WEBVTT 00:00:01.199 --> 00:00:04.080 Hello and welcome to the Redemption Church Podcast. 00:00:04.240 --> 00:00:12.560 We're a church in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada that exists to glorify God through the fulfillment of the Great Commission and the spirit of the Great Commandment. 00:00:12.800 --> 00:00:14.640 Thanks for joining us today. 00:00:15.039 --> 00:00:16.000 You can grab your seat. 00:00:16.079 --> 00:00:19.039 It's so good to worship together this morning. 00:00:19.839 --> 00:00:23.679 If you have your Bibles, and I hope you do, you can open them up to Nehemiah chapter 8. 00:00:23.760 --> 00:00:33.280 And if you don't have a copy of God's Word, the ushers are going to make their way down the aisle, and you can stick your hand, get their attention, and they'd love to give you a copy of God's Word as a gift. 00:00:33.439 --> 00:00:37.280 We'd love for you to keep that and to dig into it this week. 00:00:37.439 --> 00:00:42.479 As you're turning to Nehemiah chapter 8, I just want to put a few announcements. 00:00:42.640 --> 00:00:49.200 Well, one announcement really before you, and that is that this Wednesday we are meeting here for our worship and prayer night. 00:00:49.439 --> 00:00:51.439 We love God's presence at this church. 00:00:51.679 --> 00:00:52.320 Amen? 00:00:52.640 --> 00:00:53.200 Amen. 00:00:53.359 --> 00:00:59.439 And so we seek it together, and we're especially excited to seek it together this Wednesday at 7 p.m. 00:00:59.679 --> 00:01:01.520 here at ANOVA. 00:01:02.159 --> 00:01:06.719 Nehemiah chapter 8, verses 9 to 18. 00:01:08.560 --> 00:01:11.920 In fact, as we read God's word, why don't we stand together? 00:01:13.359 --> 00:01:18.079 Sorry to make you go up and down and get a little workout in. 00:01:19.200 --> 00:01:22.799 Here's what God's Word says in Nehemiah chapter 8, verse 9. 00:01:23.599 --> 00:01:34.640 Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people, said to all the people, This day is holy to the Lord your God. 00:01:34.799 --> 00:01:36.560 Do not mourn or weep. 00:01:37.040 --> 00:01:40.400 For all the people wept as they heard the words of the law. 00:01:40.879 --> 00:01:54.000 Then he said to them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink sweet wine, and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord, and do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. 00:01:54.319 --> 00:01:59.920 So the Levites calmed all the people, saying, Be quiet, for this day is holy, do not be grieved. 00:02:00.159 --> 00:02:08.319 And all the people went their way to eat and drink, and to send portions, and to make great rejoicing, because they had understood the words that were declared to them. 00:02:08.879 --> 00:02:19.199 On the second day the heads of fathers, houses of all people, with the priests and the Levites, came together to Ezra the scribe, in order to study the words of the law. 00:02:19.439 --> 00:02:28.639 And they found in it written in the law that the Lord had commanded by Moses that the people of Israel should dwell in booths during the feast of the seventh month. 00:02:28.879 --> 00:02:40.800 And they that they should proclaim it and publish it in all their towns and in Jerusalem, go out to the hills and bring branches of olive, wild olive, myrtle, palm, and other leafy trees to make booths, as it is written. 00:02:41.199 --> 00:02:42.719 So the people went. 00:02:43.360 --> 00:02:52.639 People went out and brought them and made booths for themselves, each on his roof, and in their courts, and in the courts of the house of God, and in the square of the water gate, and in the square at the gate of Ephraim. 00:02:53.039 --> 00:03:03.680 And all the assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths and lived in the booths, for from the days of Jeshua, the son of Nun, to the day of the people of Israel had not done so. 00:03:04.319 --> 00:03:06.080 And there was very great rejoicing. 00:03:06.879 --> 00:03:11.280 Day by day, from the first day to the last day, he read from the book of the law of God. 00:03:11.680 --> 00:03:18.960 They kept the feast seven days, and on the eighth day there was a solemn assembly according to the rule. 00:03:19.680 --> 00:03:21.120 You guys can take a seat. 00:03:25.520 --> 00:03:33.280 Last week I was preaching in Nehemiah 8, and in the middle of the sermon I decided to secretly try to do this. 00:03:33.439 --> 00:03:35.120 I just hit the eject button. 