How Can We Be Renewed When We Have Drifted from God?

If you do not have a Bible, there should be a Bible in the seat in one of the seats in front of you.

So go ahead and grab one.

Actually, maybe some of you may notice we have new Bibles that we have under the seats that are there.

A couple reasons why we did that is we had a mixture of different translations and different types of Bibles under the seats, okay?

And so the reason we wanted to get one unified same Bible in every seat was that anybody could be able to grab a Bible, which if you don't have one, I'd encourage you to do that now.

And um, I was supposed to do this ahead of time and I forgot.

Um but uh I can tell you the page number to turn to just because if you're not familiar how to get to Nehemiah, you don't have much experience, you can turn to that Bible there under there, under your seat, and go to Nehemiah page 422.

So if you have one of these Bibles, it would be page 422 to get to Nehemiah.

Okay?

It will help you a lot every single Sunday if you have a Bible open as we walk through it together.

So I'd encourage you to uh to do that.

Nehemiah chapter 7.

Nehemiah 7 · chapter mention

Have you ever felt like you've drifted away from God?

Where there felt like there was a struggle to pick up your Bible and read it, where prayer felt like a task rather than a treasure, where church felt like a chore to do, and you just felt the love you had for God that maybe once was a strong flame beginning to die down.

I think we all have had experiences like that, and maybe that's how you feel right now.

You know, for some of us living in Florida, we have a lot of stories and moments in the beach and at the beach.

And one thing as a kid you can remember is when you'd go out into the water that your parents would remind you to make sure that you look to where you are because over time what happens?

You begin to drift away.

And as a parent, you do the same, you watch and make sure your child hasn't drifted because after only you know several minutes go by, what happens?

You drift.

And by the time that you notice, it's a little far off.

And so I would remember the tent.

Because maybe it's hard to see the people from the distance, but I would you know remember the tent and its color, and when I would go far off, I would see there's the tent, the blue tent over there.

And so for us, when we drift spiritually, where is the tent?

What is the tent?

It is the word of God.

It's the word of God that brings us back to know where we need to go.

And so here in Nehemiah, it's been about a people in this history who've drifted from God.

The people of God had made a promise to keep a covenant, to obey what God had said, and they disobeyed that, and because of that, they have drifted, and once they were a nation, a people where God's name dwelled, where his temple was, and then it was destroyed.

And they were scattered.

And now they've been brought back, and we've been listening to the story of Nehemiah, who, as the temple has been rebuilt, now the walls of the city are being rebuilt.

But we've said, and we'll see again here today, that God's heart is not about rebuilding walls, but renewing his people.

People who had drifted, who are now being restored and renewed.

How does that happen?

So here's the big idea, the big question that the word is going to answer for us is how can we be renewed when we have drifted from God?

How can we be renewed when we have drifted from God?

Again, maybe that's where you are, if you're honest.

You feel that.

Feel distant from God.

Feel cold.

Maybe you're not there now, but this message is important because those seasons will come.

And it'll be a good reminder for ourselves or those we can speak life into when they are drifting.

So we see that these people have been scattered, now brought together, and they're ready to change.

They're ready to be renewed.

So let's go into Nehemiah chapter 7 and 8.

Nehemiah 7 · chapter mention

That's a lot of verses.

We're not going to go over all that.

Chapter 7 is really going to be a launching pad for us to walk through chapter 8, verse by verse.

But we're going to start at chapter 7.

So, as is custom here, would you stand for those of us who are able to, in reverence for the word of God?

Actually, going through this passage, we will see why we do this as a tradition.

Okay, so Nehemiah chapter 7, verse 1 through 5.

Nehemiah 7:1–5

Starting at chapter 7, verse 1.

When the wall had been rebuilt, and I had the doors installed, the gatekeepers, singers, and Levites were appointed.

Then I put my brother Hanani in charge of Jerusalem, along with Hananiah, commander of the fortress, because he was a faithful man who feared God more than most.

I said to them, Do not open the gates of Jerusalem until the sun is hot, and let the doors be shut securely.

