Well, I invite you to turn tonight to Nehemiah chapter 8, Nehemiah chapter 8, and we'll be reading together, this is page 474, if you're looking for that, we'll be reading the first 12 verses tonight, such a great passage in the middle of Nehemiah, again, page 474, Nehemiah chapter 8 the first 12 verses this is the word of the Lord 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 Israel 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 and women and those 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 wood platform that they had made for the purpose and beside him stood matthiah shema anaiah uriah hilkiah maaseah on his right hand pediah michael malchijah hashum hash badana zachariah and meshulam 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 the people answered amen amen lifting up their hands and they bowed their heads and worshiped the lord with their faces to the ground also jeshua banai sherebiah jamin akub shabbathai hodiah maaseah kalita azariah josebad hanan paliah and the levites helped the people to understand the law while the people remained in their places they read from the book from the law of god clearly and they gave the sense so the people understood the reading and nehemiah who was the governor and 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 or weep for all the people wept as they heard the words of the law then he said to them go your way eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready for this day is holy to our to our lord and do not be grieved for the joy of the lord is your strength so the levites calmed all the people saying be quiet for this day is holy do not be grieved and all the people went their way to eat and drink and to send portions and to make great rejoicing because they had understood the words that were declared to them and there will end the reading of God's word well one of the reasons the reformation still matters for the church today is really because of the simple great reason and one of our greatest struggles as Christians is to drift from the authority of God's word that is really the single great issue that is before us when it comes to the reformation I I remember years ago when I was in my candidacy exam for ministry and a question of a seasoned minister, he asked me what was the issue that drove the Protestant Reformation. And of course I was tempted to go right to justification by faith. But even that truth is a sort of, you might say, subsidiary of a more important recovery. And what is that recovery? It's the recovery of the authority of Scripture in our lives. That recovery is important. And how could one even know what it means to be justified by faith? How could one understand anything about the Christian faith unless the truth is not first embraced that God has given us an inspired word that directs all of life, faith in life? To be honest, we're not living in times when god's word is held as the absolute authority over people we're not even in a post-christian society anymore where we used to say you have your truth i have my truth and let's all get along that never really worked well did it now being in an anti-christian culture people seem to drive the authorities sheerly from whatever they feel and now that is imposed upon us as the authority to which everyone must submit whatever is the prevailing wind and idea of the day but we should care a lot to think about continually why the reformation matters this is a an important time to think about that and to think about the reformation of the church back to the scriptures what does that look like and why is that so important and it's not as if the reformation is a one-time event throughout history that the church has never witnessed. In fact, as good as it is to look at a historical event like this, it's even better to look at an inspired event like this that shows us exactly what it looks like. And the case that I'm making tonight from Nehemiah chapter 8, what I want to impress upon you tonight from Nehemiah chapter 8 is that whenever we have witnessed throughout history God, in surprising ways, after time periods of great darkness, God doing surprising things after the darkness has seemed to prevail, what we always see, without question, is great humility and great repentance that is accompanied with a serious return to hearing the Word of God. And that's not something forced. sometimes that we feel that's a forced thing just to try to get people to church to get them to hear it's never what the reformation showed us it's never what the scriptures show us when we see periods of reformation and contrary to what we might think think of this morning as we talked about a frowning providence a dark providence in history that that we were called to consider these things and how to respond to these things there are responses in scriptures to frowning providences and dark providences from god's servants what we also see are shining providences moments where the spirit was poured out in surprising ways and wonderful things happen and those things we too should notice and if we're whatever sort of period we're in it should drive us to pray for this and that's the great intention tonight as we look at this passage from nehemiah chapter 8 that we would pray that there would again be a reformation of the church that is a great need of our day darkness seems to be all around us and again that we would be earnest in praying for a reformation in our times for that is what is precisely most needed at the moment and if we're going to make any significant changes think about all the discussion we have about change and the changes we want to see in the world and everyone's interested right now in worldviews and how christians are going to affect the culture and how they're going to change the darknesses that are coming upon us and the ideologies that are all over us how