00:03:35.280 --> 00:03:45.759 And as I was parachuting down from the plane that was that sermon in the closing song, I realized that everybody right now is watching me parachute out of this sermon. 00:03:46.080 --> 00:03:54.960 You can't say that you have four points and then read all of Nehemiah and then only preach two points and then get away with it. 00:03:55.439 --> 00:03:57.280 And so I didn't get away with it. 00:03:57.599 --> 00:03:59.840 The church was in pandemonium. 00:04:01.280 --> 00:04:08.319 I was surprised in the middle of the week that by splitting that sermon in two, I had not split the whole church in two. 00:04:09.199 --> 00:04:17.279 And so this morning we come to the second half of Nehemiah to finish the four-point sermon. 00:04:17.439 --> 00:04:19.199 And this morning I actually have three points. 00:04:19.279 --> 00:04:22.800 Isn't that amazing how God's grace multiplies over the weeks? 00:04:22.879 --> 00:04:26.480 So what was a four-point sermon now becomes a five-point sermon. 00:04:26.720 --> 00:04:31.680 I also recognize this, though, that it was my intention to preach all of Nehemiah 8. 00:04:31.759 --> 00:04:40.319 And in the first half of Nehemiah, what you really have is the requirements that we must bring to God as we gather around the gospel. 00:04:40.800 --> 00:04:54.560 We talked that we must gather with a great expectancy, expecting that as the Lord speaks, as his voice echoes through this room through his word, he is gonna have something for us by the power and the presence of his Holy Spirit. 00:04:54.800 --> 00:05:02.800 We gather with a great expectancy, but we also talked about how we must gather responsively and what that looks like in our day and age. 00:05:02.959 --> 00:05:15.839 And my intention was that maybe 40 to 50 percent would be about the requirements of our gathering, but simple math tells you that when you cut the sermon in half, that 40 to 50 percent actually becomes 80 to 100%. 00:05:16.879 --> 00:05:28.319 That was not my intention, and yet I trust that the Lord had a word for us, and as I spoke to many of you over the week, you affirmed that God was speaking to us through his word, not always an easy word. 00:05:29.120 --> 00:05:41.519 And yet it builds up this anticipation in me for this week because really what you have in the first half of Nehemiah 8 are the requirements of gathering, and then in the second half, you have the results. 00:05:42.720 --> 00:05:44.879 The result of gathering. 00:05:45.199 --> 00:06:10.079 In other words, what we found last week, as we talked about gathering expectantly and gathering responsively, really were two keys to the doors of the floodgates of God's grace, that if you open up those floodgates, if you come with a sense of expectancy, if you come desiring to respond to God's word, then you will be filled with the results of God's grace pouring out into your life. 00:06:11.120 --> 00:06:15.279 This is what we saw the people of Israel do in the first half of Nehemiah chapter 8. 00:06:15.439 --> 00:06:18.399 They said to Ezra, bring the book. 00:06:19.360 --> 00:06:20.959 Bring out the book. 00:06:21.279 --> 00:06:37.439 And because they had then gathered expectantly, we're told by Nehemiah, listening attentively to God's word, hanging on every word, because they then responded to God's word properly, lifting their voice by saying, Amen, lifting their hands in praise. 00:06:38.720 --> 00:06:44.879 What we find then here in verse 12, notice what Nehemiah says, is that they left rejoicing. 00:06:45.600 --> 00:06:52.160 All the people went their way to eat and drink and to send portions and to make great rejoicing. 00:06:53.279 --> 00:07:11.120 Church, here is God's purpose for you this morning, that as we gather together on a Sunday morning, as we gather around his word, as we say the same thing the Israelites say, bring the book, and we attentively listen to it, we expectantly expect God to speak and we respond properly. 