The sermon by Scott Brown, titled 'Bring the Book,' focuses on the gathering of the Israelites in Nehemiah 8 where Ezra reads the Book of the Law to the people. The speaker highlights the unity and attentiveness of the Israelites as they gathered to hear the Word of God, illustrating the importance of bringing the Word into every aspect of life. The sermon draws parallels between bringing the Book and inviting Jesus Christ into one's heart, emphasizing that the Word of God is central to life and church. The sermon also explores the context of this gathering, noting it occurred during challenging times, and underscores the need for understanding and applying Scripture. The role of expository preaching is celebrated as a means to explain and apply the Word of God sequentially. The sermon concludes with a call for deeper passion and unity around the Scriptures, urging the congregation to prioritize the Bible in their personal and communal lives.

If you would open your texts to Nehemiah, chapter 8 will be reading from verses 1 through to 8. 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 Matataya, Shema, Anaya, Urija, Hilkiya, and Masiya. And at his left hand, Pedaya, Mishael, Malkijah, Hashim, Hash-Bedana, Zechariah, and Mesh-Olam. 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, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkab, Shebetai, Hodija, Messiah, Keleiter, Azariah, Jezebad, 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.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we stand as a people before you this morning, hearing this section of scripture where we see people who are hungry for Your Word. Father, make us hungry this morning. May it not just be the preacher who works, but may each one of us work diligently as we hear your word. May we be as one.

Oh, Father, unite us. Give us one mind. Pour out your Holy Spirit that we may be of one spirit. Lord, that we might hear And not just hear, Lord, may we understand and not just understand, may we remember to do it. Father, we know how and have read about Ezra, how he prepared his heart to know the law of the Lord.

May we be such people. Lord, help us to prepare our hearts now. In Jesus' name, amen. So we travel back in time again to 445 BC, 2400 years ago, to Jerusalem, but it turns out that we also find ourselves here in this passage of scripture. We find the people who wanted the word of God and they said, bring the book.

You know, last week I was in Montgomery with Alabama with Clarence Simmons and we were talking about what we were preaching on. And I told him I was getting ready to preach on Nehemiah 8 and he smiled and he said, bring the book, bring the book, bring the book. And that's what I really want all of us to remember about this chapter is that it really is a chapter that extols the blessings of bringing the book, of having a heart, a life, a church centered on the Word of God. And that's what we find here. This is the most important impulse in the heart of man to desire the Word of Truth.

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the Word of God. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. When we speak about the book the Word of God we are also speaking about Jesus Christ, the Son of God, simultaneously. So to say, bring the book, is the same thing as saying bring Jesus, bring Jesus Christ into my heart, into my home, into my church. This is the great impulse of this passage of scripture here.

And there are so many issues that are brought up here in this passage for us, particularly in our own lives and in this church as well. And it really brings questions. It has brought questions in my own mind and has caused me to search my own heart on this whole matter. You know, is my heart such that when I gather with the people of God, I'm gathering as one man, recognizing this one great person and his word. And with my heart desiring the word of God so much that I would ask that it be brought out first and foremost in everything that ever happens in my life.

When the baby's born, when at the marriage altar, at the time of economic collapse, at the time of a great disappointment or an abandonment or a hardship or a betrayal, do you bring out the book? Is that what we do? And when we do bring it out, like even today, you know, we opened the book today. We did that. We opened it up and did it, Did it take our breath away or was it just, well here we are, it's just another Sabbath day, we're doing what we always do.

It's good to be in the rhythmical routines that God has ordained. But does it take our breath away? When you get up in the morning and you look at it, does it take your breath away? When you read it with your family, are you just going through a routine or is it something so sweet, so helpful, so good? I pray that somehow this passage of scripture will maybe shake away some of the routineness in our own approach to the Word of God.

Even in this church, I am so thankful for this church. This is a really easy church to preach to because people want to hear the Word of God, and they actually do something about it. And so it's a very wonderful place to preach. But I've thought myself how much more there is for me and to hunger for, to anticipate, to want the book in every moment of my life. And so this passage will bring us there.