are we going to make any real difference it will not happen apart from a reformation of the church and that's a crucial point i think to look at tonight so that's why i'd like to take you to nehemiah 8 for a few moments and look at this marvelous text in the heart of nehemiah context here is really important at this point Nehemiah in Nehemiah all the building work had really come to an end in these first chapters there had been a restoration and a rebuilding in Jerusalem remember what happened something terrible had happened Judah had been hauled off to Babylon for 70 years God had raised up prophets before and God had sent his word out before and the people didn't listen to it they didn't hear the word and great darkness came over the nation apathy came over well of course they love the messages of peace peace they love the messages of god is love and that there will never be any judgment they couldn't hear the other word they utterly rejected the other word that was the time before they were carried off to babylon which if you make any kind of connection that's exactly what we're living in today they went into false worship they corrupted themselves in the materialism of the culture they fell into idolatry and god came and warned turn back to me i don't delight in the death of the wicked but that they turn and that they live well lo and behold god carried away judah to babylon it was a horrific time as the nation was burned down the nation was utterly burned down the holy temple was destroyed nebuchadnezzar hauled it all off it was a really hard time so what we have in nehemiah is the time of their return the time when they had come back from babylon and they walk into the to the to the city and they look at it their houses are all ashes their people had been killed their temple had been destroyed and so the great rebuilding begins and they rebuilt the wall remember a big theme in nehemiah well what we find in chapter 8 is that the most important building project that all the building that had gone on in nehemiah so far that wasn't the most important project something else needed to be renewed something of vast more importance i think we sort of faced that challenge here you know we were we were all sort of sort of excited uh think about the joy of and we still get visitors who come in and say what a beautiful sanctuary how blessed we are to have a beautiful sanctuary how blessed god gave us we are that god gave us this to worship in and maybe we forget already the newness and the excitement that we had when we first walked in here but think about it something else if it's not in place none of this matters none of this matters at all in fact you'll simply see it go to the wayside and chapter 8 is explaining for us the revitalization of the community the reform of the community and so these chapters present to us a people who had lost everything they hadn't listened they didn't take it seriously you know so here they are many of their loved ones are gone they have nothing the remnant is back in the land and notice what the text shows us look at verse one and you'll notice here when the seventh month came the children of israel were in their cities now all the people you'll notice here as it goes on and describes this gathered together as one man in the open square people gathered as one man in the open square before the water gate and they told ezra the scribe to bring notice that they told to bring the book of the law of Moses that the Lord had commanded Israel. Now you can't read that and not be deeply touched by that. It's a really powerful moment that the people are asking for the word. The people are begging for the word. They want to hear it. They're hungering for it. The hearts of the people want the Word of God. In the previous chapter, we are told that 42,360 people gathered in the open square to ask for this. That's a lot of people. For years they had not heard it. For years nobody asked for it. For years it was like pulling teeth to get people to come and hear it. and here they are hungry hungry again the word is burning within them they want to hear the voice of the lord see what we have in front of us today something beautiful the nation had been under famine the days of wanting smooth words were over what good did it do them absolutely nothing and now all of a sudden is the remnants back they are now their belongings their homes their riches everything's destroyed they have complete focus on what's most important all the busyness of life all the distractions that they had before everything that they were doing all of that was taken away and now they have the most important thing they're asking for and what became the longing of their hearts we need to hear from the lord we need to hear from him i find it a fascinating moment had they not heard before remember what um amos said as one of the things the lord warned behold the days come saith the lord that i will send a famine on the land not a famine of bread nor thirst for water but of the hearing of the words of the lord one of god's responses to all the blatant rejection of his word was the famine that no one could hear it but now the time of reformation came now the time of reformation came the games were over playing fast and loose with the lord was over and that's exactly what happens so verse two 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 months the seventh month this was an important day it was a day of heralding it was a day of trumpets they read notice what it says verse 3 he read from it facing the square before the water gate from early morning until midday in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law. Isn't that something? The Lord wants us to dwell on this. They were attentive. They were attentive. Their ears were wide open. Their hearts were hungering for it. Finally, a time had come where they were