Hearing the Word of God
Please turn in your Bibles to Nehemiah chapter 8. Nehemiah chapter 8, as we begin a new year. I thought this would be a fitting portion of Scripture. Basically, it's how to hear, how to receive the Word of God. I certainly don't come to you as one who has mastered this. I come as one who is struggling by God's grace to hear the Word and apply it in my own life. I think there are some good instructive lessons here in Nehemiah chapter 8 in terms of a corporate response to God's Holy Word. So I'll just pick up reading in Nehemiah chapter 8 Actually, the last portion of chapter 7 says, When the seventh month came, the children of Israel were in their cities. Now all the people gathered together as one man in the open square that was in front of the water gate. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded Israel. So Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly of men and women and all who could hear with understanding on the first day of the seventh month. Then he read from it in the open square that was in front of the water gate from morning until midday before the men and women and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law. So Ezra the scribe stood on a platform of wood which they had made for the purpose. And beside him, at his right hand, stood Mattathiah, Shammah, Ananiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Messiah. And at his left hand, Podiah, Mishael, Malkijah, Hashem, Hashbadanah, Zechariah, and Mashulam. And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was standing above all the people. And when he opened it, all the people stood up. And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God. Then all the people answered, Amen, Amen, while lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshipped the Lord with their faces to the ground. Also, Jeshua, Bani, Sherabiah, Jaman, Aqab, Shabbatai, Hodijah, Messiah, Talitha, Azariah, Jezebel, Hanan, Peliah, and the Levites helped the people to understand the law. And the people stood in their place. So they read distinctly from the book in the law of God, and they gave the sense and helped them to understand the reading. And Nehemiah, who was the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, this day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn nor weep, for all the people wept when they heard the words of the law. Then he said to them, Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared, for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. So the Levites quieted all the people, saying, Be still, for the day is holy. Do not be grieved. And all the people went their way to eat and drink, to send portions, and rejoiced greatly, because they understood the words that were declared to them. Now on the second day, the heads of the fathers' houses of all the people, with the priests and Levites, were gathered to Ezra the scribe in order to understand the words of the law. And they found written in the law, which the Lord had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in booths during the feast of the seventh month, and that they should announce and proclaim in all their cities and in Jerusalem, saying, Go out to the mountain and bring olive branches, branches of oil trees, myrtle branches, palm branches, and branches of leafy trees to make booths as it is written. Then the people went out and brought them and made themselves booths, each one on the roof of his house, or in their courtyards, or the courts of the house of God, and in the open square of the water gate, and in the open square of the gate of Ephraim. So the whole assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths and sat under the booths. For since the days of Joshua the son of Nun, until that day, the children of Israel had not done so. And there was very great gladness. Also, day by day, from the first day until the last day, he read from the book of the law of God. And they kept the feast seven days, and on the eighth day there was a sacred assembly according to the prescribed manner. Amen. Well, let us pray. Father, we thank you for this portion of Holy Scripture, and we pray for the ministry of your Spirit now. We ask God that you would guide us and lead us into the truth of scripture. We pray that you would forgive us for all of our sins. We pray that you would cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We pray that you would be well pleased to meet with your people even now, Lord, and that you would just bless and strengthen each one of us. God, as we enter into a new year, I pray that we would have ears to hear the word of God, that we would have receptive hearts, that we would not go our own way, that we would not be stiff-necked and rebellious children of the living God. But grant us grace, Father, to follow You, to follow the Lamb wherever He bids us. Give us grace and a disposition to respond favorably to Your truth. Grant us humility, Father, all those things that we confess we don't have by nature. We pray that You would cleanse us now, that You would wash us, that You would purify us and fit us to receive Your truth, Lord God. And we ask in the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior. Amen. Well, before