You know, this morning everyone here is going to struggle with distraction. You're going to get distracted by all kinds of things. Your brain is going to go off into your work. Your brain is going to be going into Monday and maybe Wednesday and maybe Friday or maybe it's going to go to your vacation that you're going to finally have at the beach in two weeks and your mind is going to be distracted. It is and I think our great hope is that we would somehow minimize that, that our hearts would be so much more powerfully fixed on the book, that our hearts would say, bring the book, bring the book, bring the book, like the people that said here.

This is a very precious and pivotal text that we're in today. And I've really looked forward to it. You know, I preached on this text twice. This would be the third time. The first time was 34 years ago in the church I was pastoring in California.

And interestingly enough, I was preaching in this book in 1981 in the end of July and the beginning of August. Just right at the very same time of the year. The second time I preached on this text was about ten years ago at an expository preaching conference here in Wake Forest because this is a picture of expository preaching. This is a picture of bringing the Word of God and explaining it sequentially and so this is a picture of the power and the centrality of expository preaching that ought to be practiced in the church today. And so we encounter Nehemiah 8 in I think a very helpful time in our church's life.

We've always had a big focus on scripture. We've said it over and over again and I'm going to say it again. How does God lead his church? Through the Word of God. When people come and ask the elders, hey where's God leading this church?

The first answer that comes to our mind is well what are we preaching on right now because that's how where God is leading our church right now. Whether we're in in first John or first Corinthians 13 or Ezra or Nehemiah, we believe God leads his church through his word. So this is it. This is the leadership of the church for Hope Baptist today to be in Nehemiah chapter 8. This is where we're going and so this is what we hope for today that God would give us a greater sense of it.

That we would have the same heart that David had in Psalm 119 verse 103 where he said, how sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey. Now that's what God gave these 50, 000 people who gathered there at the Watergate in the open square in 445 BC. We are a people of the book. We are actually the people of one book. It was Victor Hugo who said that the English people are the people of two books, Shakespeare and the Bible.

Well the church are there we're a people of one book it's the Bible and in this passage of scripture look for the word understanding. The word understanding occurs six times in this chapter. This is one of the central matters, that the Word of God is brought and that there is understanding. And I pray that as we engage this chapter of Scripture that we would be like the people that Peter spoke of in 1 Peter 2, that we would be like newborn babes, and we would long for the pure milk of the word, that thereby we may grow in respect to salvation. And that when we gather and we open up this book that we would have our mouths wide open like like David said in Psalm 81 10 open your mouth wide and I will fill it so figuratively speaking open your mouth wide please don't do it physically but open your mouth wide and let the Word of God fall into it and it will be sweet.

You know, many months ago we preached on Isaiah 55 particularly in verse 1, everyone who thirsts come to the waters he who has no money come buy eat and this is this is what we really desire Jesus said blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled. So you have an outline in front of you and it's a simple one. There are really two basic sections. The first I want to talk about the setting that this moment happens and then secondly the characteristics of this gathering and as you can see from the outline, there's one characteristic for each verse in the text. We're just going to go one verse to the next until we hit verse 8.

And so the first thing that we see, the first characteristic is the people wanted the book, that's verse 1. Secondly, Ezra presented the book, that's verse 2. Thirdly, the people were attentive, that's verse 3. Fourthly, the word of God was exalted above the people, that's verse 4. And then fifthly, the people exalted the word of God above themselves, that's verse 5.

And then sixth, the people adored the word of God and lifted up their hands. That's verse six and Seventh the the teaching was multiplied. That's verse seven and Eight that the law was explained in detail That is verse eight. So that's that's that's the issue I I pray that as we go through this our hearts would just resound with that call. Bring the book.

Bring the book. Bring the book at every time in life. I know that everybody here is going through something in their life. Bring the book. Whatever you're going through.

This might be the most Heartbreaking time of your whole life. Bring the book. You might be on a roll. You might be doing great. Bring the book.

Don't neglect the book in the day of prosperity. You may have had a disappointment. Bring the book. You may be very ill. Bring the book.

You may know someone who's very ill in your family. Bring the book. So let's go into the text. First of all, it's really important to set the stage and the time of the gathering. And I want us to jump to verse, at the very end of verse two, to see the time of this gathering.

And verse two, at the very end, on the first day of the seventh month. Now this is a time marker. There are a number of time markers in Nehemiah. Now this was taking place about a week, probably five days, after the wall was finished. That's the time frame.

