| Introduction In 1969, the famed English preacher D. Martin Lloyd-Jones delivered a series of lectures at Westminster Theological Seminary that were immortalized in his book Preaching & Preachers. In it, he says, "What then is preaching?... Any true definition of preaching must say that that man is there to deliver the message of God, a message from God to those people…. He has been sent, he is a commissioned person, and he is standing there as the mouthpiece of God and of Christ to address these people…. Preaching should make such a difference to a man who is listening that he is never the same again." Yet, preaching has fallen into disfavor with the church. Why can't we have talks? Better yet, let's have conversations. Can't we accomplish a whole lot more by other means? Movies, skits, drama? Why stick to this outmoded, outdated medium? Even the fact that these questions make sense to us shows that we have grown cold to the means that God has appointed for our complete salvation. Think about preaching with me just for a minute as we prepare ourselves to look at this passage. Jesus Christ didn't reveal himself as the skit, or the drama, or the video clip, or the conversation. He revealed himself as the Word! He executed his ministry through preaching. The miracles were there to prove the veracity of what he was saying. In his first recorded sermon in the gospel of Luke, Jesus says that he came to preach the gospel and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. Preaching is used by the Spirit of God to bring life. Even badly done preaching if truthful is a fruitful instrument in the hands of the Holy Spirit. Think of Ezekiel as he stands over a valley filled with the dead. All he can see is extremely dry bones. God commands him to preach. As he does, God fills that valley with life! We are not the first generation that has thought that preaching is an exercise in futility. No, even some in the first generation of Christian thought that something better could be done. 1 Cor. 1:21– For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. Our brothers and sisters who lived 2,500 years ago may have a thing or two to teach us concerning preachers and preaching. I. What Has Happened so Far . A. Nehemiah was a cupbearer of the most powerful man on earth at the time, a position of power and prestige. 1. He was a Jew who likely grew up in Babylon. 2. Yet, he loved the motherland and the worship of the true God. B. A brother (Hanani) came from Jerusalem and told him the desperate situation the people were in and the state of disrepair of the city. 1. That cut him to the heart to the point that he couldn't hide his sadness from the king any longer. 2. In God's good providence, his sadness secured the king's favor instead of his death and Nehemiah was able to obtain from king Artaxerxes an unlikely dispensation to leave his post as a cupbearer and go back to Jerusalem. 3. Not only did he get the king's permission, but the king also gave him authority and resources to improve the city. C. Upon assessing the situation in Jerusalem, he determined that the best course of action was to rebuild the wall around the city following roughly the same perimeter of Solomon's wall. 1. He rallied the people and together they worked day and night to finish the wall, which they did in the unprecedented time of 52 days! 2. The wall was done, but the city was empty. 3. So, he calls for a census of Judea in order to find out what families he could ask to live in Jerusalem, especially the Levitical families. D.This review of the facts is important so that we can be reminded that we are dealing here with events that really happened in time involving real people with real lives. II. What Is Going on in the Passage. A. We get the impression that building wall, as important as it was, was a means to something else. 1. That something else was the worship of God. 2. Everything in the book is moving to this point when the worship of God is fully restored. a. The sacrifices and offerings are finally established with the completion of the temple and an element that may have been implicitly part of the worship life of the people now becomes explicitly: the preaching of the Word of God. b. The reading of the Word of God had, so far in the history of Israel, been mostly associated with the kingly office as evidenced by the several revivals occasioned by the discovery of the law by the king. c. Here, however, preaching is associated with the Sabbath worship of the people of God as a whole. d. So, if you don't like the idea of preaching, blame Ezra and Nehemiah, ultimately blame God because he instituted it. B. The prophets were first and foremost preachers, but there is something different going on here than the sporadic preaching of the prophets. 1. Perhaps this is something that began in exile as a response to God's call for Ezekiel to preach in Ez. 37. 2. Jesus sanctioned preaching as we know it when he preached in the synagogue in Nazareth, Lk. 4. 3. Paul made preaching a regular and major part of his ministry. Acts 20:20-21, 25-27– how I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you, and taught you publicly and from house to house, testifying to Jews, and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ…. And indeed, now I know that you all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, will see my face no more. Therefore I testify to you this day that I aminnocent of the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God. 4. Paul also insisted that those who would come after him preach the Word – as a matter of fact, some of his last recorded words were exhortations to the faithful preaching of the Word. 2 Tim. 4:1-2– I charge youtherefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season andout of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. C. Running through the passage. 1. All the people gathered together, 1. a. This is the pattern that was adopted by the synagogue and sanctioned by Jesus and the apostles. b. It is what we do in our service here and also our goal as we endeavor to grow in unity. c. In this context, there were children of cognitive age present (v. 3), though other passages include infants in the corporate worship as well. 1) Listening to the reading and preaching of God's Word is something that God's people do together on the Sabbath day. 2) A little later in the series we will take a look at the Sabbath as the Lord's Day (chpt. 13), but for now just accept this assumption as true. d. Ezra, who likely had been ministering the Word of God all along since his return 13 years prior to this time, was asked to read the book of the law, which was likely Deuteronomy. 1) Though at first reading of this verse, we may think this was a spontaneous gathering, we later realize that there was premeditation. 2) A platform and pulpit had been built for the occasion (v. 4) and other men had been assigned sections of the crowd to help them understand what was being said, 7-8. 2. Ezra brought the book to the people and their ears were to the book, 2-3. a. Ears to the book show the attitude of the people toward what was being read. 1) They did not want to miss not even one word. 2) We have lost some of that intensity because of the ready availability of copies of the Bible. 