we get to some observations from the assembly and the way that they responded to the Word of God, it's good for us to understand the historical context of Nehemiah. You notice there in verse 17, it says, So the whole assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths and sat under the booths. This was the Feast of Tabernacles. The reference to the captivity there is the captivity in Babylon. Ezra and Nehemiah go together. Ezra was a scribe. He was gifted in the law of the Lord. We'll look at him in just a moment, or a portion from his book in just a moment. And then Nehemiah was the civil authority. He was the governor. He is best remembered for having rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem. Remember, in about 586 B.C., Babylon, led by Nebuchadnezzar, came in under the direction of God Most High. God the Lord is sovereign. He does whatever He pleases. He directed this as a means of chastisement for the people of Judah. They were not faithful to the covenant. They were not faithful to what God had stipulated in terms of their response to their Lord. So the judgment or the vengeance of the covenant was associated with the Babylonians. So God sends Nebuchadnezzar in. He had prophesied that it would be a period of 70 years. through Jeremiah, he instructed the people, he gave them directions. When they go into Babylon, they're to pray for the peace of the city that they find themselves in. They're to build, they're to plant, they're to live, they're to marry, they're to function as they would normally, even if they were in their land. So that was a period of 70 years. In 538 BC or thereabouts, Cyrus was the king of Persia. Cyrus led Persia into the position of world empire. And so basically, Cyrus put down Babylon. And as a result, Cyrus then issued a decree. You can read about this in 2 Chronicles 36 and in Ezra chapter 1. Cyrus issued a decree so that the people of Judah could return to their land and rebuild their temple and their city. Secular historians recognize the liberality of Cyrus. They realized that this was a good gig that this man did, that he issued this edict so that Israel could return to her land. Now, obviously, they don't say what 2 Chronicles 36 and Ezra 1 says. It says the Spirit of the Lord stirred up Cyrus so that he issued that particular edict. But be that as it may, the people of Israel, specifically the southern tribes of Judah, returned to their land. It wasn't a glorious return. Only about 50,000 people returned to Judah at that particular time. So many of the people that were in Babylon stayed there. They had been born, they had been raised, they had lived there all their lives. And so when the time came to return, many of them did not. Now Ezra specifically describes how the first wave of exiles returned home and rebuilt the temple. You remember the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, referred to them, actually preached through most of them, all through Haggai and just about all of Zechariah. They were the prophets at this particular time, preaching to the people, encouraging them to rebuild the temple, to build the house for the Lord. And so Ezra describes, Ezra chapters 1 to 6, describes the first wave of Judean exiles that returned to their land. And then Ezra 7 to 10, you can turn to Ezra 7 for just a moment, tells how Ezra taught God's law to the returned community. I think Ezra 7.10 is a great model for a preacher. Back in Ezra 7, verse 6, it describes what he is. Ezra 7, 6, This Ezra came up from Babylon, and he was a skilled scribe in the law of Moses, which the Lord God of Israel had given. Now notice his manner or his pattern in verse 10. For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel. So through diligent study and preparation, he looks to the law, not just first and foremost so that he can teach it as a scribe, but that he first and foremost could do that work and then teach it to others. A great practical pattern of gospel ministry in that particular instance. Now, Nehemiah was an official in the court of the Persian king, Artaxerxes. He twice served as governor of Judah. But he is, as I said, best remembered for making or for rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. And basically, in chapters 1 and 2 of Nehemiah, we have the preparation to reconstruct the wall. Chapters 3 to 7 is the reconstruction of the wall. So what we find here in chapter 8 is the reading of the law. Chapter 9, the people pray. Basically, it's a covenant renewal ceremony. They are basically taking upon themselves the prerogatives to obey and honor God and to serve Him in the land as returnees from this exile. Matthew Henry said of Ezra and Nehemiah, he said, In my esteem, Ezra the scribe and Nehemiah the Turshatha, which is governor, though neither of them ever wore a crown, commanded an army, conquered any country, or was famed for philosophy or oratory, yet both of them being pious and praying men, and very serviceable in their day to the Church of God and the interests of religion, were really greater men and more honorable, not only than any of the Roman consuls or dictators, but than Xenophon or Demosthenes or Plato himself, who lived at the same time. The