Fastened while the guards are on duty, stationed the citizens of Jerusalem as guards, some at their posts and some at their homes.

The city was large and spacious, but there were few people in it, and no house had been built yet.

Then my God put it into my mind to assemble the nobles, the officials, and the people to be registered by genealogy, and I found the geneal genealogical record of those who came back first, and I found the following in it.

Verse 6 These were the people of the province who came up out of the captivity of those exiles whom Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, had carried into exile.

They returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his own town.

Then you'll see a list of genealogies there in your Bible.

And let's go to chapter 8 now, 1 through 6.

So to all the people gathered together at the square in the front of the water.

I love that here in those pages turned.

They asked the scribe Ezra to bring the book of the law of Moses that the Lord had given Israel.

On the first day of the seventh month, the priest Ezra brought the law before the assembly of men, women, and all who could listen with understanding.

While he was facing the square in front of the water gate, he read out, read of it from daybreak until noon before the men and women who could understand.

All the people listened attentively to the book of the law.

The scribe Ezra stood on the high wooden platform made for this purpose.

Metithiah, Shemmah, Ananiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, Messiah stood beside him on the right.

To his left were Padiah, Mishiah, Malchijah, Hashem, Hashbaniah, Zachariah, and Meshalem.

Ezra opened the book and full of all the peep people, since he was elevated above everyone.

As he opened it, all the people stood up.

Verse 6, Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and with their hands lifted, all the people said, Amen, Amen.

Then they knelt low and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.

This is the word of the Lord.

Let's pray.

Lord Jesus, as I was praying last night, as I was praying this morning, I pray for a hunger for your word.

It's so easy to drift, and the anchor for us is the words that you've spoken.

You have revealed to us who you are.

You have revealed to us how we can obey you, how we can turn to you, how we can be restored and renewed.

It's all here.

God, just as we just sung, if there's if only one word as we hear we hear from you, it's enough.

But God, we have more than one word right here that you have spoken and it's here.

So I pray for a hunger to hear and a desire to obey.

Renew us as you renewed your people.

Then in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Amen.

You may have a seat.

So we'll spend most of our time walking through chapter 8, verse by verse, but before that, we need to go over chapter 7.

So if you look at verse 1, at this point the wall is complete.

Amen.

We saw that last week.

It's incredible.

They did what seemed impossible in the face of adverse uh adversity.

They did it.

But if you look at Nehemiah, you got about six chapters left.

So what's going on?

Again, it's not about just this wall being rebuilt.

It's about a people being renewed, restored.

And so here we see Nehemiah, he appoints gatekeepers for protection of the city, and he appoints singers and Levites.

These were the priests.

He was establishing and getting ready for worship.

And in verse 4, we see that the city, although the walls were built, the city was empty.

And chapter 7 and 8 kind of deal with that.

So here after this description, we see there's a genealogy.

This verse, look at verse 5.

It says, Then my God put into my mind to assemble the nobles, the officials, and the people to be registered by genealogy.

I found the genealogical record of those who who come back, who came back first, and I found the following written in it.

Here's the first point.

How can we be renewed when we have drifted from God?

Number one, remember your identity in God.

Remember your identity in God.

Chapter 8, and through the rest of the book, even in chapter 9, we'll get to, we see revival break out.

A renewal.

And it starts with the people here remembering their identity, who they are.

So Nehemiah, he finds this census, this old record of all the people who had come from exile.

As we mentioned, first setting up this book, there were three different trips of people returning into the city.

First was Zerubbah who came, then second was Ezra, then was a group with Nehemiah.

And so he finds the first record of the first people who came and looked at that genealogy.

But then now he gathers all the families that are there and takes another record.

What is he doing?

He's reminding them, pointing these the people here to their identity, their family history of who they are.

They register their names and then connect them to the past, their history.

It was like an ancestry.com.

I don't know if anyone's done that before.

But reminding people of their identity, who they were.

And remember in verse 5, whose idea was this?

Look, look there, verse 5.

Whose idea?

Nehemiah's?

No, it says, then my God put it into my mind to do this.

See, God was wanting to do this.

