The Joy of the Lord is Your Strength

He foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that He was not abandoned to Hades nor did His flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we are all witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.

Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the rest of the apostles, brothers, what shall we do? And Peter said to them, repent and be baptised, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to Himself. And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, save yourselves from this crooked generation. For those who received the word were baptised and there were added that day about 3,000 souls.

And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favour with all the people, and the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Well, I hope, brothers and sisters, that that reading that Josh — those two readings that Josh took — that you'll see how that fits in with our topic this morning as we proceed. I want to ask you to turn to the book of Nehemiah this morning. It's not a book that we often hear sermons on, but we will this morning. We're going to look at Nehemiah chapter eight and I want to take you through the first 10 verses of Nehemiah 8 this morning, and if you'd like to leave your Bible open there as we study this portion of God's word this morning, that will be helpful. But let me read with you from Nehemiah 8 from verse one. And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the Water Gate.

And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses that the Lord had commanded him. 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 Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men, the women and all who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law. And Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden platform that they had made for the purpose. Beside him stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, Maaseiah on his right hand, and Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashbadanah, Zechariah and Meshullam on his left hand. And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people, and as he opened it, all the people stood. And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people answered, Amen, Amen, lifting up their hands, and they bowed their heads and worshipped the Lord with their faces to the ground.

Also Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah and the Levites helped the people to understand the law, while the people remained in their place. They read from the book of the law of God clearly and they gave the sense so that the people understood the reading. And I guess, Josh, you're glad you didn't give you that reading to read as well. Few very difficult names there. Brothers and sisters in Christ, in 1740 the English preacher George Whitefield visited the American city of Boston.

Within days the crowd outgrew the church where Whitefield was preaching and so he went open air and addressed some 5,000 people on Boston Common. The following Sunday that crowd had increased to 8,000 and eventually George Whitefield preached in Boston to as many as 15,000 people at one time. But what was remarkable about the Great Awakening was not just the crowds. It was the way in which God changed people through the preaching of the word. Let me just read to you a report from that time, and I'm quoting.

There came to us boys and girls, young men and women, Indians and Afro-Americans, some in great distress for fear of being unconverted, others lest they had all along been building on a righteousness of their own, and more still in the gall of bitterness over their own sins. Some fearing lest the Holy Spirit should withdraw Himself, others in great anxiety lest He should leave them forever. Other equally remarkable results followed. No less than 30 religious societies were formed in the city. Churches were overcrowded and ministers preached in private homes most evenings of the week.

It was said that the very face of Boston was strangely altered. Even the street loafers no longer made themselves objectionable and the taverns were all but deserted. End of quote. Interesting, brothers and sisters, that throughout history God has again and again brought about wonderful times of revival, periods of spiritual refreshing and an awakening of faith in the community. Our most telling example was probably from that second reading Josh took through from Acts chapter two, the day of Pentecost, when God's Spirit transformed more than 3,000 lives.

This morning we're going to look at this passage from Nehemiah, an Old Testament time of revival during the time of Nehemiah. Nehemiah 8, congregation, especially brings home to us the role that is played by the word of God, that the preaching of the word has been an inseparable part of every true revival. Now I want to show you this morning five different ways in which the importance of God's word is brought out by Nehemiah. First of all, did you notice how the chapter begins? Have a look again at the commencement in the opening verse.

It's not with Nehemiah calling the people together, it's not with the priests sending out an order to gather together. It begins with a united desire on the part of the people to hear God's word. Verse one, all the people assembled as one man in the square before the Water Gate. Then we see that the whole community was there. Verse two spells out for us what that community consisted of. The crowd, it says, was made up of men and women and all who were able to understand.

So all except the very, very young. There were the mums, the dads, the teenagers, the grandparents, and verse three repeats that just in case you missed the point. And some six times in this chapter, it refers to all the people. The whole community was gathered. The second place, congregation, that crowd was not there to watch the Springboks playing the Wallabies.