00:07:11.279 --> 00:07:15.680 Here's the promise for you that his grace will overflow into your life. 00:07:16.160 --> 00:07:28.959 That's the intention here is that what you receive on a Sunday morning is overflowing grace that then overflows into the rest of your week and saturates every day with a sense of God's presence, with a sense of God's grace. 00:07:29.120 --> 00:07:31.439 God has a word for you this morning. 00:07:32.240 --> 00:07:43.279 And the word is that there is great blessing if we will posture ourselves properly when we gather together to sing God's praise and to sit underneath his word. 00:07:45.519 --> 00:07:48.319 Three more postures then for us this morning. 00:07:48.959 --> 00:07:52.800 Three more postures we must embrace as we gather together in the gospel. 00:07:52.959 --> 00:07:56.240 And the first one I want you to see is this that we gather joyfully. 00:07:56.319 --> 00:07:58.000 Now, is it the first one or is it the third one? 00:07:58.079 --> 00:07:58.480 I don't know. 00:07:58.560 --> 00:08:00.560 I'm gonna say the first one in this sermon. 00:08:01.439 --> 00:08:02.959 We gather joyfully. 00:08:03.199 --> 00:08:08.720 Look here at verse 9 with me and notice that the the people are weeping. 00:08:11.199 --> 00:08:19.519 See, you see there in verse 9, for all the people wept as they heard the word of the law. 00:08:20.560 --> 00:08:23.839 The people are weeping because they are driven to repentance. 00:08:24.000 --> 00:08:34.240 They are in Jerusalem, and they as they read about the feast of the booths, and Ezra from morning, we are told, to mid-afternoon, exposes the law of God to them. 00:08:34.480 --> 00:08:53.440 They are weeping because they've seen God's glory and they've seen God's command to keep the feast of booths, but they recognize that because they have been in exile for the last years, in fact, for most of them, their entire life, they have not been able to walk in obedience to God's word. 00:08:54.320 --> 00:09:04.240 They're overcome with weeping, they're overcome with a desire for repentance, and I want you to understand that this is the right response. 00:09:05.120 --> 00:09:07.200 Conviction is good. 00:09:08.159 --> 00:09:13.279 You and I, let me encourage you, you and I ought to seek conviction. 00:09:13.840 --> 00:09:29.440 I mean, it sounds a little twisted to say that, but the reality is that as we sit under God's word, what we desire is that the scalpel of God's word pierces us open with conviction so that the healing balm of the gospel can then be applied. 00:09:30.559 --> 00:09:39.759 I'll give you another illustration of what we're longing for here when you go to the gym and you work out for the first time, there's a lot of muscle soreness. 00:09:40.240 --> 00:09:45.519 And if you are in the house with a spouse that is like mine, they find that. 00:09:45.600 --> 00:09:49.759 They poke you, they tell Amber, Oh, my shoulders are sore, my lats are sore. 00:09:49.919 --> 00:09:50.879 She says, Where's your lats? 00:09:50.960 --> 00:09:52.720 She's trying to find the pain. 00:09:53.679 --> 00:09:56.000 And I keep telling her that my lats are right here. 00:09:56.080 --> 00:09:59.200 You just keep poking right here and you'll find them. 00:10:00.720 --> 00:10:02.639 And this is what we want spiritually. 00:10:02.799 --> 00:10:25.440 When we open up God's word, we are in the spiritual gymnasium, and the desire that we have is for salvation to be so worked out in our soul that there is this spiritual pain of conviction because we've seen God for who He is, and in the light of who God is, we realize who we are not and enter in conviction. 00:10:28.159 --> 00:10:29.679 Conviction is good. 00:10:30.480 --> 00:10:44.480 Well, here's the application for us then that as you and I open up God's word, whether it is on a Sunday morning or in our own personal pursuit of the spiritual discipline of reading God's word, our aim is repentance. 00:10:45.840 --> 00:11:08.559 This morning, as you gather together as God's church before his word, your prayer ought to be, God, by the power of the presence of your spirit, supernaturally convict me of the ways that I am not living in the light of your holiness and grace, so that I might walk out of here with rejoicing. 00:11:08.799 --> 00:11:14.399 Recognize that there's no repentance, there's no joy rejoicing without repentance. 