Because it begins, renewal begins with the people of God being reminded of their spiritual identity.

Don't miss this.

Okay, why is this important?

Why does this matter for us?

See, God had made a promise.

Many promises.

He made a promise to Adam that through your descendant there would be one who would come and defeat the enemy.

The serpent.

And then he made a promise to Abraham that through your line, your lineage, there would be a Messiah, a Savior who would come and save the world.

A promise to David that the same thing, that there would be a king who would come through your line.

And this is God who is protecting that covenant, protecting that promise, and reminding them you are a spiritual people.

You are my people.

You belong to me.

And when they remember that, it changes something.

See, one of the first things that happens when we begin to drift, we lose something.

Before we stop reading our Bibles, before we stop praying, before we stop falling in love with God andor fall out of love from God, we forget who we are.

We forget our identity.

What does that mean?

The word of God says for those of us in this room who have turned from our sins and have trusted in Jesus to save us, that we are new in him, that in that we are sons and daughters of God.

That we're born again.

That we are a new creation.

That's our spiritual identity.

And when you look at the New Testament over and over and over again, there's this idea of what you believe will affect how you behave.

And so here they're remembering you are the people of God.

You know, in this moment, if you even feel that sense of maybe that's where you are, you've drifted.

Before, as I tell you, here's some things you should do, which there are things you should do.

First, you need to remember who you are.

You are loved by God.

You are a child of His.

Remember who you are in Him.

That you are forgiven, that you are washed.

Have you forgotten that?

Israel and the people here of God, they have forgotten.

And so they drifted.

And we can do the same.

Physical security means nothing without spiritual identity.

It didn't matter that the walls were there if they didn't know who they were, who God had called them to be.

How can we be renewed when we've drifted from God?

Remember your identity in God.

Let's go to chapter 8, verse 1.

It says all the people gathered together at the square in the front of the water gate.

They asked the scribe Ezra to bring the book of the law of Moses that the Lord had given Israel.

This is so good, guys, this passage.

So they're gathered there, everyone, and they asked the scribe Ezra.

Ezra has not been mentioned until now throughout the book of Nehemiah.

But we would know if you can see, if you turn a couple pages to the left, keeping where you're at, you would see the book previously was the book of Ezra.

So in this time, Ezra had already been in Jerusalem serving for 13 years.

Now we see him mentioned.

It says, They asked the scribe Ezra to bring the book.

Here's the question: Who asked?

Look right there, verse 1.

Who asked?

The people.

Was it Ezra who asked?

Was it Nehemiah who asked?

No, the people have they've found their identity that we are the people of God.

And they say, Bring us the book.

Do you hunger for the word of God?

Say, bring us the book.

It says the law of Moses.

What does that mean?

The law of Moses was the first five books of the Bible.

It was the Torah.

We know it's Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

They're saying, bring us the Bible.

They asked.

So what's the second point?

How can we be renewed when we have drifted from God?

First, remember your identity in God.

Second, gather under the Word of God.

They called for the book.

Look at verse 2.

On the first day of the seventh month, the priest Ezra brought the law before the assembly of men, women, and all who could listen with understanding.

While he was facing the square in front of the water gate, he read out from at daybreak until noon before the men, the women, and those who could understand.

All the people listen attentively to the book of the law.

We see the people of God now under the word of God.

They're gathered, they're assembled together.

Do you see the people's hunger?

It says they were there from when?

Daybreak until noon.

How long is that?

That's at least, at a minimum.

Five hours.

It's the minimum it could be, but it could be more than that.

Five hours.

Doing what?

Listening to the word of God.

That should be a challenge for us.

Sometimes I'll preach 45, maybe an hour.

And some of y'all are ready to be out of here.

But they were listening.

And we'll see.

Guess what else they were doing?

They were standing.

That's probably what worked, right?

If you fell asleep, everyone would know, right?

But they were hungry.

70 years.

They were desperate.

When you are hungry for the word of God, you will search after it.

You will desire it.

You will look for it.

And they're what?

They're gathered together.

And what are they doing?

They're listening.