It wasn't the grand final of the Jerusalem Soccer Association. What they came for as one man, unitedly, was a worship service, the reading of God's word and the listening to the explanation of it. And again, did you notice who takes the initiative? Not the priests, not Nehemiah saying, well, folks, I've called this meeting and so let's begin with a Bible reading.

No, there is this spontaneous desire on the part of the people to hear the word of God. So they asked Ezra the scribe to come and to bring the scrolls of the book of Moses. Do you know what that's like, friends? That would be like Pastor Ben getting a phone call in the middle of the week from the church here saying, Pastor Ben, the whole community is waiting for you at church. Get yourself over here and make sure you bring your Bible.

That's a little what it was like. Okay, I need to make some qualifications this morning. These folks did not all own a scroll of the book of Moses. They didn't have the modern study Bibles that you and I have with their maps and their concordances in the back and their explanatory notes.

They were totally dependent on the public reading of the scriptures, but the point is they were hungry for that to happen. They just wanted to hear the word, and we, who so often don't make good use of our fancy Bibles, we can learn from that this morning. Thirdly, please notice that when Ezra does begin, it's not just a twenty-five minute sermon. We've got people today who tell us that our attention span is about six to eight minutes, so I should be losing most of you about now. So we're told we shouldn't have half-hour sermons.

Instead we should just have ten minute sermonettes. That's fine if you want to be a Christianette. Sermonettes produce Christianettes. If we're going to be fed spiritually as Christians, then we need more than ten minute homilies. For these people, friends, it was not just an hour and a half in church and, oh no, the preacher who preaches too long. But did you notice from verse three how long this service went for?

It says Ezra read from daybreak till noon. Can you imagine that, from sunrise until lunchtime? When was the last time that you spent six hours in church, except for maybe a working bee? I would hazard a guess that none of us have ever spent six hours in church. Six whole hours, and we don't read that they had a coffee break halfway through.

They even came back for more the next day. Many Christians, congregation, would love to have God revive their spiritual life, but we whinge when church goes a little too long and we don't have time for our Bible reading at home. We're too busy. We've got to watch the idiot box and catch up with our phones. Fourthly, please notice that these people listened attentively.

They put some effort into their listening. You know, this morning there are two ways in which you can sit here in church under the preaching of God's word. One way is, yes, you can be here physically but not emotionally or spiritually, and so during the sermon you kind of let your eyes glaze over like fish in a fish market and you sit there dreaming of your plans for the coming week. Maybe you even take a sneaky peek at your mobile phone, not to look at the Bible app, but to catch up with social media. Of course, you do that very discreetly so that others don't notice.

The other way is to give your full undivided attention to what God is saying to you through His word. And that's what these folk did. Notice verse four. In the NIV it says and all the people listened attentively to the book of the law, but I love the way in which it's expressed in the Hebrew text. When you as parents watch your children, or when you used to watch your children, you might have said to them, I've got my eye on you.

Well, a Hebrew who listens intently would say, I have my ears upon you. And so verse three in the Hebrew literally reads, and I think our ESV does a good job of the translation, the ears of all the people were upon the book. And not only that, congregation, when Ezra opens the book, all the people stood up, verse five. Commentators tell us that they stood because of respect for the word of God, and I agree with that. It would seem to be the main reason, but let me add another reason.

Six hours of Bible reading and explanation. I don't know whether they had comfortable pews or whether they sat on the ground or brought chairs, but six hours, how do you stop yourself dozing off? Yes, you may stand if you're having problems, we won't hold it against you. Fifthly, this was not just passive listening, there was active participation. They were not there just as spectators, they were involved.

When Ezra led in worship, there were some hearty amens from the congregation. We read about that in our text. You know, some people, particularly in reformed churches I guess, and Presbyterian churches, often have a problem with audibly affirming God's word in worship. I can remember an incident from when I was a teenager in our church. We had a visitor from another church and a little bit into the sermon, he said quite loudly, Praise the Lord! We heard it right through the church. A brother in front turned around and said to him, we don't do that here.