The last time that we had a very clear time marker was in Nehemiah 615 and in 615 we learned that the walls were finished on the 25th day of the 6th month. So from the 25th day of the sixth month to the first day of the seventh month. So that's where we are in this thing. It's just been a few days since the wall has been finished. Now at the very end of chapter 7, there's an anticipation of this.

We read the words, when the seventh month came, the people of Israel were in the cities. So when the seventh month came, the wall was finished a few days later, the people were in the cities. And this is a critical moment because the seventh month is like, the first day of the seventh month is like New Year's Day for the Jews. Because it began the time of the fall feasts. And The first of them was the Feast of Trumpets, then secondly the Day of Atonement on the 15th of that same month, and then the Feast of Tabernacles.

So this was a gathering that was actually pre-scheduled. This was a gathering that just happened as a result of their desire to be faithful to God in their times. And it was a very, very significant month. This wasn't just a random meeting that, here's what I want us to know, this wasn't a random meeting that just happened in the square because everybody was so fired up about finishing the wall. This was a meeting that was part of the rhythm of the people of God just like today is for us.

It's a normal day but on normal days sometimes really extraordinary things happen in people's hearts. You know pastors always pray for those days. They pray that they would happen whenever we gather, by the way. If you want to have an insight into the hearts of your elders, we pray for a revival every time we gather together. We do.

It's the burning desire of our hearts. It's the thing most prominent in our minds that God would pour his spirit out in this moment. We're gathering, we're just doing what God has told us to do, but while we're on the way, we really want God to interrupt us, to meet us, to take us, to take us and take us deeper and that's exactly what happened here. And so if to explain these feasts you can go to Leviticus 23. It explains everything about it and there's much to say about that.

We'll get to this probably a little bit more detailed explanation later on and by the way this is a mirror of what happened in Ezra chapter 3 as well and here God is meeting with his people. And this is the Feast of Trumpets. The Feast of Trumpets is figurative of the voice of Jesus Christ trumpeting the Word of God And there are two occasions where trumpets are recorded in the Bible. The first is in Exodus 19, 18 through 20 when God gave the law. And now the second time is right here in the book of Ezra, chapter 8.

And so this feast looks forward to the sending of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Word of God, who would speak the words of God into the world and who would come and take away the sins of the world. Now here there's an application I don't want us to miss. Here they are, it's five days after the wall has been finished and they're just gathering in this normal gathering. But let's don't forget, let's don't forget about the context of this gathering. This gathering is happening smack dab in the midst of one of the most difficult times of their whole lives.

Do you remember this is a time of famine? Do you remember that lots of people are losing their properties? Lots of they've had to become indentured servants to pay their property taxes because the king's taxes were so high. And this was a really difficult time. It was a time of famine.

It was a time when some people in the Church, in the Old Testament Church, they were taking advantage of others. There were broken relationships. There was famine. There was struggle. There was stress.

This is that time. And they're gathering. And what do they want? They want the book. And I think that's so, it's so helpful for us to know what we ought to do when we're in a time of struggle and difficulty.

These people have just spent their, the last 52 days of their lives laboring, you know, hauling rocks, hanging doors, really hard work, working with a weapon in one hand and a trowel in the other. And it's a time of being threatened as well. This wasn't some beautiful, you know, moment. This wasn't some kind of time of calm. It was a time of storm and they were gathering together there.

This wasn't inner sanctum. It was a time of trouble and they wanted the book. And that's so critical. And so don't think that this gathering here that's before us is much different than the gatherings that we have on the Sabbath day. Normal people with problems are gathering, and they've entered into the ways of God.

Not perfect people, people who are hurting in a lot of different ways and struggling and maybe even distracted. But there they are. And what do they say? Bring the book. Bring the book.

Now, let's talk about the characteristics of the gathering and that really will compose the rest of our time. And the first is that the people wanted the book. That's verse one. 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. Now This book that they were requesting is no ordinary book.

The Bible says that men carried by the Holy Spirit penned this book. And they are gathered in unity around this book. It says they gathered as one man and that word one man can mean one passion. They came with one passion and their passion was the Word of God. It was the central, gravitating force of their life.

