Hearing and Responding to God's Word Through Repentance

the city walls, the early mornings, the late nights,

all of the praying, the fasting, the strategic planning,

the giving of time and money and energy and resources,

persevering through threats and opposition,

confronting conflict.

What is all this for?

Where is it all leading to?

That's what we see beginning in chapter eight.

In many ways, chapter eight, eight through 10

are the climax to this whole story.

We see at the beginning of chapter eight

that God works powerfully among his people,

that a revival breaks out.

God works in a powerful way to bring about a great movement

of spiritual renewal among the people.

And how this spiritual renewal happens

and what follows is the subject of chapters eight through 10.

And this morning, we're gonna see part one

of this movement of renewal as we focus on chapter eight.

We're gonna ask two questions.

Our two questions are what happens in this story

and what can we learn?

What happens in this story and what can we learn?

So first of all, let's look at what happens in this story.

Beginning of verse one tells us that very early one morning,

at the beginning of the seventh month of the year,

all of the people gather together

in the city near the water gates.

The water gate.

Remember that for later on in the sermon.

This assembly of people is just shy of about 50,000 people.

So imagine Nat's Park downtown.

Imagine National's Park filled to the brim.

That's about the size of this assembly.

And the people have gathered,

they've assembled for one purpose,

to hear the word of God read.

To hear the word of God read.

Now you have to appreciate the drama

and expectation of this moment.

This is something that had not happened

in the life of God's people for several generations.

The people gathered together in this moment

had not heard God's word read or taught publicly

in such an assembly for over 100 years.

You know, many of us have probably been to church many times.

Some of us may have grown up in the church.

And so you just have to appreciate

what would it have been like

to grow up in Babylon during the exile

and to never have heard the word of God read

or taught publicly.

Not a single sermon, not a single Bible study.

But now for the first time,

you're gathered with 50,000 of your friends and family

to hear the word of the Lord.

And so Ezra the priest and the scribe

climbs up on top of a large wooden platform

that they had built

so that people could see him and hear him

as he read God's word.

And he gets to the top

and he puts the big book of the law

on top of the podium

and he opens it

and he starts reading.

Verse three says that the people were eager.

They were attentive to read the book,

to read God's word.

Verse three,

and the ears of all the people

were attentive to the book of the law.

The people are waiting.

They're on the edge of their seat.

They're eager.

They're receptive.

They're open.

They're attentive to the word.

If you're here this morning

and you're unfamiliar with the Bible,

maybe particularly the Old Testament,

what Ezra was reading,

the book of the law,

would have been the first five books

of the Old Testament.

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus,

Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

These are also known

as the five books of Moses

or the Pentateuch.

The Pentateuch.

One way to think about it

if you're unfamiliar with the Bible

is that these books

were Israel's

Declaration of Independence,

Constitution,

and Gettysburg Address

all wrapped into one.

These five books

told the story

of who God was,

of who they were

as a people,

what their story was,

and how they were to live

in light of that.

Verses seven through eight

tell us that not only

was God's word

clearly read,

but it was clearly

explained.

It was clearly explained.

As Ezra read,

the Levites helped

the people to understand

what was being read.

How exactly did this happen?

What was the format of this?

What was the structure of this?

Well, we actually aren't told

specifically in this text.

Some scholars suggest

that perhaps Ezra

read a section

and then paused

and perhaps

across the whole assembly

as people are gathered

in small groups,

the Levites would go around

and sort of share

and summarize

and explain

what was just read.

And then Ezra would move on

to reading the next section.

We don't know

if this is exactly

the order of what happened,

but we know

that some version

of this

is what happened.

Ezra read

and the Levites

explained clearly

the meaning

of God's word.

And this went on

for four hours.

We're told it goes on

from sunrise

to midday

around noon.

Next time you think

that a Sunday morning sermon

might be

going a little long,

just remember

Nehemiah chapter 8.

Nehemiah 8 · chapter mention

Four hours.

People are standing.

And that at the end

of it all,

at the end of the four hours,

how did the people respond?

Well, we see in verse 6,

and Ezra blessed the Lord,

the great God.

And all the people answered,

Amen, Amen,

lifting up their hands.

And they bowed their heads

and worshiped the Lord

with their faces

to the ground.

And then in verse 9,

for all the people

wept

as they heard

the words of the law.

This is a powerful moment.

The Spirit of God

is moving.

The people worshiped

and they wept

in response

to God's word.

Why is that?

Why did they respond

in that way?

Well,

well, of course,

God's Spirit

was moving

among them powerfully.

But again,

imagine for a moment

that you've grown up

in exile in Babylon

and you've never heard

the word of God

read or taught publicly

in a way

that you can understand.

And then you hear Ezra

get up

and start reading

the book of Genesis

and how God

made heaven and earth

and all of his,

every man and woman

made and created

in his image

and how God

had made a promise

to Abraham

that his people,

your people,

would be a light

to the nations,

a blessing

to all the peoples

on earth.

And then Ezra

moves on to Exodus.

You hear the miraculous

story of God's

great power and salvation

to lead your ancestors

out of bondage

when they were in slavery

in Egypt

and how Moses

led them to Mount Sinai

where the Lord

appeared

in great power

and glory

and smoke

and fire

and entered

into a covenant

relationship

with his people

and gave them the law.

And then you keep,

Ezra keeps reading

in Leviticus

and Numbers

and Deuteronomy

and you read

how God

made it possible

for a sinful

people,

for a sinful

people

to continue

to live

in a covenant

relationship

with the Holy God

through atonement

and sacrifice

to follow

his commands

and to walk

in his way

so that they might

live out their vocation

of being a light

and a blessing

to all the nations

of the earth.

And over the course

of four hours

you hear the story

of your people

being read

of your people

to giveHope