attentive and what were they reading this wasn't easy stuff they were reading the pentateuch they read from morning until noonday they were reading things like deuteronomy and leviticus and numbers and and and and and they they wanted to understand it they wanted to understand what god was saying to them in those passages verse five 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 what a scene they were one look at the respect for the word when the word was read they all stood up they all wanted to hear it remember when it says those who could understand you know who that is this is deuteronomy 31 this was the instruction gather the people together men and women and little ones and the stranger who was within your gates that they may hear and that they may learn to fear the lord your god and carefully observe all the words of this law and that their children who have known it who have not known it notice that And their children who've not known it may hear and may learn to fear the Lord your God as long as you live in the land which you crossed the Jordan to possess. Bring your children. They haven't been taught this. Bring your children so that they can understand, so that they can sit together with the congregation and hear the word. It's kind of painful to ask, what have we done with the children today? Think about that. I'm simply asking what the text is requiring me to ask. You know, how many people who are new to the reform liturgy and the way that we worship say, all I've known is that the children have never been in public worship. We've never seen this. They've always been sent out. And we wonder why they leave in college years? They were taught. They were taught this. From morning until midday. Hours upon hours of listening to the word. Maybe that should be said against this background of something that had happened previously. Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, this was before, I have found the book of the law in the temple of the Lord. He gave it to Shaphan to read it. And Shaphan the secretary went to the king and reported to him, Hilkiah the priest has given me a book. And Shaphan read it from in the presence of the king. And when the king heard the words of the book of the law, he tore his robes. You mean the word had been among them the whole time and no one knew it and no one listened to it and no one understood it. The king had to tear his robes because the nation did not know God's word. It was John Rainbow years ago who came up to me after I gave a dress at Christian school chapel on this passage of Amos 8 on the famine of the hearing of the word and he said, isn't it something that you can have a famine when it comes to the word with the bread in your hands? Think of the Bibles that have been produced in our country. Think of the translations. Think of the colors you can get them in. Think of the fancy leather. And we live in the most biblically illiterate times. You can look at the statistics. They weren't separated out according to age groups. They weren't worried about the time. They didn't say, Pastor, that was a long sermon today. Sometimes pastors do give long sermons, right? Five hours of a reading sermon. It'd kind of be good sometime if I get sick to have an elder stand up and do a reading sermon. Just be good for you, you know? Be good for you to experience that. They do that in Canada. Glenn's shaking his head. When he comes back in office, we'll get him up here to do that. A reading sermon. what all has demonstrated is that the eyes of their hearts as one body again were finally open to hear the spirit was moving the spirit was working for many years the darkness had seemed to prevail and their persistent rebellion and hardening their hearts to god's word never paid off it only caused all the disasters that the lord said it would bring what respect for the word when the word was brought in notice that they all rose up and there was trembling to understand god himself was speaking to them there was a belief in that this was the old reformation truth and we have to be careful with it because i think it's been abused at times but that that this is the preaching of the word is the vox day it's the voice of god to you that was believed wouldn't the church be packed tonight it's customary in the scottish churches that when the service begins a man a man called the beetle enters carrying the bible and then he escorts the minister in and as this is going on all the people rise up and they remain standing until the minister is positioned in the pulpit that's why they had these pulpits in the old country that you had to walk into and you couldn't couldn't walk around it wasn't a stage you know and and he was positioned and and the bible was set on the the platform and the minister had the assignment it was clear the minister had the assignment to expound the word of god as he stood behind it behind it and the word was lifted up above the people that's the imagery in this passage ezra stood up above all the people and the word was held out as he read from it notice it emphasizes that in verse 4 he stood on a platform of wood in which they made for the purpose of this on his right were the elders i remember um years ago seeing this done and some of you remember in the old reformed churches where i i was so i was not used to this but you'd walk in and you would preach and the elders would not sit with their families they they would sit in what felt to me like a penalty box but it was healthy because the the imagery for all the people was that the elders oversaw the word and the elders cared for the word and they that the minister's doctrine and teaching was something that the elders were responsible to oversee and and to care for and that when you walked up to the pulpit one of the elders would shake your hand and when you left the pulpit he would shake your