00:11:14.480 --> 00:11:18.159 And so we need to take a moment just to ask, what are we doing here? 00:11:18.240 --> 00:11:21.919 As we open up, whenever we open up God's word, what are we after? 00:11:22.000 --> 00:11:26.799 And I want to remind you that we are not just after knowledge. 00:11:27.679 --> 00:11:40.000 Knowledge is good, and I pray that as you receive a steady diet of expositional preaching at this church and you open up God's word regularly in your own study of it, that you get knowledge. 00:11:40.159 --> 00:11:44.320 But knowledge will do nothing for you if it just goes beyond that. 00:11:45.360 --> 00:11:49.759 I want you to recognize that what we are after this morning is not just encouragement. 00:11:50.000 --> 00:12:00.960 I'm not just looking to, you know, sort of provide you with another verse that you can sort of plaster on your morning coffee mug out of context and find encouragement and strength to go on another week. 00:12:01.519 --> 00:12:11.840 I want you to recognize that our goal in opening up the scriptures is that we might repent, that we might see God's holiness for what it is and change our lives accordingly. 00:12:12.000 --> 00:12:18.960 In other words, we do not just read God's book, we open up God's book to be read by it. 00:12:20.480 --> 00:12:24.159 The word of God, we are told, is a living word. 00:12:25.279 --> 00:12:26.879 It speaks to you. 00:12:27.759 --> 00:12:31.279 And if you are in the right posture, it chases you. 00:12:31.919 --> 00:12:41.600 And it finds those areas of life where you're not living in alignment with God's will and God's word, and it exposes it and draws you to a spirit of conviction. 00:12:42.240 --> 00:12:45.840 Other words, we don't just aim to interpret what the Bible says. 00:12:46.240 --> 00:12:50.240 We aim to allow the Bible to interpret us. 00:12:51.919 --> 00:12:55.759 I want you to recognize that it does this by showing us God. 00:12:56.399 --> 00:12:58.639 What is this book ultimately about? 00:12:59.279 --> 00:13:04.480 It is not ultimately about you, it is ultimately about God. 00:13:04.720 --> 00:13:14.080 Jesus says to the Pharisees that they search the scriptures, not understanding that all of the scriptures speak about him. 00:13:14.799 --> 00:13:16.559 You open up the Bible and you see God. 00:13:16.639 --> 00:13:21.039 You see, when we read God's word, our desire needs to be to see God. 00:13:21.519 --> 00:13:22.879 I was reminded of this this week. 00:13:23.039 --> 00:13:36.480 My wife is reading through Judges, and she was in Judges 11 when Jephthah makes a vow to offer her daughter, his daughter, up to the Lord, if the Lord will act in his favor. 00:13:37.120 --> 00:13:39.519 And it's a pretty brutal portion of Scripture, isn't it? 00:13:39.679 --> 00:13:49.120 Because then the Lord moves and He's made this vow and he has to offer up his only daughter as a sacrifice to the Lord, and he for sure did the wrong thing. 00:13:49.200 --> 00:13:56.399 Now, let me tell you, when my wife came out of that room, I was really glad she didn't have any practical application to take from that chapter. 00:13:56.720 --> 00:14:05.519 I was glad that she didn't say, you know, the Lord spoke to me, and I always want to pull application out, and so I'm just gonna take one of our daughters and say goodbye. 00:14:06.320 --> 00:14:06.960 I was glad. 00:14:07.279 --> 00:14:12.159 You know what she did see that she shared with me was that she took a step back. 00:14:12.240 --> 00:14:21.039 She she saw God's holiness, she saw God's justice, she saw God's righteousness. 00:14:22.080 --> 00:14:25.039 This is what we need is to see God. 00:14:25.840 --> 00:14:32.639 In other words, what the what the Bible is to us then is it's it's much like a spiritual mirror. 00:14:33.279 --> 00:14:39.120 You guys ever woken up in the morning and just like, I'm worried about what I'm gonna see in the mirror this morning? 00:14:39.360 --> 00:14:40.480 Is that just me? 00:14:41.279 --> 00:14:47.919 I woke up this morning, by the way, and the Lord is, you know, he when you have an illustration, he will really sometimes really drive it in. 00:14:48.000 --> 00:14:51.120 And I woke up this morning and I've been trying to really just get to God's word. 00:14:51.360 --> 00:14:56.720 I don't want any distraction, I don't want to see how the maple leafs absolutely annihilated the Habs last night. 