Really? We don't praise the Lord here? In Nehemiah's day the amens rang out. Did you read in the text they even lifted their hands? That's pretty radical and then it says they bowed down and worshipped the Lord with their faces to the ground.

Not even our Pentecostal brothers and sisters have been able to get that right. Okay, let's get serious, congregation. Why is there this awesome worship service lasting six hours in Nehemiah 8? Active participation in a worship service by a whole community of people. For some six hours they listened attentively, reverently, to the word of God, and it's not because their leaders said they had to.

They wanted to. Why? Nehemiah 8, brothers and sisters, comes after the rebuilding of the wall around Jerusalem, that's been finished at last. Think of it, years and years of hard work, love, sweat and tears, but at last the walls are again intact and now they're celebrating.

But it's not with a party at the local pub, it's with a worship service. This worship flows out of gratitude for the city walls having been rebuilt. Okay. Those walls were more than just a means of protecting the city and keeping it safe. It was also a sign of God's blessing and God's care for them.

But you and I this morning have a far, far greater reason for gratitude. We know the Saviour who gave His life so that we could be forgiven. We know the awesome price that made eternal life possible for us, the blood and sweat and tears, the hell that Jesus went through on the cross on our behalf. Let's then resolve, congregation, to be no less anxious to hear the word of God, to listen to it attentively.

Let's resolve to be no less enthusiastic in a worship service that is in praise of our wonderful, glorious Saviour. I want to zero in a little further this morning on the sermon of that morning and the people's response to it. You notice that the emphasis is on the reading of God's word. The focus is on the scriptures. And so Ezra reads from the word of God from a pulpit.

So these people had even gone to the trouble of erecting a high platform for the occasion. Not a nice piece of church furniture, but simply so that Ezra could be seen and heard. Because the point is that Ezra was not just there to give his views on the finished walls, nor was he there to tell them about their political bosses, the Medes and the Persians. He was there for one reason and one reason alone, that was to open the word of God to the people, and that's where preaching should always be, friends, not the preacher's opinions on whatever. A few Sundays ago I went to an evening service on the Gold Coast and the sermon that night, if you can call it a sermon, was a half-hour talk about psychological issues we face, with one or two texts thrown in here and there to make it seem Christian.

But it was not the explanation and application of God's word. That's what preaching should always be. Secondly, we notice that they had the word of God explained to them. The meaning was made clear to them, and maybe you're wondering this morning, why was that needed? Well, it was needed for the same reason that you buy a Bible with explanatory notes, study notes.

For the same reason that you go to a Bible study. For the same reason that I'm explaining things to you this morning. And one of the reasons is because there are cultural differences that often need explanation and some of those cultural differences would already have been there at Nehemiah's time. Another reason perhaps is because sometimes there are things in the Bible we don't like to hear and so we kind of skip over them. We need to have attention drawn to it by someone, and so it's explained. And Ezra is assisted in that by a team of 13 Levites. They played an important role, so important that the names of all 13 are carefully listed.

Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, and all those others whose names even I had trouble pronouncing this morning, but they're singled out because they helped Ezra in reading and in the explanation of God's word. I'm not sure, congregation, how that worked, except that I know that there is no way that Ezra could have kept speaking for six hours. So maybe they simply shared in the reading and explanation, or maybe they broke into small groups. I don't know. But it was all to make God's word clear to the people so they understood what God was saying to them in the scriptures.

Maybe this morning it's also noteworthy what was read. It wasn't the story of the judges or Israel's kings. It wasn't from Chronicles or Samuel. It was the book of the law of Moses, the first five books, what we call the Pentateuch.