hand again i had never seen that in my life goes on in the canadian reform churches but but whatever sort of symbolism we get from all of this notice that that that that the respect that's coming out of this naturally they worshiped on this before the lord and all the people were worshiping with their faces to the ground the symbolism was clear the nation had again gathered under the word they had again gathered under god's word and they were hearing god's spokesman and there was an overwhelming sense of god's presence and and reverence and submission was a joyful thing they had come to meet with the god of heaven and earth they had come before the face of god to listen to the living word that that's the imagery that we're getting here. You know, when the Protestant Reformation happened, I don't think we realize how difficult that was. Roman Catholicism was full of beautiful aesthetic worship. It beats out the best American aesthetic worship you could come up with that we talk about today. That's why we still love to go look at those cathedrals look at the architecture look at the beauty look at when you walk in there's a sense of majesty they were cutting edge with their chants there's something we like about that notice the simplicity here the reformation was difficult because it was a return to hearing the word of god there were no mics what do you what do you do when you don't have a mic out in open air preaching you really listen i guess verse 8 so they distinctively read from the book of the law of god they gave the sense and helped them to understand the reading was um in a sense expositional preaching this was always the great problem um what we saw in periods of of of great darkness when it came to the word it was in other languages the people couldn't even understand it it was so heady and thick people didn't understand what was even being said notice the intention here they would they would read the word and then the elders would come alongside and they would actually help the people and the young ones to understand the scriptures such an important observation we all want to see in the church a kind of what we say revival you know we have looked for this in history we've looked for it in events we've looked for it in big momentary events we've looked for it in crusades we've we've looked for it in moments of excitement that we will finally get people just to respond to this and so so we're we we've wanted this we've we've had the the up experiences to try to generate this to create the enthusiasm of this all but i notice here the effort that it took to understand the scriptures to give yourself to understand the scriptures it took the work of the the the leadership it took the work of careful giving the sense of the passage and and the people to understand the passage was the goal that was always the goal of of the ministry was to understand the scriptures to understand what god's saying not only stand in support of the word but to guide the people and lead the people in its light in every major event in the working of the spirit and history where there's been widespread response to the lord so as to change lives look at acts look at the 3 000 that were saved at pentecost what did they do nothing revolutionary they preached the scriptures and the people were cut to the heart you know in the reformation period they had to um to chain the bibles to the pews they were so expensive to print on that old cotton rag paper you know today we have woodcut paper but this was this was rag paper this was cotton paper it's really expensive to make and they had beautiful leather bindings and they would put big chains and attach them to the leather bindings and bolt them to the pews do you know why the people were so hungry for that they would steal them you wonder how they justified that in light of the eighth commandment i haven't figured that out in fact there was so much care in printing the word of god it was uh 1631 was known as the um the wicked bible and the printers were imprisoned all the way to to their own deaths because in the um uh the seventh commandment they actually left out the word not you shall commit adultery it caused so much upheaval they went and searched everywhere for those bibles and they burned them and these printers went to jail and lost their jobs forever because there was such a holy respect for God's word notice the beautiful response here after hearing the word what happened then all the people said amen amen while lifting up their hands these are true Pentecostals why I'll get there in a minute and they bowed their heads and they worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground what zeal what a response to the word I think we would all be uncomfortable lifting up our hands in our day we've attached that to the music we think that if we have a highly intense moment with the music that makes me feel good that drives up the hands notice what drove up the hands we heard god's word and we understand it praise the lord there was joy you've experienced this how many times have you had the scriptures open to you and you felt the sermon was directly speaking to you and your your heart was eager to hear what god was saying and how he took that word and directly applied it to you just what you needed right at the moment and you knew that God himself was searching and trying you through his word. I've heard so many of you say that. It's greatly encouraging and that he tries us and he searches us and that is evidence and that is a recognition that God himself, God himself, the king of heaven and earth has spoken to us. I love verse 9. Nehemiah, who was a 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 or weep. For all the people wept as they heard the words of the law. You know, finally, all these years where the word had been preached and not heard, and they realized