What does it say in verse 3?

Attentively.

Look at verse 4.

It says the scribe Ezra stood on a high wooden platform, very much like this moment right now.

A priest, a representative of God, standing in a platform to the assembled people of God, gathered.

I won't read those names again because I already read it.

Verse 5.

Ezra opened the book in full view of all the people, since he was elevated above everyone, as he opened it, all the people stood up.

Verse 5.

As he opened it, all the people stood up.

Why do we stand for the reading of the Word of God?

Because that's something we haven't always done.

That's something we started doing a couple months ago now.

To show reverence.

That God is speaking.

It is the most important time during the sermon.

Because during that time, there is no words of man.

It is just the word of God.

That's it.

It's the most important time.

That when we stand, we just hear God's word.

And we're standing saying, we're here, we're hungry, we're ready, we want to receive it.

This implies that they were potentially standing for five hours.

Do you feel like you're drifting?

You know, one of the first things that will happen when you begin to drift or you drift is you will stop gathering with God's.

People under the word of God.

That's what this word, the word church, it's ecclesia.

That word there in the Greek means assembly.

It's the same word that's being used here.

The people are assembling together under the word of God.

And they were hungry and they were together, and we need to do the same.

Do you want to drift?

Make church optional.

Make it optional.

Just make it a sometimes thing or when I can.

And begin to prioritize other things in your life.

I've said this before, but you need to hear this.

For those of you who are leaders in your home or families, the moment that your kids question whether they are going to church on a Sunday, and they come up to you and say, Are we going to church today?

What are you modeling for them?

It's a choice.

And there are other things that are important.

Again, there's there's please hear grace in this.

There's situations, there's emergencies, there's there's health.

But you know and ask the Lord to seek your heart.

Am I prioritizing the gathered assembly of being under the word of God?

You you need it.

You need it for your soul.

Something happens, something supernatural happens in this very moment when God's word is being preached.

To come week in and week out, to be reminded, to see the tent before you begin to drift too far.

It's a moment to just check yourself and worship with God's people and hear his word.

Verse 6, what happens?

Look at the response.

Look there, verse 6.

Of the response of the people, Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God.

And with their hands uplifted, all the people said, Amen, amen.

Then they knelt low and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.

They didn't just gather under the word under the word, they praised God.

They praise God.

It says their hands were lifted, their faces to the ground.

Here's what's important: worship can be demonstrative.

It starts with the heart.

It's the most important part.

But it displays outwardly.

They shout amen.

What does amen mean?

Amen means, may it be so, or this is truth.

And can I just say, brother Ed can't be the only ones shouting amen here?

Instead, they all said amen.

And they said it and they said it twice.

There you go.

But but as we sit here, here's the thing we have to understand in worship.

Worship is not singing.

We'll see that they will start weeping as they even hear the word later.

We worship now in this very moment.

We invite the Spirit of God as we're listening, as this supernatural moment is happening, as this word is being preached.

We're praying, God, help me to receive this, help me to obey this.

Oh, amen.

This is truth to my soul.

I need it.

But here's the thing that's so important.

We have to get right with worship because we we can miss this.

In regards to praise.

True worship happens from a revelation of Christ Jesus.

They are worshiping here with hands lifted, faces to the ground, in response to the truth of God's word.

Praise is more than a feeling, it's more than the keys hitting the right note, it's more than this singer who is singing.

Praise is in a revelation being revealed, the truth of who God is and responding to that.

And that's what Jesus says in John chapter 4 to the Samaritan woman.

John 4 · chapter mention

He says, We worship in spirit and in truth.

One day will come where we will worship in spirit and in truth.

Your worship has to come from the truth of God's word.

And I I want to say this when I first got here about a year ago, during the closing time, we would do, it was quick.

It'd be a chorus, and that's very common, a couple choruses of a song, and then we'll we we'll dismiss I said no, we have to do a whole song.

Why?

Because we we hear the word of God, and then it's time to respond and praise.

That's the most important part.

It's not the time of, okay, who's gonna come down and who's gonna be saved, and I'm ready to get out of here.