3) But we should cultivate that earnest hearing of the Word. Rev. 1:3– Blessed ishe who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time isnear. WDoPW– READING of the word in the congregation, being part of the publick worship of God, (wherein we acknowledge our dependence upon him, and subjection to him,) and one mean sanctified by him for the edifying of his people, is to be performed by the pastors and teachers. Beside publick reading of the holy scriptures, every person that can read, is to be exhorted to read the scriptures privately, (and all others that cannot read, if not disabled by age, or otherwise, are likewise to be exhorted to learn to read,) and to have a Bible. b. We definitely should have the attitude of ear to the book when we are reading the Bible on our own. 3. There are 27 preachers in this worship service, 4-5. a. These men on the platform may have participated in the reading and explaining alongside the men in v. 7 (more on these in a moment). b. Notice how these people stood for the reading and preaching of the Word as a sign of respect and attentiveness. 1) This service went on for at least 6 hours. 2) There is a certain respect, awe, reverence, and attentiveness that should be present in the worship of God and it is good and proper to demonstrate that in our posture. 4. The response of the people, 6. a. Amen, amen – may it be true, may it be true. b. This is the corporate and personal affirmation of the appropriation of was read and explained. 1) May it be true in my life. 2) May I live, hold on to, make mine the things proclaimed. c. Notice how they internalized the Word – bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with faces to the ground. 1) Hearing the Word of God generated worship in the hearts of the people. 2) That's why here we pray the Word, we read the Word, we preach the Word, we sing the Word, and we eat the Word – so that we might be driving deeper into the worship of our God. 5. Among the 27 preachers, there were 13 who were in the middle of the crowd to make sure that everyone got what was being said from the pulpit, 7-8. a. In our context we could perhaps think of them as elders who keep a finger on the congregation's pulse to make sure they know how the congregation is doing in its understanding of the Bible. b. They, together with Ezra and the other 13 preachers on the platform, were doing three things. 1) They read distinctly – the public reading of the Bible must be done well, with preparation. 2) They gave the sense – likely a translation from Hebrew to Aramaic, which was the language of everyday life since the exile. a) The Bible must be made available in the common language of the people. WCF 1:8– But because these original tongues are not known to all the people of God, who have right unto and interest in the Scriptures, and are commanded, in the fear of God, to read and search them, therefore they are to be translated into the vulgar language of every nation unto which they come, that the Word of God dwelling plentifully in all, they may worship him in an acceptable manner, and, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, may have hope. b) This does not mean, however, going to the lowest common denominator of language. c) We are still looking for a translation, not a paraphrase or commentary. 3) They helped the crowd to understand – likely the explanation and application of the translation. a) This is really what preaching should do. b) The preacher wrestles with the text, brings out its meaning, and helps people see how that is relevant to them. 6. The result of the six hours of preaching – the people were cut to the heart (they wept) when they heard the accusation of the law against them and saw their sins exposed, 9-11. 1) Conviction of sin should happen to us every time we hear a Bible-based sermon or read the Bible. 2) That is one of the things the Bible was designed to do! Heb. 4:11-13– Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. For the word of God isliving and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things arenaked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must giveaccount. "Do you know anything of this? Have you ever experienced Scripture's searching, exposing work, rendering you almost naked before the face of God? There is no true experience of grace without this unmasking of our sin by the Spirit." Derek Thomas b. But they were so overcome with conviction that they failed to hear the promise of forgiveness even in the law 1) This happened to Jonathan Edwards when he preached the famous sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. a) The people were so overcome with conviction of sin and were wailing so loudly that Edwards were never able to finish the sermon and offer them forgiveness found in the Gospel. b) He left very frustrated that night because he knew that he was not able to present the full picture. 2) So, Nehemiah and all the preachers had to step and remind the people of God's forgiveness that the law taught and that they failed to hear. Dt. 30:1-3– Now it shall come to pass, when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call themto mind among all the nations where the Lord your God drives you, and you return to the Lord your God and obey His voice, according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul, that the Lord your God will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations where the Lord your God has scattered you. Dt. 7:6-8– For you area holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; but because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. "The powerful exposition of the Word of God can bring deep conviction of sin. But repentance must not degenerate into a self-centered remorse but must issue into joy in God's forgiving goodness." Edwin Yamauchi c. It is part of Jesus's ministry to replace mourning with joy, which he does by first bringing conviction of sin the knowledge of forgiveness. 1) In his first recorded textual sermon in Lk. 4, Jesus preaches from Is. 61. 2) Here is what his text said. Is. 61:1-3– The Spirit of the Lord God isupon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who arebound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn, to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified. 3) When he finished reading this text, he began his sermon by saying that the text was fulfilled in their hearing right then – it was fulfilled in him. 7. The leaders help the people see that joy and rejoicing must be the natural outcome of worshiping the Lord on his Day, 12. a. Our lunch at church every Sunday is a good application of this idea because it gives us the opportunity to rejoice together after worshiping God. b. Having people over in the evening is a great way to continue that joy. c. Doing works of mercy is a great way to continue that joy as well (send portions). 8. Notice how v. 12 ends – "rejoice greatly, because they understood the words that were declared to them." b. Do we really grasp the great mercy of having God's Word translated and proclaimed to us in a way we can understand? c. Do we realize the privilege that we have of, week after week, twice a week even, having the Bible opened up for us and explained?
There is so much more we could explore in this chapter. We could look at what Nehemiah means when he says in verse 9 that this is a holy day. We could examine the concept at the end of verse 11 that the joy of the Lord is our strength. There is also a lot about the Sabbath as the Lord's Day here. But the dominating theme is the proclamation of the Word of God. Preaching! That's what the church is called to rally around because it is in the foolishness of the message preached that salvation is found.
http://olympiabp.blogspot.com/2018/04/preaching-is-important-nehemiah-81-12.html
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