they had taken the whole thing for granted. And the remnant heard the voice and they wept. Why did they weep? Because the Word, which is like a hammer, had so broke into their hearts. It's like that thing that you've had good in your life the whole time and you've never appreciated it. and finally you've seen it and it's been opened up to you brand new Nehemiah 8.10 the response is go your way eat the fat drink the sweet send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared for this day is holy to our Lord do not sorrow here's your favorite verse for the joy of the Lord is your strength i'm so glad i get to end the day on this note after this morning what is the intention in the ministry of the gospel is that the joy of the lord would be your strength the intention is to lift you up why does he want you to hear his word so that you would enjoy the forgiveness of your sins that you would understand the great cost that was made for you that you would understand the gospel that you would joy in it there's no news more that is greater than the gospel in this life there's nothing that joys are that gives us joy in our hearts that's greater than the gospel this was the new holiday that was the holiday right around the corner was the day of atonement and the lord would declare with a scapegoat would carry on his back all of their sins and all those sins would ride off forever and never return and the lord wanted them to know that's how i've dealt with your sins what a good god isn't that what people need to know today isn't that what this dark world needs most this was their strength the lord gave them happiness the lord gave them food the lord gave them drink that day he said he said go on and celebrate he gave them fat he gave them good portions that the sacrifice spoke of their joy the sacrifice spoke of Christ it was their strength he was their strength I find it amazing that the message in the midst of all this failure was that the Lord wanted them and desired for them to have joy in Christ you know the Lord desires that for you or do you think you're going to get it or do you think you're going to get it the Lord's amazing love was shown to them they were his remnant he had washed them the joy of the Lord was their strength they were to have faith in Christ notice verse 12 and all the people went their way to eat and drink and to send portions and to make great rejoicing because they had understood the words that were declared to them isn't that last phrase the most powerful here they rejoiced they went their way they feasted because they understood god's word you don't know what a work that is of the spirit apart from that work you remain dead in this it just remains an empty tradition it just remains something we do it just remains something that that that we hear to without the lord's work and there is no light notice what they're celebrating think of the reformation tonight when the word was given back to the people in the common tongue you know one of the great blessings of the reformation was that the Word was given back to the people and translated for the people into their own languages so that they could have the Word. When I was a teacher at Center Valley Christian, I was always amazed that the Roman Catholics who I had as students were so respectful, but it was never read in their homes because they only believed the priests could do that. They only believed it was appropriate for the priest to have the word i don't know if there's a more powerful verse here in light of this text the light went on after all these years they had the word of god and they understood it all of them received a fresh work of the spirit that had come upon them and joy over the fact that they understood the word of god what an excitement this is the beauty of what we see here in nehemiah people concerned with the word and that it would produce in us and in our children this kind of response i think this is what is most needed today for us to pray for you know the world tells us all these other issues are the most important issues but if you were to ask me as a pastor and say what is the thing that is needed the most in the church today you just heard it and so this should be the object of our prayers this should be the heart of our prayers that the lord would bring another reformation a shining providence we've seen dark providences a shining providence a favoring providence that his word would again be heard and that we would stop the silliness and listen to him and worship him in the beauty of his holiness this is what's needed a reformation of the hearing of the word again and that's why the reformation still matters today may we be a people who give ourselves to it so that we have the great witness of showing others that the joy of the lord is our strength and this is where we found it let's pray to him together tonight heavenly father thank you for your word that gives us great light in these dark times and you have blessed us so much to open our hearts and minds to understand it and may our hands go up for this cause may we rise up for this cause from our seats may we give our little ones to to hear this may we read it to them may we explain it to them as as fathers and mothers may the word again find a place in us as jesus said my word must have a place in you and so we pray in our times that you would reform the church again that you lord in a shining and kind providence would open your word again to the hearts of the people and that we would celebrate with great joy for that's what people need to see too that the joy of the lord is where true strength is found bless this to our hearts and minds tonight thank you for the reformation of the church and we pray again oh lord as long as you continue to keep us on this earth bring a reformation again we humbly pray in jesus name we pray these things amen