Some of us may ask, well, you know, what's so remarkable about that? Isn't that what we would expect? I mean, this is the Old Testament and in the Old Testament the emphasis is on the law, right? The commandments. So of course they would read from the books of Moses because that's what the Old Testament is all about.

I'm sometimes surprised, friends, when people talk as if people in the Old Testament were saved in a different way to the way in which you and I are saved, and some will verbalise that. They'll say, in the Old Testament, we were saved by keeping the law; in the New Testament, we're saved by grace. Wrong. There's only ever been one way to be saved and that's by grace alone through faith alone. These people are not reading the law of Moses to find a way as to how to become God's people.

No. These people are God's people, but they're wanting to know how to obey God. They're wanting to know what kind of life it is that pleases Him. And again, we need to think of those walls of Jerusalem. They've been torn down. Why?

Because of Israel's disobedience, because of their constant idolatry. Generation after generation of Israel had broken God's law and when God could stand it no longer, He sent the Babylonians in to put an end to it all. And for seventy years, brothers and sisters, for seventy years Israel had ample time to reflect on why those walls had been broken down. Can you see why they now come together and they want the book of the law of Moses to be read?

They don't want history to repeat itself. They want to know how to be an obedient people, to learn once again what it is that God blesses and also to take warning lest God disciplines them for further disobedience. It's the law of Moses that's read. It's the law of Moses that's explained to help them to live as God's people. The upshot, congregation, is interesting.

They respond to God's word with a great deal of distress. In our text, we read that there is a real brokenness before God as they take the message of God's word to heart. In the light of the word of God, they see how deeply as a nation they have offended Him. And so there is this outpouring of grief. These people openly weep as Ezra reads from the word of God, so much so they've got to be told to stop.

Let me say that this is especially, friends, where true revival begins. True revival begins with us humbling ourselves before the Lord. It begins with a consciousness of our offences against God's perfect holiness. During the Great Awakening that I mentioned at the beginning this morning, there was another preacher, Jonathan Edwards, who preached a powerful sermon that became a Christian classic. If you're interested, look it up when you get home. The title of the sermon was Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.

A very moving sermon. That sermon, when Jonathan Edwards preached it, was deeply affecting his congregation, so much so that Edwards had to pause again and again for people to control themselves, because for the first time they really saw themselves as they are by nature, sinful, in need of Jesus, in need of forgiveness. So I wanted us to read this morning also from Acts chapter two. The apostle Peter preached and in Acts 2 we saw exactly the same response. We read there, when the people heard this, they were cut to the heart. And why shouldn't they be?

And why shouldn't we be cut to the heart? We today, we've seen the severity of human rebellion, not just in some torn-down walls around a city, but we've seen God's judgment in the agonising hell that Jesus went through on our behalf on Good Friday. We've got far more reason for knowing this morning how awful sin is. It needed the cross of Christ to deal with it. I wonder, brothers and sisters, when was the last time that you knew real brokenness before God? And I don't mean the distress that happens when we find ourselves caught out doing the wrong thing.

I was distressed the other day because I got caught speeding. I've got a fine to pay so I'm distressed, but I didn't get distressed so quickly because I broke God's commandment, which tells us to obey the authorities and through them the road signs. What I'm talking about is the distress that our sins caused, the wounds of Jesus. When did that last happen?

Thankfully, congregation, true revival doesn't end with weeping. Our text has a beautiful balance between law and grace. Yes, the law is preached and it brings that outpouring of distress, but Ezra admonishes them not to grieve. He comforts them by assuring them that their tears have made this a sacred day.

I think it's beautiful, congregation, how God meets their repentance with His pardon. He removes their guilt with His grace. He's truly a forgiving God, and so Nehemiah calls a halt to their mourning and weeping. The law's been preached, but now grace must also be preached. It reminds us that God's word is sent to disturb the comfortable and to comfort the disturbed. And so this morning, if you're sitting here in church and you're complacent in your spiritual life, then may God's word disturb you.

