,
which means that if we are living a godly, Christian life, joy will be a natural result.
But, like all the fruits of the Spirit, we can (and are expected to) grow in our joy. How?
The lesson of Nehemiah chapter 8 is that reading and understanding God’s Word will bring us joy:
Verse 12: Then all the people went away to eat and drink, to send portions of food and to celebrate with great joy, because they now understood the words that had been made known to them.
The more you study and understand God’s Word, the more your joy will increase.
A Christian who is not growing more and more joyful as the years go by
is a Christian who is not regularly reading and studying God’s Word.
So I hope you’ll remember these lessons from Nehemiah chapter 8:
The Bible deserves your complete attention;
Reading God’s word is more important than cooking or cleaning or washing....
The Bible deserves your respect;
That means that your should live your life like the Bible instructs you to live your life,
And you should not do the things that the Bible tells you not to do.
There is nothing in the Bible that you cannot read and understand.
You should change your actions to match what the Bible says,
not change what the Bible says to justify your actions or decisions or lifestyle.
You should increase your joy by reading and studying the Bible.
Don’t ever forget the importance of the Bible for your Christian life:
The Bible is food for a Christian’s spirit —
If you eat one meal a week, can you live? NO!
You’ll die — slower than if you didn’t eat anything at all, but still, you would die.
Sunday morning is just one meal for your week.
If this is the only time you’re feeding yourself God’s Word,
— then you are dying.
Spiritually dying.
But, just like food for a starving man,
Anytime you start feeding yourself God’s Word again,
You’ll start growing again in your Christian life.