bright ornaments of Greece." I don't think that's an understatement. These men accomplished a lot for the glory of God and for the people of God. So as I said, Nehemiah 8 to 10 describes the reading and hearing of the law, specifically in chapter 8. Chapter 9 is the confession of sin and chapter 10 is covenant renewal. So that's to put us in the historical framework. But as I said, when we make some observations on their response to the law, I think it is instructive for us in the church today. And the first thing we need to observe is that the people were expectant. I think this is very healthy and very important for the Church of Christ. We ought to be expectant on the Lord's Day. We ought to come with the expressed desire to hear from God. We're not simply wanting to hear moral truths. We're not simply wanting to hear stories. We don't want to hear life experiences. We don't want somebody to come up and share with us. but rather we expect to hear from the living God. Very often we get out of something what we put into it. And when we come expectantly, when we come greedily, when we come earnestly and desirously, then God willing, He will deliver the goods. Notice, the people were expectant. Verse 1, Now all the people gathered together as one man. It marks their unity of purpose. They weren't sort of scattered about. They weren't all sort of doing their own thing. The temple has been rebuilt. The walls of Jerusalem have been rebuilt. The people are feeling and sensing and knowing the blessing of God, and so they expect to hear now from God. They understand that they need to renew covenant. They understand that they went into Babylon because of the breach. And now they come out desiring to honor the Lord. They come expectantly. They come as one man in the open square that was in front of the water gate. Now notice in verse 1, they told Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded Israel. When you study the Scriptures or when you study church history, you know that when God is at work. God is at work when people are like this, when people want preaching, when they want the Scriptures, when they tell the Ezra's of the generation to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded Israel. There was an expectancy on their part. There was a man by the name of John Gerardo. He was a preacher, a Presbyterian pastor in the South in the 1800s. And he was a very lofty theologian. I mean, he dealt with the concepts of Calvinism and Reformed theology. sound doctrine and all that sort of thing, the Trinity. I mean, very lofty concepts. And he had quite a ministry to slaves. He had quite a ministry to black African slaves. They loved his preaching. They loved to listen to the Word of God. Let no one ever tell you that doctrine and those lofty concepts can't be brought to the people, because Gerardo did that. Well, they had scheduled several meetings, and initially it was just for prayer. And he said that, his biographer says that at one particular point, it was supposed to be a prayer meeting one night, and when he was about to exit the pulpit, the people basically said, preach to us. So they were, under the Spirit, desirous and expected to hear the Word of God. So what began as a prayer meeting ended with him preaching the Word to these people. When you survey the better times in Israel and in Judah, the people wanted the Scriptures. Remember, Paul tells Timothy, preach the word, be ready in season and out of season, convince, rebuke and exhort with all longsuffering and teaching. If Timothy were to say, why Paul? He would say, for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. Well, in Israel's history, when they did not endorse sound doctrine, they weren't doing well. But in Israel's history, when they were telling their preachers to bring the Word, to bring the Book, to teach to us from the Scriptures, that is a mark that God is at work. So I think we all need to examine our own hearts, not just corporately. Well, daily. Are we reading our Bibles expectantly? Are we reading our Bibles as one comes to a manual for our life and practice? Or are we reading our Bibles simply because that's what we do as Christians? Are we reading our Bibles because our fathers or our mothers are telling us to read our Bibles? Are we reading our Bibles simply to tell a spouse, hey, I read my Bible today? Or are we expecting to hear the voice of the living God? Again, we get out of something what we put into it. And if we are simply reading our Bibles to check the block off on our day timer, I can't imagine that's the best atmosphere to receive the blessing of God Most High. These people were expected. Matthew Henry said, God gave Ezra ability and authority, and then the people gave him opportunity and invitation. I think that's a great statement. God gave him ability and authority, and then the people gave him opportunity and invitation. You remember that great meeting when Peter has this vision of these animals, and God is teaching him to regard no man as unclean. And then Cornelius is getting a vision that he is to go and visit this man, Peter. Well, God brings these two men together under some extraordinary circumstances. And so they dispense with the brief