It was the epicenter of their lives, and it ought to be the epicenter of our lives. Of all the books that surround your life let the Bible be this be the chief gravitational force let it be the Sun around which everything else gravitates everything else circles around that one book you may have time for many many books to make sure this Make sure that those books don't rob you from making the one book really critical. You know, there, and when we were raising our children, there was, there were just certain things that we just didn't have time to read because we were reading the Bible every day. And we wanted to make room for that first. And that's a really critical issue here.

And there were probably 50, 000 people in this crowd here and they were gathered as one man with one passion. I think the fulfillment of this is really in the words of Jesus Christ in John 17 that they may be one as we are one. This was a crowd that was gathered around one book, one voice, one person, Jesus Christ, the Word of God. And They were gathered together in the unity of the Spirit. You know, at the end of the age, there's a voice that you hear, and it's recorded in Revelation 22, verse 17.

The Spirit and the Bride say, Come, let the one who hears say, Come, and let the one who is thirsty come, let the one who wishes to take the water of life without cost." I think it was a gathering like that. I think this picture, this shadow in the Old Testament, is a picture of the people coming to the waters of life at the end of the age. This is just an example of how the Word of God can be received in the hearts of the people. We see it in the book of Acts, right? 3, 000 of them were gathered around the same thing.

And they were rejoicing with one accord. That terminology, one accord, is the very same kind of terminology that we find here in Nehemiah chapter 8. This was a gathering of unity and they had one passion and they had one desire and it was for the Word of God. One of the most dangerous things that can ever happen in a church is when the desire is for something else than the Word of God. When the Word of God is not central then you have enormous problems that creep in to a church and so it ought to be prioritized and we pray about various ways that we can prioritize the Word of God.

The church is not for antics and games, the church is for the Word of God. It's the very best thing that we can do for people is to bring it. And this matter of unity before the word of God is so critical. The apostle Paul spoke about this to the church in Rome, because every church struggles with it at some level. They want something different than the word of truth.

They want their feelings, their desires, their preferences, rather than to center everything around the word of truth. And so what Paul said to the Romans in Romans 15, he said, now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another according to Jesus Christ that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." It's the Word of God that brings unity to a church. It's the primary gravitational force. Now also this was a very refreshing gathering as we'll see as we go through the chapter, But this gathering and the place of the gathering foretold another time of refreshment. Because where was this taking place?

In the open square that was in front of the Water Gate. The Water Gate. Do you remember when we were going through the gates of Jerusalem, do you remember where the Water Gate is located? Well, it's in the same place as the Pool of Siloam, where the Lord Jesus Christ was there. Jesus Christ actually celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles right in this very same location in his own time 400 years later and in John 7 37 we read about the Lord Jesus Christ at the time of the Feast of Tabernacles.

And on the last day of that feast, Jesus stood up and he cried out and he said, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me out of his innermost being will flow rivers of living water. So this time before the Water Gate was a picture, it was a prophecy of what Jesus Christ would say in that very same location 400 years later. And Jesus, John, the Apostle records why he said this, but this he spoke concerning the Spirit whom those believing in him would receive for the Holy Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified. So they were gathering there for the washing of the water by the word it was a refreshing time and it foretold the most refreshing time anyone can ever experience and that is when the Holy Spirit is poured out.

They come to him and drink, and out of their innermost being flows rivers of living water. Now, I think we should observe, too, that this bringing of the book was not driven from the top. It was driven from the bottom. It was the people who wanted the Word of God. And Ezra brings the book, but we read these words, and they told Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses which the Lord had commanded Israel.

So it was upwelling in the hearts of the people. They wanted the book and so they said they said to Ezra bring the book. It came from the bottom not from the top. That's how revivals happen, by the way. They happen when God moves people's hearts.

And they wanted the book. They wanted it more than anything else. You know this happens to people from in God's own time where something wells up with inside of them and they want the book more than any other thing and their hearts burn to hear the Word of God and they flock to come and hear it and and that's what happened here. You know the Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew chapter 13 told a parable it was the parable of the soils. And you know the word of God is cast on a different kind of soils and some bear fruit and some don't.

But the word of God is cast out. The sounds are heard, But there can be either true hearing or just hearing of noise. And at the end of that parable, Jesus says, therefore be careful how you hear. Be careful how you hear. How are you hearing this morning?