But if you're disturbed and you're grieving over your spiritual condition, then may God's word comfort you. Yes, there are times where we need God's law to pull us out of our apathy, but when we then grieve over our sin, we also need the gospel to again give us hope. Both are needed and the one should follow the other. Congregation, it's because God is a gracious and pardoning God that Nehemiah steps in and he calls the people to go and rejoice and celebrate. Modern translation would be: party time, folks.

It says wonderful things. Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks. It's a festive day made holy by God's work in them. And so this six-hour worship service leads into a wonderful time of joyful celebration. So I want to say two things about this joyful celebration, congregation.

Nehemiah is particularly concerned that their celebration doesn't turn into a kind of self-centred binge, and so he calls on them to also send some nice things to those who have nothing prepared. These festivities are not to become a cause for every man for himself. Brothers and sisters, when we come away from worship, when we begin to experience God's grace and celebrate that, then that's not the time to become selfish, and I think that has implications for us as well, for when we come away from our worship, even for the way in which we enjoy a cuppa out there and for the rest of our Sunday. You see, celebration is difficult for those who are lonely and for those who are strangers. The rest of this chapter takes the celebrations even further.

So our warning that the celebration must never become self-centred, the focus now becomes the whole community and it leads to a week-long time of festivities. It actually turns out that what's coming up is the Feast of Tabernacles, so this celebration at the end of the worship service flows into the Feast of Tabernacles, a week-long celebration. In fact, it says in verse 17, there was the best celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles since the time of Joshua. Those who've experienced God's grace should be joyful, but never joyful on their own. They belong to a joy-filled community that is on its way to that great party at the end of the ages.

Congregation, it's in that context that Nehemiah pronounces those lovely words, the joy of the Lord is your strength. Notice that Nehemiah does not say those new walls around Jerusalem are your strength. No, he says, the joy of the Lord is your strength. Israel was strong only as it rejoiced in God. And again, that's one of the reasons I wanted to read that second passage from the book of Acts.

The early church was a strong church, but why? Because it knew the joy of God in the gospel of Jesus. It knew God's grace over against our guilt. It's why Paul says in Philippians, rejoice in the Lord always. It's why we read at the end of Acts chapter two that the church was celebrating with great joy and they shared all things in common.

Isaiah already predicted it in that fifty-fifth chapter, stating that God's word accomplishes the purpose for which He sends it out, it doesn't return to Him empty. And then Isaiah goes on to speak about us going out in joy and even the mountains bursting into song. The point is, congregation, that for Christians our joy is not contrived. It's not artificial. It flows into our life.

It bubbles up out of the saving work of Jesus in us. It flows from the grace of God, because of knowing that in Jesus we're forgiven, in knowing that through Him, through His doing, dying and victory, we have eternal life. And congregation, in that we find our strength, also our strength to face the coming week. So let me conclude by saying, congregation, brothers and sisters, if you want to be strong, it needs to be in the joy of the Lord. But remember what it led to here in Nehemiah 8. They devoted themselves to God's word and to worship. They knew what it was to be broken before God and His demands on our life, but they also knew the awesome wonder of a gracious, pardoning God.

May that be the way in which we too find strength for the week ahead. Let me lead you in prayer. Father, thank you for this lovely chapter in the book of Nehemiah. We thank you for the many gems that are contained in your word. We know that all of your word is God-breathed, it's inspired and it's profitable for teaching, for rebuke and for training in righteousness.

But sometimes, Lord, there are these passages that stand out for us, and this morning, Heavenly Father, we've seen again the way in which You work in the lives of your people through the mystery of the spoken and read word and the explanation of it to your people. Father, we pray that we may go with no illusions this morning about our need for Jesus as we go into this new week. And may we look to your grace and your goodness, your forgiveness and your gift of eternal life. And may we, in that way, find strength for all that lies before us in this new week, so that You may receive the glory and praise now and always. Amen.