greetings. And then what Cornelius says to Peter, I think, is very instructive in this regard. He says, Now, therefore, we are all present before God to hear all the things commanded you by God. He didn't want to hear about Peter. He didn't want to hear about Mrs. Peter. He didn't want to hear about Junior Peter. He didn't want to hear about the fishing business. He didn't want to hear how commerce was. He didn't want to hear about the political regime. He didn't want to know how it was going for Judah under Rome's authority at that particular time. He didn't care about all that stuff at this particular juncture. I'm not suggesting those things are unimportant and we shouldn't know something about each other. But in that instance, what Cornelius wanted was 16 ounces to the pound Bible exposition. He wanted to hear what God had commanded. And brethren, I submit that that is an attitude that we do well to imitate. We need to be expectant of hearing the Word of God. Notice, secondly, the people were attentive. That means they paid attention. They listened. They gave heed. They wanted to profit. Notice in verse 3, then he read from it in the open square that was in front of the water gate from morning until midday before the men and women and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law. Isn't that a great description? Literally, their ears were to the book. Their ears were to the book. Where the book of the law was and being read, that's where they were focused upon. That's what they were listening to. They wanted to hear the scriptures. It takes work to come in and listen to a man for 40 to 50 minutes, that's actually what I aim for, to preach the word of God. It takes effort because our natural gravity, or our natural disposition rather, is against the world. It is by grace that we confess Jesus Christ as Lord. It is by grace that we want the Scriptures. But even when that grace is upon us, we still fight being tired. We still fight being distracted. We still fight the cares and the worries of the world around us. And so we need to make a conscientious effort to be attentive to the book of the law. Notice in verse 7, it says, toward the end of verse 7, And the people stood in their place. He gives the names of the men involved. They help the people to understand the law. This was expositional preaching. You have a pulpit, you have a man preaching, and he is expounding it and giving the meaning and the sense so that people could understand it. I just heard recently, in fact it was this morning, someone said, why do we need preachers if we have the Bible? One of the Puritans said that the Bible is like a husk of corn, or what is it, ear of corn. When you peel away the husk, that's like preaching. You can profit with that ear of corn as it is, but you rip it open so that you can maximize its benefit. And preaching is like that. Yes, you can read your Bible. Yes, you can get saved. Yes, you can grow. But God Himself has ordained the preaching ministry to give the sense of the Word, men hopefully that are skilled like Ezra the scribe, so that you can understand the truth. But the point is here in verse 7, "...and the people stood in their place." They didn't go down to the bathroom. They didn't go out and check their cars. They weren't looking at their watches. They weren't wondering when is it going to be over. Brethren, we're here for 50 minutes in a sermon. I'll round upward. We ought to be able to control ourselves, hopefully, for that span of time so that we can give attention to the Word of the Living God. Again, Matthew Henry, his exposition here is wonderful. He says, The Word of God commands attention and deserves it. If through carelessness we let much slip in hearing, there is danger that through forgetfulness we shall let all slip after hearing. Makes sense, doesn't it? The Word of God commands attention and deserves it. If through carelessness we let much slip in hearing, there is danger that through forgetfulness we shall let all slip after hearing. Be attentive. Pray to the Lord. Understand this is a spiritual exercise. Realize that at this particular juncture, this particular time, is when you're going to think about tomorrow. I mean, generally speaking, when you pick up the local newspaper, you click on Fox and you're reading that, you can give your entire attention. Because it's not like everything in you is militating against that information. But the world, the flesh and the devil militate against spiritual information. We have to understand that. We have to take precautions. We must pray. That's why when we pray before preaching, we ask that the Spirit would be upon us and guide us and lead us and teach us. I would hope that during the week you're praying that our Lord's Day services would be marked by the presence and power of the Spirit so that we don't just go through the motions. Frankly, brethren, there's enough going through the motions in our lives already. Let's not make church just be another motion. Let's seek, by God's grace, to profit from the things that we learn. So the people are expected, attentive, and then notice thirdly, the people were reverent. Reverent. Verse 5. He says in verse 5, Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was