How, and in Jesus' parable, what he's saying is how you are hearing tells you who you are, whether you've entered the kingdom of heaven or not. If you don't care about what you're hearing, you probably are not in the kingdom of God. That's what Jesus' parable is all about. But the word goes out and it falls on different kinds of soil. It gets some people really excited for a while.

That's the first soil that it lands on and then it just falls away and then it falls on other other kinds of soil and those people they hear it and I mean they're excited for a long time but then the cares of this world and the desire for riches just overtakes them and they just go back and they aren't really in the kingdom even though they've actually heard the sounds and they got excited about it at least for quite a while. But Jesus says be careful how you hear. And you can, we all ought to be asking how am I hearing? Am I hearing with a heart of desire? Or am I just going through another routine?

Or maybe I know I don't like it, I'm just here because my parents dragged me here today. Just know who you are because Jesus, Jesus really is saying come, come and hear the word of truth. Like newborn babes long for the pure milk of the word that you might grow in respect to salvation. Open your mouth wide and he'll fill it. They're saying, bring the book.

Then the second scene here in verse 2, So go to verse 2, Ezra presents the book to the people. So now Ezra is the man of the book. Remember we learned earlier that Ezra was a skilled scribe in the law of Moses and he prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it and to teach it. That's what his whole life was about that. Now we haven't heard about Ezra for 13 years now.

He's in silence for 13 years until he emerges on this platform. Now, I'm sure he was doing all kinds of things, but we don't know what he was doing for 13 years. Perhaps he was under the radio screen. Perhaps he was like the Apostle Paul out in Arabia, being taught by the Lord. But he had prepared his heart, and he brings the book of the law.

And he is the man of the book. He's the man of the exposition of scripture. He's a wonderful example for all those who would preach the Word of God. He's bringing the book, but remember these people don't have books. If we asked how many Bibles do we own represented in this church, there are lots of them.

These people had none. They were scrolls. They were opening the scroll of the Torah, either Deuteronomy or Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. I think it was the whole law because they spent, we learned later that they spent seven days reading this, six hours a day. You can read the law in that time.

It takes about six to eight hours to read Genesis. And you can read the whole law in seven days if you do it most of the day. So I believe they were reading the whole book. But this is a very dramatic moment. Ezra comes, he comes and he opens the book.

This is the most dramatic and pivotal thing that a church can ever do, is to open the book. And great centrality should be brought to it. This is why during the Reformation, when the reformers began to preach from the book, they changed the way the churches were arranged and they took the altar which was in the center of the Roman Catholic churches, and they moved the altar and they put the book in the center. They put the Word of God in the center of the church. I've heard that in the old Scottish churches they set someone aside to bring this dramatic focus on the Word of God and they had an officer in the church called a beetle, not B-E-E-T-L-E, not like a, not that kind of beetle, but a B-E-A-D-L-E, a beetle.

And he was an administrative worker, and he made sure that the church was already, that everything was set up for the worship of God, so that everything would be focused on the book. And there was this dramatic moment in some of the churches of Scotland, where the beetle would come down, he would walk down the middle of the aisle with the book, and he would walk up to the pulpit, which in those days, the pulpits were up high, very much like this one here, and he would walk up and he would open up the book and the preacher would be behind him and the preacher would follow him up into the pulpit and he would close the door and lock the preacher in. And the Word of God would be preached because the bringing of the Word of God is a dramatic pivotal thing in the church. It's the most important thing that we do. John Calvin said when you read the word of God, when you read the Bible in the church, you're hearing the voice of God in the church.

And he even went further, he said preaching is the voice of God in the Church of God and so Ezra is the one who is bringing this message and he's bringing it to a very broad group of people, whole families have gathered. And no one is excluded. There's a very large assembly of families. Anyone who could understand made their way. And the men and the women were there and they weren't putting their children in childcare.

That's not the point of this passage of Scripture. Some people have said, oh this is Nehemiah's nursery. Nehemiah had a nursery. Only those who could understand came. That's actually not the force of this passage at all.

The language that he's using here really implies that there was a language barrier because many of these people had grown up in families that grew up in Babylon and the language of Babylon was Aramaic and they were reading out of the Hebrew Bible and there were some who needed help to understand and they couldn't come there. But This was a very large gathering. Families were here. Little children were here. This is really in obedience to Deuteronomy chapter 31.