No, it's time to respond that we've received his word.

We've heard his word and we want to give praise to God.

And say, God, what do you want to do in me?

That's why we do it.

The sermon ends, and the worship is going, and you're thinking about getting out, you're missing it.

You are missing what God wants to do in your heart.

Verse 7 says these gentlemen, lovely names, explained the law to the people as they stood in their places.

Verse 8, they read out of the Bible, or read, yeah, read out of the book of the law of God, translating and giving the meaning so that the people could understand what was read.

Verse 7 it says, they explained the law.

Verse 8 says, giving the meaning so the people could understand.

We'll see this word understand is used five different times in this chapter.

The Bible was not just being read, it was being explained.

This is really a model, as you can see, of why we do what we do here on a Sunday.

We assemble ourselves as the people of God to hear the word and to worship together.

But it's not just the Bible being read, it is the Bible being explained.

Here's what is crazy.

Is this simple idea of a sermon in most churches of the Bible being read and explained is rare today.

It's rare today.

And I hear this of brothers and sisters who are now part of our family, but as they've been looking for places, saying, Man, we would visit and we would go, and they wouldn't preach the Bible.

Okay?

What do I mean by this?

In some ways, yes, they would preach the Bible, but what I want to, I want it, I want us to enter into a little bit of a classroom setting for a moment, okay, to learn something.

Okay, follow along with me, okay?

Because we need to know what is biblical preaching.

This is what's being modeled for us here in chapter 8.

That they're gathering under the Word of God.

What does that look like?

Okay?

See, there's two kind of different ways sermons can be preached.

One way, and the way we do it here is expositional preaching and topical preaching.

Okay, what is that?

Expositional preaching, it means to expose what is there.

That my job or whoever's job who is standing here isn't coming to bring something new.

They are going to something old and holy and exposing it to the people.

They are reading it and explaining it.

Okay?

Topical preaching, although we do it from time to time, and even in the topical preaching, there's a way you can still be expositional.

I don't want to get in the weeds there.

But topical preaching is I have this idea I want to preach on.

Maybe it's five hints to live a better life today.

And now, because I want to preach on this idea, I will go to the Bible to support what I want to preach at.

And so we'll go to this verse, and we'll go to this verse, and we'll go to this verse.

And what happens is the intended message of the author can be missed because now you're coming with your idea already on the passage.

Are you getting this?

Right?

Let me give some illustrations to help.

You know, one illustration I use is uh I learned in seminary is with a pool, okay?

There's three different ways you can see a sermon being preached.

One way is the diving board, right?

You think of a diving board, you launch into the in a pool, but the diving board way is where you have someone come up and they'll come and they preach the word.

Or they'll read the passage.

After they read the passage, they go wherever they want to go.

And they feel, and the people feel because they've heard it, that the Bible was read, therefore they're explaining and preaching the Bible.

That's the diving board that happens.

They read it, and then they go wherever they want to go.

The next way, which is a little better, is the lawn chair.

Okay, the lawn chair is where you're relaxing on the lawn chair, and every now and then you go out of the lawn chair and you dip your toes in the pool a little bit.

And you kind of come back to the lawn chair, and then you go back and dip, you know, your feet in the pool.

What's that?

It's it's having the passage of the Bible, and then kind of going on your own way, your own thoughts, your own thing, and then coming back, and you're you're going to you're doing it back and forth.

But what's the third way and the best way?

It's to be in the pool.

This is what we do.

We swim in the pool.

In the word of God.

You should sense that when we walk through Nehemiah.

This is why we go books of the Bible.

We are going verse by verse through Nehemiah chapter 8.

Nehemiah 8 · chapter mention

And that is the main idea the author has is the main idea of the message.

I know I want to share more, I don't, but share more.

Okay.

So let's say, let's say that you have a father, mother, loved one, grandmother, grandparent, they send you a letter.

And maybe you've argued and there's a little tension between you, you haven't seen each other in years.

And the mailman gets that letter.

And they open that letter, and they say, you know what, this is kind of harsh.

Or you know what?