00:14:56.799 --> 00:14:59.840 I just want to keep all that out of my mind, get to God's word. 00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:06.960 And so I got to the kitchen table, I opened up God's word, and I lifted up my head, and in front of me is a window, and I saw my reflection in the window. 00:15:07.039 --> 00:15:08.720 I was I was terrified. 00:15:09.120 --> 00:15:11.360 You know, my hair is getting long, my beard is getting long. 00:15:11.519 --> 00:15:14.000 It was not a pretty sight. 00:15:14.159 --> 00:15:20.240 And I looked in that reflection, I said, I better spend some time in front of the mirror before I get up to preach this morning. 00:15:20.399 --> 00:15:22.960 Otherwise, it's gonna be an ugly sight. 00:15:23.279 --> 00:15:26.799 Some of you guys are thinking right now, oh, so you never got to the mirror, I guess then, eh? 00:15:29.679 --> 00:15:30.320 I did. 00:15:30.639 --> 00:15:32.240 I did get to the mirror. 00:15:33.919 --> 00:15:38.799 Well, here is exactly what happens spiritually when we open up God's word. 00:15:40.159 --> 00:15:51.279 He exposes our spiritual flaws, and unless you apply the comb and brush of the gospel, you will remain with this spiritual ugliness. 00:15:51.600 --> 00:15:52.960 Now, let's be honest for a minute. 00:15:53.200 --> 00:15:56.559 This is why Bible reading is so difficult for some of us. 00:15:56.879 --> 00:15:57.759 You ever thought about that? 00:15:57.919 --> 00:16:00.240 Like, Bible reading, it should be really easy, shouldn't it? 00:16:00.320 --> 00:16:01.919 Like, shouldn't it just be like this? 00:16:02.399 --> 00:16:08.159 Shouldn't it be kind of be like the easiest thing to do is just to open a book and to read it, and yet it's hard. 00:16:08.320 --> 00:16:09.279 Why is it hard? 00:16:09.519 --> 00:16:12.000 Because when you open it, you are confronted. 00:16:12.159 --> 00:16:17.440 If you're reading rightly, you're confronted with these spiritual realities that you must deal with. 00:16:17.600 --> 00:16:18.559 It's a hard work. 00:16:18.720 --> 00:16:28.240 It reads you, it exposes you, and it makes you spiritually transform, that you become increasingly more like the beautiful person of Jesus Christ. 00:16:28.399 --> 00:16:30.960 And you know who hates that is Satan. 00:16:31.440 --> 00:16:34.080 Satan loves spiritually ugly people. 00:16:35.120 --> 00:16:39.759 Satan has plastered on his walls the ugliest spiritual people you have ever seen. 00:16:39.840 --> 00:16:42.720 That is what he is attracted to, and he loves to keep you in that place. 00:16:42.879 --> 00:16:54.159 So every time you open up God's word and his transforming scalpel starts cutting off what is ugly, of course, Satan is going to do everything to keep you away from the living word. 00:16:57.360 --> 00:16:58.799 We need repentance. 00:16:59.360 --> 00:17:00.720 Read God's word for repentance. 00:17:00.879 --> 00:17:10.400 There is no spiritual restoration, just like there is no physical restoration without a mirror, there is no spiritual resurrect uh restoration without the mirror of God's word. 00:17:10.720 --> 00:17:17.519 And so notice then that Nehemiah says in chapter 8, verse 9, he says, Do not weep. 00:17:19.119 --> 00:17:20.319 Do not weep. 00:17:21.599 --> 00:17:23.200 Do you guys see what the sound guys are doing to me? 00:17:23.279 --> 00:17:25.119 It says I've been preaching for 40 minutes here. 00:17:25.279 --> 00:17:27.839 They're trying to get me off early this week. 00:17:28.240 --> 00:17:29.039 That's crazy. 00:17:29.119 --> 00:17:29.680 We'll fight. 00:17:29.759 --> 00:17:34.319 We're gonna stay here all mourning, and I'm not gonna get many amens to that. 00:17:37.839 --> 00:17:40.000 Umiah 8.9. 00:17:41.119 --> 00:17:47.119 Nehemiah says to the people as they are weeping over the word of law, do not weep. 00:17:48.559 --> 00:17:52.319 I love, again, you know, God will give you when you preach his word, he gives you illustrations. 00:17:52.400 --> 00:17:58.799 And so on the week that I was supposed to preach this message last week, there was a some drama in the home's household. 00:17:58.960 --> 00:18:06.000 Now I know that doesn't shock you because you know there's four women in my household, and so it is like a constant, you know, episode of drama and for drama. 