Open your Bibles to Deuteronomy 31, and you'll see why they were doing it this way and why they gathered their families altogether to hear the word of God. This is something that God has always desired of his people and that is that that the entire family would come and gather to hear the word of God together. And so in Deuteronomy 31 beginning in verse 9, So Moses wrote this law and delivered it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord and to all the elders of Israel. And Moses commanded them saying, at the end of every seven years at the appointed time in the year of release the feast of tabernacles. Moses is prophesying and ordering the work of the people of God here in this passage.

It's happening at the Feast of Tabernacles. When all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God in the place which he chooses, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. Gather the people together, men and women and little ones, and the stranger who is 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, that their children who have not known it may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God as long as you live in the land in which you cross the Jordan to possess." So this gathering of men and women and children is something that God's people have always done and they ought to keep doing it that way. And this is what was happening here. And so they were all gathered.

And so even the little children should ask the question, How am I hearing? They should hear the words of Jesus that say, Take heed how you hear. Bring the book, but take heed how you hear. When the sower goes out to sow, take heed how you hear. You know James speaks of this very same thing where he says, but be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in the mirror. For he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, This one is blessed in what he does. So be careful how you hear because it will tell you a lot about yourself. Bring the book but be careful how you hear.

Like newborn babes long for the pure milk of the word. Open your mouth wide and he will fill it. And then the third section here is in verse three, the third verse, so go to verse three, where the people were attended for six hours a day for seven days and there they are in the open square in front of the Watergate and they're reading from morning until midday. Most people believe this is from 6 a.m. Till noon.

So you've got a six-hour time of reading and instruction in the Word of God and they are attentive. It says very clearly they were attentive to the book of the law. You know the the elders of the church are to be attentive to something. Paul says to Timothy give attention to the public reading of Scripture and pray that God will give attentiveness to the people when you are attentive to the Republic reading of scripture. It takes tremendous focus to listen for six hours, doesn't it?

It's hard enough to do it for one hour. It's hard enough. Your mind is drifting. You've probably only heard maybe some percentage of what I've said already. And because our attentiveness isn't perfect, but this was an attentive crowd.

Their hearts were inclined. They wanted the book. They cried out that it would be brought. And there is an attentiveness in this crowd. And you know what?

Here's how attentiveness happens. It happens when your heart says, I love this, I want this, I need this. That's how attentiveness happens. When you have need, your attentiveness arises. And that's what they had here.

Remember, this was a hard time in their lives. Things weren't just all that rosy there. And many houses were not built. They had threats from the outside, and they were suffering from all kinds of other troubles, but they longed for the Word of God. And I, you know, this passage of Scripture has been used by many over the years to make a case for consecutive sequential expository preaching because they worked through the books of the law in that way.

Also there's this phrase, all the people, All the people were attentive. This phrase, all the people, appears eight times in these eight verses. There was a rapt attention for the Word of God. They said, bring the Book. And it's so critical that when that happens that we're careful how we hear, that we become like newborn babes who long for the pure milk of the word, that our mouths are open wide so that God would fill our mouths.

And then the fourth verse, the word of God was exalted above the people. And in verse four, we read, so Ezra the scribe stood on a platform of wood which they had made for the purpose. So before the meeting they built the scaffolding, it was a large wooden platform. Now imagine there's probably at least 50, 000 people there in this crowd and they would have to get up above so that the voices could be heard, broadcasting over that crowd. But the word of God was exalted.

This is the reason why many pulpits are set up on a perch, particularly if you go into churches that were built after the Reformation and particularly during the Puritan era and even after. If you go to New England, you'll see pulpits that are, you know, four, six, eight, ten feet above the ground in, you know, in an enclosure with a large piece of wood behind it, almost like a guitar, wood and a guitar to resonate the sound out into the crowd. So they built this platform and it was all ready and the word of God is exalted. Now the Bible gives us different kinds of locations for preaching. This is one where they're really exalted on this large wooden platform.

But we find in the Bible the Word of God being preached indoors, outdoors, in homes, in palaces, in synagogues, in councils, in places of business. The Word of God is preached in many different kinds of contexts. You know even from the ark you know Noah was a preacher of righteousness. You can bet Noah was preaching from the ark. Elijah before the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel.