standing above all the people. And when he opened it, all the people stood up. And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God. Then all the people answered, Amen, Amen, while lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshipped the Lord with their faces to the ground. What does this suggest? They were reverent. They understood they weren't at a political rally. They understood they weren't at a town hall meeting. Even there, I think it demands a bit of reverence. You go to a political meeting, you should give some attention to the gravity of the situation. If that's the case, how much more the word of the living God. We ought to be reverent. We ought to understand. We're not coming here simply to hear the musings of a man. We're coming here to hear the Word of the Living God. The catechisms accurately say that when the Word is preached rightly, it is the very voice of God that is coming through that preacher. Psalm 29 says, The voice of the Lord is strong, it's powerful, it breaks the cedars of Lebanon. Brethren, we need to understand that and be reverent with reference to God Most High. We need to have a proper understanding of who God is. We need to have a proper appreciation of the fact that He has spoken, that He has given us this Word. We need to appreciate the 39 books of the Old Testament and the 27 books of the New Testament. God has spoken. What other religious system can boast of such a thing? What other philosophy can boast of such a thing? That there is one transcendent outside of us that has spoken to our particular need. And not only spoken, but sent His Son to redeem us and has recorded that so that we may have redemption in and by His beloved Son. The people were reverent. All the people answered, Amen, Amen, while lifting up their hands. They bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. I think that's a great thing for us to remember. We are coming here, not first and foremost just to hear a man or just to see one another. We are coming, hopefully, to hear from the true and the living God. And if you were summoned to go see, you know, the prime minister, you'd put on a nice suit, you'd make sure your breath smelled properly, you'd make sure that you were clean, you'd make sure that if you had any blemishes or problems, you dealt with that, you'd fix it, you'd comb your hair, you'd mat it down, you'd put a little grease in there, so you'd be presentable to the Prime Minister. And that's righteous. There's a doctrine of that. Remember Joseph when he's in prison. He's summoned by Potiphar. What does Joseph do? He shaves his face. Why? Because he's going to see the main man. You don't go into his presence unshaven, unkempt. You don't go there with your shirt hanging out. You don't go in there saying, hey, peace, man. How's everything hanging? You don't go in there and you put your feet up and you say, hey, let me sip my latte. No, he's coming into the presence of Potiphar, second in charge in Egypt. He shaves his face. He decks himself out. He realizes the gravity of the situation, so he prepares himself accordingly. We are being taught today that with reference to the God of heaven and earth, who in His grace and condescension and mercy, who has deigned to speak to us, we can treat Him however we want. We can treat Him any old way we want. Oh, hey, dude, how are you doing? No. God is glorious. God demands our all. He demands our attention. He demands our reverence. And He deserves it also. Now notice, fourthly, the people were responsive. I mean, imagine that. They want the Bible, they're expecting it. They're attentive to the Bible, they're reverent with reference to the God of the Bible, but they're responsive. This is how I think we know that we mean business. We respond to the Word of God. Notice in verse 9, they were convicted of their sin. This ought to be one of the things that biblical preaching promotes, is conviction for sin. If you only ever leave happy, joyful, bubbly, and feeling great about yourself, you might want to check out that church. Now, I'm not saying you should be beat down all the time. I didn't write this song beating down the sheep. Beating down the sheep. Maybe some of you might disagree with that, but that's not my aim or intention. But the point is, when we meet with the Word of the living and true God, if conviction of sin never comes about, then either the preaching is deficient or we're not listening. How can a man come face to face with Holy Scripture and never know anything about conviction? Notice in verse 9, And Nehemiah, who was the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites, who taught the people, said to all the people, This day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn nor weep, for the people wept when they heard the words of the law. Why did they weep? Because they were caught to the heart. Why did they weep? Because they realized they transgressed. Why did they weep? Because they realized they were not conforming to the covenant God's mandate. And so the natural response was conviction. True biblical preaching. Paul says, convince, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering. There ought to be a sense of