I think it'd be better if they said it this way and they did it that way, and said this, this would be better, and they adjusted it and they'd get they gave it to you, and you didn't know.

What would be wrong with that?

It'd be illegal, first of all.

But it wouldn't be the message.

And that's what the job of whoever stands here.

This is what's happening.

Okay?

Because even the story I'm sharing is not just a story of illustration.

I'm trying to show you and explain the text to you in this very moment.

That's what's happening.

Is they're reading the letter of God and explaining it.

This is what it means.

And that's the job of the preacher.

To gather under the word of God.

So, what does that look like?

How can we apply that?

First, corporately.

We talked about that.

Are you faithful and consistently putting yourself under the preaching of God's word?

Are you making that a consistent practice of your life?

To put yourself under the preaching of God's word.

Not just that, but individually.

In your own life personally.

Are you fighting for personal time of reading the Word of God?

You need to make that a practice.

And if you don't know how, pray and try.

But secondly, you can come talk to me and say, I don't know how to do that, and I'll connect you with someone in this church who would love to show you this is how you can read your Bible.

We do that as a family, as a people of God together, but we do it individually.

And notice this, it wasn't just Ezra, right?

Explaining.

It was the group of the others.

And this is my prayer that here in this church, and not just this church, but this community, that preachers would be raised.

That it wasn't just Ezra, that there were others who learned the Bible and explained the Bible.

Not just preachers, but teachers of the Word of God to do it rightly.

So how can we be renewed when we have drifted from God?

First, remember your identity in God.

Second, gather under the Word of God.

And third, rejoice in the joy of God.

Verse 9.

Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and the scribe and the Levites who were instructing the people, said to all of them, This day is holy to the Lord your God.

Do not mourn or weep, for all the people were weeping as they heard the words of the law.

Then he said to them, Go and eat what is rich, drink what is sweet, and send portions to those who have nothing prepared, since today is holy to our Lord.

Do not grieve because the joy of the Lord is your strength.

And the Levites quieted all the people, saying, Be still, since today is holy.

Don't grieve.

Then all the people began to eat and drink, send portions, and have a greater celebration, because they have under they had understood the words that were explained to them.

It wasn't just because they heard it, but they understood it.

What's the right response to hearing about God his word?

Is grief.

Is conviction.

I mean, think about, they are torn as they're hearing the covenant that their ancestors made to obey God and how they are so far from that.

They feel hurt and grief.

And it should be the same for us.

And we'll talk about that in chapter 9.

The whole chapter 9, the next one is all about confession.

So we'll spend time specifically talking about repentance and convection confession and conviction.

But what do the spiritual leaders do?

They said, don't sit in your grief.

This is a time to rejoice.

He's saying, we've remembered who we are.

We're here gathered under the word of God.

We return, we're returning to God.

He says, rejoice.

Let your repentance lead to joy.

Repentance here doesn't lead to a funeral.

As we'll see, it leads to a feast.

And we have to be careful with this.

Yes, there is conviction.

Yes, there is sorrow over sin.

But the enemy can twist that to turn to shame and to guilt.

When there should be joy.

That's what the psalmist says.

David says, Restore to me the joy of my salvation.

Says this phrase, the Lord's joy.

Let the Lord, the joy of the Lord is your strength.

What does that mean?

Says, notice this, it's not saying your joy.

Let your joy in the Lord.

You notice that's not saying your joy in the Lord will be your strength.

It says the joy of the Lord.

It is the Lord's joy that is your strength.

What does that mean?

Here's the thing.

Your joy is weak.

It's feeble.

It's temporary.

It's shifting.

And they're saying, no, let the Lord's joy, that is constant, eternal, forever, be your strength.

Strength here in the language, it means fortress.

Saying, let the Lord's joy be your fortress around you.

Rejoice.

And they celebrated.

Why did they celebrate?

Because they understood the words.

Here's my prayer for our church is that the people who would come in this space, the lost, and you, every Sunday, would rejoice that this would be a place of celebration because we would leave and say, we understand the word of God.