00:18:06.079 --> 00:18:09.759 And there's some drama at the dollhouse, some real drama, and there's pushing and shoving. 00:18:09.839 --> 00:18:13.680 And so I pulled aside my oldest daughter, and I was in a good frame of mind. 00:18:13.759 --> 00:18:23.119 I was ready to start, you know, drawing out her heart of selfishness and preaching the gospel and reminding her that you know mom and dad are selfish too, and we're so thankful that God saved us. 00:18:23.279 --> 00:18:39.200 I was ready to start doing this, but there was this heckling voice in the background from my three-year-old who decided to take it upon herself to preach the gospel, and she's yelling, God likes you, God loves you, God no wants you cry. 00:18:39.519 --> 00:18:41.200 God no wants you cry. 00:18:41.359 --> 00:18:42.559 I don't know what she was talking about. 00:18:42.640 --> 00:18:44.799 No one was crying, there was no conviction. 00:18:46.079 --> 00:18:48.960 It was not relevant at all, but it is relevant here. 00:18:49.119 --> 00:18:54.079 Here is what Nehemiah says to the people God no want you cry. 00:18:54.640 --> 00:18:55.279 Why? 00:18:55.920 --> 00:18:57.839 Look at verse 10. 00:18:58.079 --> 00:19:16.319 Then he said to them, Go your way, eat the fat, drink sweet wine, and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord, and do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. 00:19:18.079 --> 00:19:22.799 For the joy of the Lord is your strength. 00:19:23.119 --> 00:19:29.200 What is it that draws us out of spiritual repentance into rejoicing? 00:19:29.440 --> 00:19:33.359 Nehemiah's answer is that it is the joy of the Lord. 00:19:33.599 --> 00:19:36.960 Now notice that it's not joy in the Lord. 00:19:37.279 --> 00:19:38.640 Isn't that interesting? 00:19:38.880 --> 00:19:42.240 Nehemiah doesn't say, hey, listen, you just got to get your joy in the Lord. 00:19:42.319 --> 00:19:45.920 What Nehemiah says is that your strength is in the Lord's joy. 00:19:46.079 --> 00:19:47.920 It is the joy of the Lord. 00:19:48.079 --> 00:20:00.160 The thing that gives you strength is reflecting on the heart of God, the very thing that God is passionate about, his supreme, his unchanging joy. 00:20:00.960 --> 00:20:05.279 Well, then the question, of course, then is what is the joy of the Lord? 00:20:05.839 --> 00:20:13.440 I want you to understand this that biblically, God's unchanging joy is himself. 00:20:14.640 --> 00:20:22.000 For all of eternity, God has been happy in himself. 00:20:22.799 --> 00:20:36.400 He has found full delight in the triune display of his holiness, his justice, his goodness, his love. 00:20:37.839 --> 00:20:39.119 This is for all of eternity. 00:20:39.279 --> 00:20:41.279 God has been supremely satisfied in himself. 00:20:41.519 --> 00:20:42.960 I love what Jonathan Edwards says. 00:20:43.119 --> 00:20:44.480 He says this so helpfully. 00:20:44.559 --> 00:20:47.200 Look at it's gonna come up on the screen here. 00:20:49.440 --> 00:21:10.559 He says, God is infinitely happy in the enjoyment of himself, and perfectly beholding, and infinitely loving and rejoicing in his own essence and perfections, so that he is infinitely and essentially self-sufficient and has all possible fullness of joy in himself. 00:21:13.039 --> 00:21:16.400 Praise God, he does not need us. 00:21:17.200 --> 00:21:24.400 For all of eternity past, God was satisfied in his own glory. 00:21:24.640 --> 00:21:28.480 And you know, you and I say that, look at that, and you and I think, well, that's isn't that kind of conceited? 00:21:28.559 --> 00:21:29.519 Isn't that kind of prideful? 00:21:29.599 --> 00:21:36.000 And let me tell you, if I were to tell you that your greatest joy should be in me, that would be entirely conceited and prideful. 00:21:36.079 --> 00:21:36.319 Why? 00:21:36.480 --> 00:21:41.119 Because I'm not the greatest good, because there are many things that are greater than me. 00:21:41.759 --> 00:21:52.160 And yet, for God, who is the highest good, to enjoy anything less than himself, who is the greatest good, it would be to stop short of the fullness of joy. 00:21:53.440 --> 00:21:57.519 God is sufficient in and of himself, he is satisfied by himself. 