Moses preaching to Pharaoh on the edge of the Nile. There's so many places. And here we find this dramatic location on this wooden structure high above the people. And there they are, you know, hearing the word. And I just can't help but think of the words of Jesus, you know, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.

And the Lord Jesus Christ saying that he was the bread which comes down out of heaven that gives life to the world that's that That is what this scene is a picture of. It's the bread of life being broken, being spoken, you know, and being exalted before the people. And then in the fifth verse, the people exalted the word of God and they stood up, verse five, 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." Isn't that amazing? They just all rose as one man with one passion. Here we find the Word of God is standing high above all the people, but the people of God stand before the Word of God in honor." Now if you read your Bible, you know that people hear the Word of God in different postures.

Sometimes they hear it sitting, sometimes they hear it standing, sometimes they hear it riding in a chariot. This standing that we see here I don't believe is prescriptive for the church necessarily but it's descriptive of something that that happened in the church that was an honorable thing. We often ask people to stand for the reading of the Word of God. Is it required that we do that? I don't think it's required, but it's a blessing and it really gives, it really sends the message that the word of God is so important that we ought to stand at it, at rapt attention, to hear it.

So they did stand. And I think that there a picture of David in Psalm 63 where he says, my flesh yearns for you in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water. Or like David in Psalm 143, I stretch out my hands to you. My soul longs for you. They stood up and they raised their hands.

Their bodies were just reflecting what was going on in their souls. And their whole being was really being moved. They said, bring the book, and the book moved them. And then in the sixth verse, we see how they adored the word of God and they lifted up their hands Then all the people answered amen Amen, which translated means yes. I love this.

That's what amen means. Yes, this is wonderful. I am with this, I am into this, this is mine. That's what amen means. And then while lifting up their hands, and they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces on the ground.

And the first thing we read in verse 6 is Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God. Ezra was giving thanks to God for his word. He knew it was his only hope and the people's only hope. He's giving thanks to God. Thank you for giving us your word.

Thank you. We need this. It's our only guide. It's our only book. Lord, help us to understand it.

That's what we have here and Ezra is blessing God, the great God, forgiving his word and then the people are saying, yes Lord, amen, I love this, this is mine, I'm into this. And their whole being was involved and they had an outward bodily response to their inward adoration. You know it's interesting when you worship with people of different cultures, how you see how different this works out. I'll just go on record at saying, my favorite place to preach outside of Hope Baptist Church is at Calvary Revival Church in Chesapeake, Virginia. It's a black church.

And oh, boy. I mean, they are so responsive. I mean, you're talking back and forth to people all over through the crowd. I mean, it's great. They are so engaged.

And I'm telling you, their bodies are swaying like they don't happen at Hope Baptist. Well, you know what, there are cultural matters, you know, that really govern a lot of these things. But here, you know, the people were saying, amen. And their posture was a posture of, well, there are various postures here. They're raising their hands, they're bowing their faces to the ground.

I don't think everybody had their faces on the ground for six hours. I think that they were just interacting with God in these various moments that they were having with God as the Word of God was being preached. They probably got to certain parts of the Word of God and they were so embarrassed that they had neglected so much and they put their faces on the ground. And then God would come back and say, come and say, I'm a merciful God. You know, I forgive sinners and they stand up and they're giving thanks for his mercy.

There were all these various emotions and corresponding bodily reactions that they were experiencing during this time. And so here they are lifting up their hands and they're doing all these things to express their hearts. You know, David says, I lift my hands up unto thy name. He says in Psalm 119, my hands also I will lift up to your commandments which I love and I will meditate on all your statues." Paul tells Timothy that the men in the church should lift up holy hands when they pray without wrath or dissension. And Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, he says, lift up your hands for him, for the life of your young children who faint from hunger at the head of every street.

So these times of gathering before the Word of God, they happen in the midst of life. And you never know where you're going to be when you hear the Word of God at some time in your life. And where are you right now? What time are you in your life? And, you know, is this you?

You're lifting up your hands. You're saying, Amen. Lord, this is, I need this. I love this. I'm into this.