Maybe people who've never heard it, they've never heard the gospel, they've never seen or experienced God, that they would come here and say, let's celebrate because we understand the word.

Fourth and last point, how can we be renewed when we have drifted from God?

First is remember your identity in God.

Gather under the Word of God.

Second.

Third, rejoice in the joy of God.

And fourth, obey the word of God.

Verse 13.

Says on the second day, the family heads of all the people, along with the priests and Levites, assembled before the scribe Ezra to study the words of the law.

So first day, they got together, heard the word.

What happened second day?

They do the same thing.

Look right there.

On the second day, the family heads of all the people.

They were what?

They were again another example, hungry for the word.

Leaders here of your family, or the influence that you have.

Are you hungry for the word of God?

That's for all of us.

But do you teach the word of God to others?

To your children.

Verse 14, it says, They found written in the law how the Lord had commanded through Moses that the Israelites should dwell in shelters during the festival of the seventh month.

What's going on here?

See, as they're reading the Bible, they're learning things.

They're seeing a bunch of laws, a bunch of things, what God has commanded them to do.

And as they're reading on the second day, they say, hold up.

It's the seventh month.

We just read this.

There is something we are commanded to do that we are not doing.

Because look at this.

If you look at chapter 7, it's not on the screens, but you could see there in your Bible, chapter 7.

I thought it was here.

Here we go.

Yeah, 73, last verse.

So the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, some of the people, the temple servants, and all Israel lived in their towns when the seventh month had come.

So it's the seventh month.

Let's understand this.

What does this mean?

The seventh month.

This was the feast of booths or tabernacles.

So let's go to Leviticus to understand what this means.

What is this thing, this command they're hearing about?

Look at Leviticus 23.

It'll be on the screens.

39.

It says, you are to celebrate the Lord's festival on the 15th day of the seventh month.

For seven days after you have gathered the produce of the land.

There will be complete rest on the first day and complete rest on the eighth day.

On the first day, you are to take the product of the majestic trees, palm fronds, uh, bows of leafy trees, willows of the brook, and rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days.

Again, another reason why they're saying you need.

To rejoice.

I know you're sad, but this is what the word is saying.

Rejoice.

You are to celebrate it as a festival to the Lord seven days each year.

This is a permanent statute for you for you throughout your generations.

Celebrate it in the seventh month.

And what is it?

How they celebrate it?

You are to live in shelters for seven days.

All the native born of Israel must live in shelters, so that your generations may know that I made the Israelites live in shelters when I brought them out of the land of Egypt.

I am the Lord your God.

Verse 44.

So Moses declared the Lord's appointed times to the Israelites.

So they are reading the Bible and they see this command and say, We have to obey it.

We have to obey it.

What was the purpose of this festival?

This celebration, the feast of booze or the booths or tabernacles.

It was a reminder of that God, what did he do?

Save them from Egypt.

And they would live as nomads, live as traveling, not in permanent places.

And so to remember this, God's great act to save them, they would do this.

Remember when our forefathers didn't have a place.

Look at verse 15 and 16 of chapter 8.

Look at how they respond.

They're hearing the word, but they're not just hearing it, they're obeying it.

So they proclaim and spread this news throughout their towns and in Jerusalem, saying, Go out to the hill country and bring back branches of olive, wild olives, myrtle, palm, and other leafy trees to make shelters, just as it is written.

The people went out, brought back branches and made shelters for themselves on each of their rooftops and courtyards, the court of the house of God, the square by the water gate, and the square by the Ephraim gate.

Look how they excited they are to respond.

They go and they proclaim and they spread the news.

Here's what we gotta do.

We have to obey, we have to celebrate.

They respond and worship together, and now they're obeying the word together.

Look at verse 17.

It says the whole community that had returned from exile made shelters and lived in them.

The Israelites had not celebrated like this from the days of Joshua, son of Nan, until that day.

And there was what?

Tremendous joy.

In obeying God, there was joy.

So how can we apply this?

The application for us is not to go and build shelters and find whatever we can.

And no, that was specifically in that moment for the people of God here in the walls being rebuilt and remembering the Exodus to do, not for us.