00:21:57.759 --> 00:22:02.960 Now, if this is true, the the question for you and I then is why should that be our strength? 00:22:03.200 --> 00:22:07.359 Why should it be our strength that God is satisfied without us? 00:22:09.039 --> 00:22:13.039 I want you to understand here that Nehemiah is applying the gospel. 00:22:13.759 --> 00:22:15.519 Think about the gospel to Nehemiah. 00:22:15.599 --> 00:22:21.680 Nehemiah now stands in Jerusalem, the walls of Jerusalem are finished, the temple of God is restored. 00:22:22.960 --> 00:22:28.960 People of God are back in Jerusalem and they are listening obediently and responsively to God's word. 00:22:29.279 --> 00:22:33.519 God has done a mighty work and he is establishing his kingdom. 00:22:33.680 --> 00:22:45.519 It is clear to Nehemiah that the joy of the Lord in himself overflows in that his glory is magnified in the redemption of his people. 00:22:46.960 --> 00:23:02.160 God does not need you, but he takes great joy in the glory that he receives from extending his grace to people who are not sufficient in and of themselves to earn righteousness. 00:23:03.680 --> 00:23:13.359 God loves salvation because God loves the glory that he receives from your story. 00:23:14.400 --> 00:23:26.319 And a part of his infinite joy now in these redemptive times is that he has reached out his hand to you and extended an arm of grace to you and I when we could not pull ourselves up. 00:23:26.480 --> 00:23:34.480 And if by faith you have grabbed onto his arm, he for all of eternity will receive the glory of your salvation story. 00:23:34.640 --> 00:23:39.440 Do you know we'll sing about that for all of eternity of what God has done to save us? 00:23:40.160 --> 00:23:41.279 I love it. 00:23:41.519 --> 00:23:47.119 I was saved in a country style nearly 22 years ago and for all of eternity. 00:23:47.200 --> 00:23:50.640 I mean, thankfully, country style will be long out of business. 00:23:51.359 --> 00:24:02.240 But I will sing of the glory of what happened in that country style, and God will receive the glory and the joy. 00:24:02.720 --> 00:24:07.200 Because he extended his arm to an unworthy people. 00:24:08.480 --> 00:24:14.160 You and I need to recognize this then that his joy is not diminished in saving us. 00:24:14.880 --> 00:24:16.960 His joy is not diminished in saving us. 00:24:17.759 --> 00:24:26.720 You know, you and I, when someone asks us, you know, to do something for them, to be honest, you ever have a unjoyful response? 00:24:27.039 --> 00:24:28.400 I mean, I can expose this right now. 00:24:28.559 --> 00:24:30.880 Has anyone ever asked you to drive them to the airport? 00:24:33.200 --> 00:24:35.119 I'm preaching to people in this room right now. 00:24:35.200 --> 00:24:36.720 You know, like I'll do it. 00:24:37.680 --> 00:24:39.200 I will do it. 00:24:39.680 --> 00:24:41.920 But I'm not gonna be happy about it, okay? 00:24:42.240 --> 00:24:43.680 I'll save you. 00:24:44.559 --> 00:24:48.720 But I'm gonna make some passive-aggressive comments about how Uber is really cheap lately. 00:24:50.319 --> 00:24:52.160 That's not the case with God. 00:24:52.559 --> 00:24:58.799 In fact, Jesus says it was the joy that was set before him that caused him to endure the cross. 00:24:59.599 --> 00:25:05.599 Which means the depths of your sin, you stit you sit in this room and you feel like I'm such a sinner, I could never be saved. 00:25:05.920 --> 00:25:14.640 The deeper your sin, the greater God's heart is to save you because he gets glory when you can't save yourself, and he's the only one who can do it. 00:25:14.799 --> 00:25:17.680 This is why works righteousness doesn't glorify anyone. 00:25:17.920 --> 00:25:19.519 Work righteousness, it only glorifies you. 00:25:19.599 --> 00:25:21.599 Look how great I am, look at all the things I've done. 00:25:21.680 --> 00:25:32.079 But the gospel, it glorifies God because he's the only one who can who has mercy so deep that it can reach to the extent of your sinfulness and redeem you and save you. 00:25:33.359 --> 00:25:39.440 Your sin, it doesn't diminish his joy, it multiplies his joy. 00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:45.039 He gets glory from mercy, from extended mercy. 