our sin when we come into the presence of a holy God. If it is not something that we regularly encounter, again, it could be a deficiency in the pulpit, it could be a deficiency in our own hearts, but we must find somewhere along the line something of that conviction of sin. Notice, they had to be reminded that because it was a feast day, they must celebrate. Notice in verse 10. We're back in verse 9 for just a moment. This day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn nor weep. For all the people wept when they heard the words of the law. What's the point there? It was the Feast of Tabernacles. Get that? The Feast of Tabernacles? Do you have a Thanksgiving feast? Do you say, OK, I want everybody now to bow your heads and cry? No. Say, it's Thanksgiving. Let's talk about what the Lord has done. Let's go around the table. Everybody share something. Feast time is feast time. These people were convicted. That's good. It happens. But in this particular context, the leaders had to exhort them, don't mourn or weep right now. Now's the day for feasting. Now's the day for response to the Lord in this particular manner. There's time enough to weep. You can do that later. But God has brought us together. He has brought us out of Egypt. He has given us this particular feast so that we can rejoice, so that we can celebrate, and so that we can recall how good He is. That's why the instruction in verse 10, Then He said to them, Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared. For this day is holy to our Lord. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength." In chapter 9, they'll confess their sins and there'll be time enough for weeping. Time enough for an expression of that conviction of sin. They're convicted. They weep. That's good. Now they need to be saddled in and say, look, it's a day for rejoicing. That is responsiveness to the Scriptures. Notice they take heed to that instruction. Verse 12. And all the people went their way to eat and drink, to send portions and rejoice greatly, because they understood the words that were declared to them." Isn't that a beautiful statement? So, biblical preaching, exposition of God's truth, all in the same message, can promote conviction for sin. It can promote thankfulness to the Lord. It can promote rejoicing in the presence of the Lord. It promotes the activity of giving. It promotes all those biblical responses that we should expect when we come under God's Holy Scripture. And then notice as well in verse 14, And they found written in the law. Well, back to verse 13. Now, on the second day, the heads of the father's houses of all the people with the priests and Levites were gathered to Ezra, the scribe, in order to understand the words of the Lord. And they found written in the law, which the Lord had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in booths during the feast of the seventh month, and that they should announce and proclaim in all their cities and in Jerusalem, saying, Go out to the mountain and bring olive branches, branches of oil trees, myrtle branches, palm branches, and branches of leafy trees to make booths, as it is written." You see what they're doing here? They wanted more. It's another mark of rightly receiving the Word. See what it says in verse 13? Now, on the second day, the heads of the fathers' houses of all the people, with the priests and the Levites, were gathered to Ezra the scribe, notice, in order to understand the words of the law. They wanted more. Teach us more. We haven't been consistent in our lives. We have not been faithful to the covenant demands of Jehovah. We have been negligent. So teach us, Ezra. Get the scribes. Instruct us. We're a ready people. We want to respond properly. There's an instance similar to this in the book of Acts. In Acts chapter 13, Paul preaches in a city called Pisidian Antioch, or it's Antioch in the region of Pisidia. And after Paul finishes his sermon, it's instructive what happens afterward. In Acts 13 verse 43, I'm sorry, verse 42. So when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. It's a good sign when people are begging for the word of God. Have you ever gone to a store? I just want to be flat out honest. Have you ever gone to the store and you see somebody who's begging for money and you maybe get a little uncomfortable and you think, man, I don't know, are they going to accost me? I think about this sometimes with the elderly ladies in town here. You know, they get their walkers and some guys, young guys, ask them for money or something. They probably get a little bit, a little bit alarmed, a little bit scared, a little bit intimidated maybe. I mean, we might see someone begging and we might, you know, oh, what are they doing that for? Why don't they get a job? Or, you know, I might have something or try to buy them something to eat or whatever it may be. One thing I can guarantee you, no preacher worth his salt will ever find a beggar for the Word of God and turn him away. That's not going to happen. Not at all. That preachers oftentimes are looking for people who do want the Word, right? That's what's going on here. The Jews exit the synagogue. The Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. Verse 