But we we can what we can apply and take away is immediate obedience to the word of God.

To obey his word.

That when God reveals truth, we need to obey it.

It wasn't delayed, it wasn't, oh wow, this kind of caught us off guard.

We just started reading and we're supposed to be celebrating something.

No, they obeyed it immediately.

Immediately.

What about you in your life?

When you hear the word of God, do you obey it?

Verse 18, Ezra read out the book of the law, read out of the book of the law of God every day from the first day to the last.

The Israelites celebrated the festival for seven days, and on the eighth day there was a solemn assembly according to the ordinance.

So they continued reading the word of God.

We need to obey it.

Do you obey the word of God daily?

Even now, in this moment, are you from this message thinking about what you need to obey?

What God may even be bringing into your heart and mind in this moment, of how to obey his word.

I even just pray God would through his spirit in this moment recall something from his word to challenge you to obey it.

See, that wasn't too bad.

It wasn't five hours.

That there would be one who would crush the head of the serpent.

There'd be one of the descendants of Abraham who would bless all the nations.

That there would be one who would be, unlike the other kings who had failed before and got them in that place they were in, a true king who would not fail, but a king who would lay down his life.

That's Jesus Christ.

See, just as they were reminded of the Exodus, for the people of God in the Old Testament, the greatest act of God was being rescued from slavery in Egypt.

And here for us, the greatest act of God is the cross of Jesus Christ.

For he rescued us from sin and death.

That's good news.

Oh, don't miss this.

Don't miss the cross.

Oh, I was reading.

1 Corinthians chapter 2.

1 Corinthians 2 · chapter mention

Paul says, I knew nothing among you except Christ and Him crucified.

He died for you so that you can live.

That's not just for the lost in here.

That's for the believer to remember your identity and who you are.

You are a son and daughter of God.

To rest in him.

But maybe you're in here, you do feel lost.

Maybe it's more than drifted.

You've never been found to begin with.

You've never even seen the tent.

You are just off.

Maybe you're you've drowned, really, and you're at the bottom of the ocean floor.

And Jesus can come and give you life.

But two things you have to do is turn from your sin and trust in Jesus' death on the cross to save you.

And know that he did not stay dead, but three days later he rose again and is coming back.

Let's pray and respond to the word of God.

Dear Jesus.

We've gathered, we've assembled as your church.

We have heard your word.

And now is the time to respond.

God, you know how much I need your help.

We need your help in this moment.

All of this is meaningless without your spirit moving in this place now.

Let's not miss this moment.

I want to pray for some people here specifically in this room.

If you're in here and you're you're a follower of Jesus, and keep, let's continue in prayer.

But if you're in here and you're a follower of Jesus, and you feel like, you know what, I feel like I've drifted.

I want you to just look up at me.

I see you.

I see you.

I see you.

I want to say a prayer for you.

And I want to remind you.

He is always ready to receive you.

Yes, there's sorrow, there's guilt, but it's a day of rejoicing when we realize that we have a Father who is waiting for us.

And you can return and renew yourself today.

Lord Jesus, I pray for those who looked up, who feel like they're drifting.

They know you, but maybe they've gotten cold.

We think of the church of Ephesus and your letter and revelation to them.

That you've forgotten your first love, to do the things you did at first.

And we know one of the first things and the best things is to be in the book, to call for the book.

So, God, I pray for those who feel drifted away from you, that they would be people of the book.

Give them hunger for your word, to remember who they are in you, to pursue it, to look for it.

Just like we saw in the passage today.

God, keep us from drifting from your presence and from your word.

It's in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Let's stand in this moment.

Again, a time to respond and worship.

We've heard his word, church.

Amen.

And so maybe you're in here and you're lost.

You never believed in Jesus to save you, you can come down and do that today.

And say, hey, I want to follow Jesus.

I want to give my life to Jesus.

I want to be saved.

You can do that.

If you need prayer, maybe you feel like you've drifted drifted and you need prayer.

Whatever, we'll we'll be here and we want to pray for you.

Let us respond and worship to God.