The Restoring Power Of God's Word

c. They were attentive to the Word.

i. You see how long they listened as the Word of God was read and explained to them? From early morning until noon. Again in 9:3, we see that they came together again and listened for three hours.

1. Let’s tell the truth now. We start getting antsy if a sermon goes more than a half an hour. Let’s be honest.

2. We start shifting positions every 5 seconds, looking at the watch every 15 seconds, staring out the window, reading through the bulletin 5 times.

3. Let’s face it, sometimes we start zoning out.

4. But these people, they were there. They didn’t just sit through it because they felt that it was their religious duty, they sat through it because they had a genuine desire to hear and to know the Word of God.

d. They revered the Word.

i. When Ezra read the Word, he stood on a high wodden platform that was raised up above everyone and everything else.

1. Now I’m sure that this helped the entire assembly to hear what was being said and to see the speaker, but this was not the only reason for it.

2. It was symbolic of their placement of the Word of God in absolute authority over everyone and everything else there.

ii. There was a solemn mood in the community that day as they gathered there for the reading of the Law. We see that as the Book was opened, the Israelites all stood in reverence.

1. You can almost hear the hush over the crowd that day as they all stood awaiting God’s Word.

2. You can feel the sense of awe that was spread throughout the people: you can feel the sacredness of the moment.

1. You see, in their restoration, the Israelites seemed to once again take hold of the fact that God’s word is to be handled with the absolute utmost of respect and that the Word is to be held in the highest authority over the spiritual community

iii. We’ve got to stop putting the Word of God on equal ground with all of the popular authors of the day and with all of the popular ideas of the day.

1. John Maxwell, as great as he is on the topic of leadership is not on equal footing with the Living Word of God!!

2. Max Lucado, as inspirational as his writings may sometimes be, is not a rival of God’s Word!

3. You need answers to life’s problems… don’t go to Family Christian Bookstores to look for a book… certainly don’t look in the direction of horoscopes and new age writing.

4. Don’t turn to John Maxwell or Max Lucado, Billy Graham, Binny Hinn, or anybody else before you look in the Word of God!

a. It’s great that we have all of these resources at our fingertips and they can be extremely helpful at times, but only when they are in complete and utter submission to this Book.

iv. We, as the people of God, must put the Word of God once again in it’s rightful place of authority in our lives, in our families, and in our churches if we ever expect God to move among us.

III. There was chain of events that resulted from the Israelites new commitment to the Word of God. There were several things that happened as a result of it.

a. They were reminded of God’s Goodness. (8:9-11)