And it's affecting you. David says, because your loving kindness is better than life, my lips will praise you. Thus will I bless you. I will lift up my hands unto thy name. So this was the heart of the people.

It's Such a beautiful expression of the people of God. And then in the seventh verse, the teaching was multiplied. Look at verse seven with me. Also, Jeshua, Bani, Shariabai, Jamin, Akab, Shebetai, Hodaija, Mesiayah, Keilaita, Azariah, Jezebad, Hainan, Piliah, and the Levites helped the people to understand the law and the people stood in their place. Now if you, we skip this over in verses four and five you had 13 men standing with Ezra, six on his right and I'm probably seven on his left or and what we find here is that Nehemiah is not the only teacher and he actually has been in the process of handing over leadership.

We saw that in the last passage where he is appointing various civil leaders and spiritual leaders to serve and he is delegating. He has representative men. He has already put men in charge of Judah and now he has men standing with him. This is like the men of the church who stand with the elders of the church to support and proclaim the word of God. And the word of God is on their lips as well.

These are men who are set aside to teach and there are many of them. Of course this is a very large crowd and they need various people to go and help people understand what these things mean. And then in the eighth verse, in the final verse of our text today, the law was explained in detail. So they read distinctly from the book in the law of God and they gave the sense and helped them to understand the reading. So they read distinctly, their whole heart was to try to make it as clear as they possibly could, to give the sense.

They took the love most likely verse by verse, section by section, and they explained what it meant. You know on the one hand we have a very simple book, even a child can understand the love of Jesus Christ and the call of God. But on the other hand it's a complex book as well and you know it can bend your mind And there are things in it that we don't completely understand. And so they gave the sense to help the people to try to understand what it actually meant. And this could imply that they were helping some understand the language difficulties that were in play because of the various languages of the people who had gathered and it went on from 6 a.m.

And until noon and you know the seed of the word of God was being cast out onto the ears of the people, and their hearts were moved. The book was opened and their hearts moved. That's so important and it's so important for us to understand, You know, what's moving my heart, you know, in the marriage ceremony when my baby's born, when there's loss or my children go astray, or when I'm heartbroken, when there's an economic collapse, you know, what's moving my heart, what's moving my life? Well, these people, these people desire the book. So let me just give you some applications here.

First is in a form of a question, is it your most desired book? Is it the book you stand up for in your private life daily, giving it the honor that it deserves. I know we have a lot of men here who who read the Word of God in family worship. It's one thing to read the Word of God in family worship. It's a whole other thing to read it with the heart that these people had.

It was desire with hunger. It can become routine, can't it? You know, and I think about our times here in the church when we read the Word of God. You know, we really do want to make it central. And we really do want to be, we want to take heed how we hear.

We really want to be like newborn babes who long for the pure milk of the word. We really want to be people who open our mouths wide so that God would fill it. You know, there's so much junk that can fill your mouth, but when God fills your mouth, It's good, isn't it? And, you know, to be a people that are so thirsty, who would, we would stretch out our hands to him because we long for him. We long for his word.

You know, my prayer for our, where God's leading our church right now is that we he would really Accelerate and intensify our longing for the Word of God that it would be sweeter to us than it was even this last week Like is your passion for the Word of God everything it should be? Is it? It's not for me. I'm not satisfied at all. Not even close.

I don't want to have the same passion for the Word of God next week that I had last week. I don't. I want it more. Way more. I mean it's so important that we think that way.

You know, Jesus said, everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water I give him will never thirst again. This is the water that satisfies thirst. You know the Lord Jesus Christ is the word of God and Jesus Christ was sent by God. He died for our sins according to the scriptures and he was buried and he rose again on the third day so that he would fill the mouths of sinners with his word. And he said, if anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.

He said, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And Jesus Christ is always calling his children and his wayward sinners to come and drink all of them together And I pray that God would give us such a heart for that You know where how is God leading our church? Deeper into the Word of God With more passion with more desire with more unity They were people in this moment with one passion and I pray God gives us the very same thing here in this church. Would you pray with me? Oh Lord we we thank you that you have brought the book to us and that you've given us so many copies of it.

They're everywhere. And now Lord we pray that you would give us a heart that treasures that book, that longs for that book, that our hands would be lifted up, our heads would be bowed down. We would say amen, amen, bring the book. Amen.