43 says, Now when the congregation had broken up, many of the Jews and devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. Verse 44 is instructive. It says, On the next Sabbath, almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God. Do you know why that was? Because everybody went out and said, Look, you've got to come hear this. You've got to come listen to what this man Paul is preaching. I know it sounds a bit weird, I know it sounds a bit odd, but you need to come and you need to listen. Isn't that what happened? The word of the Lord spread. The word of mouth that people utilized told friends, come in here. It used to be the case that George Whitfield would ride into a town and people would drop their farming implements and run to where he was preaching. Why? Because people said, you need to listen to this man. He is speaking the word of truth. You need to come and hear the word of the living God. The same response is evident in Nehemiah's day. They search the scriptures. They want instruction. They want to respond. They want to obey and do what they're supposed to do. And then it brings gladness to their hearts. Verse 17 of Nehemiah 8, it says, So the whole assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths and sat under the booths. For since the days of Joshua the son of Nun, until that day the children of Israel had not done so, and there was very great gladness. You want to be glad? Respond to the Word this way. You will never be glad or you will never respond to God's Word the way He calls you to and be miserable. I mean, look at our own homes, look at our own lives, look at our own families, look at our own churches, look in society at large. Do we benefit in obedience to God's Law? Yes. It's a no-brainer. It is good to honor God. It is good to respond to His Word. It is good to give heed to that Word. So in summary, the people were expectant, they were attentive, they were reverent, and the people were responsive. So as we enter into 2011, my hope and prayer for all of us is that we will do likewise. We want to be a church that is about preaching the Word. Yes, singing and praising God with the Word. We want to fellowship with one another and encourage each other with the Word. We want to engage in the ordinances and see the Word. All those things are practical and primary and excellent. We want to make sure that the pulpit ministry is central, that we expound the Scriptures and that we apply it. You need to be expectant. We also need to be attentive. That means getting up, going to bed earlier, whatever, jockeying the schedule, making sure you get enough rest so that you're able to respond attentively. And then also we need to be reverent. Now, I'm not saying everybody has to wear a three-piece suit. You've got to go out and rent a tux in order to show up at church. I'm not saying that it would not bind your conscience. But there is something about the idea, not just how we look or what we wear, but our attitude and disposition about coming before the thrice-holy God. Reverence is key with reference to responding to God's Word. And I just want to close briefly with a couple of things from C. H. Spurgeon in a sermon based on Luke chapter 8. the parable of the soils. Spurgeon says, hear. It is your wisdom to know what God says. Basic bottom line requirement. Hear. It is your wisdom to know what God says. He says, secondly, hear well. God's teaching deserves the deepest attention. It will repay the best consideration. Hear well. Thirdly, he says, hear often. Waste no Sabbath, nor any one of its services. Use weekday lectures and prayer meetings. I love that. Use them. Use sermon audio. Find a good preacher that stirs up your soul. Find a good preacher and load up your iPod or put them on CDs or whatever it is. You might have a cassette player, which if you do, you miss the boat because we just got rid of a lot of cassette tapes when we cleaned house in May. The point is, hear often. You know how much we hear in this world? If the only thing we're doing is on Sunday for a brief period together, that's why we encourage Bible reading. Hear often. Go to the Scriptures. Listen to God. Be like that blessed man of Psalm 1. Be like the man who was planted firmly by streams of water. Then you can yield fruit in its season. And then he says, fourthly, hear better. You will grow the holier thereby. You will find heavenly joy by hearing with faith. Those are great instructions. Hear, hear well, hear often, hear better. And I think that is illustrated in this particular instance in Nehemiah chapter 8. Well, let us pray. Father, we thank you for the Word of God and we pray that you would help us to to hear, and to hear well, and to hear often, and to hear better. Help us, God, to take these things to heart, to consider the Lord's Day, to consider each and every day when we come to the Scriptures. And Father, we pray that You would just stir up in us a desire to receive the truth and to act upon it. Again, forgive us when we sin. Forgive us for many wasted and missed opportunities. Cleanse us, God, from all unrighteousness and grant us the grace to redeem the time in 2011. And we ask in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.