00:25:46.079 --> 00:25:48.240 And so let's be honest then. 00:25:49.039 --> 00:25:52.960 There are certain days in this life, can I say it like this? 00:25:53.119 --> 00:25:54.480 They're just gonna suck. 00:25:56.480 --> 00:26:06.240 Sometimes in our Christian ease, we try to like make it seem like this world isn't broken, but I think as soon as you read Ecclesiastes, you kind of realize like there's no corner that you can turn to in this world that is not just broken. 00:26:06.319 --> 00:26:11.920 There's no corner, there's no well you can drink from that at the end of the day doesn't leave you just empty and unsatisfied. 00:26:12.000 --> 00:26:13.359 Isn't that a reality? 00:26:14.160 --> 00:26:17.839 Some days you will wake up and there's just nothing to be happy about. 00:26:18.480 --> 00:26:24.559 You're not satisfied with your job, your marriage is in shambles, your parents, you feel like you're a failure of a parent. 00:26:24.720 --> 00:26:34.640 You look everywhere in this world, but there is nothing to be happy about, and here is God saying, Listen, I am extending to you an unchanging source of strength. 00:26:34.799 --> 00:26:36.319 It is my joy. 00:26:38.960 --> 00:26:43.920 Nehemiah says, Be strong in the joy of the Lord. 00:26:45.039 --> 00:26:47.519 You see, the gospel is the foundation of your joy. 00:26:47.599 --> 00:26:48.559 I love this morning. 00:26:48.640 --> 00:27:04.880 I was reading and praying through Psalm 40, and Psalmist says in Psalm 40, verse 2, He drew me up from the pit of destruction out of the miry bog and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. 00:27:05.039 --> 00:27:19.119 You know what's so fascinating about the fact that David says that his steps are secure is that in verse 14, he says, he says, Those, let those who put be put to shame who are and disappointed altogether, who seek to snatch away my life. 00:27:19.839 --> 00:27:26.640 At the same time that these people are seeking to snatch away David's life, he's saying, Hey, listen, I'm on a firm foundation. 00:27:27.359 --> 00:27:30.160 And we look at David and we say, No, you're not. 00:27:30.319 --> 00:27:32.240 Look out, someone's got a spear behind you. 00:27:32.400 --> 00:27:34.160 That is not a firm foundation. 00:27:34.960 --> 00:27:42.240 You see, you and I, in the joy of the Lord, are offered a strength amidst the uncertainty of life. 00:27:42.559 --> 00:27:44.079 The strength is the gospel. 00:27:44.240 --> 00:27:47.279 I reminded us again in Matthew chapter 11. 00:27:47.359 --> 00:27:57.359 What does Jesus say, Come to me and find rest, for I am gentle and lowly in heart. 00:27:57.599 --> 00:28:00.160 What is Jesus' heart for you this morning? 00:28:00.319 --> 00:28:02.240 It is your salvation. 00:28:03.359 --> 00:28:06.000 That's Jesus' passion project. 00:28:06.960 --> 00:28:08.319 What gives you joy? 00:28:08.559 --> 00:28:11.440 Do you like what are you most adamant about right now, Jesus? 00:28:11.599 --> 00:28:14.480 The salvation, the seeking and saving of the lost people in this room. 00:28:14.799 --> 00:28:19.920 If Jesus had an Instagram on the tag handle would be to seek and save the lost. 00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:21.039 That is what he is all about. 00:28:21.119 --> 00:28:24.640 It is his heart, it is what his heart beats for, it is his passion. 00:28:24.799 --> 00:28:28.240 And the more lost you are, the more eager he is to save. 00:28:28.400 --> 00:28:29.839 This is who Jesus is. 00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:41.680 And so, what a strength we have when everything else in our world is crumbling, when we feel like absolute failures, there is Jesus extending his arms of grace to us. 00:28:44.000 --> 00:28:45.599 It is his heart. 00:28:48.160 --> 00:28:49.200 Further meditate on this. 00:28:49.279 --> 00:28:54.640 I want you to see what the prophet Zephaniah says in Zephaniah 3, 17. 00:28:56.000 --> 00:28:58.880 See these words, for the Lord your God is in your midst. 00:28:59.279 --> 00:29:01.200 A mighty one who will save. 00:29:01.599 --> 00:29:04.160 He will rejoice over you with gladness. 00:29:04.400 --> 00:29:06.160 He will quiet you by his love. 00:29:06.559 --> 00:29:07.519 Listen to this church. 00:29:07.599 --> 00:29:11.279 He will exalt over you with loud singing. 00:29:11.519 --> 00:29:13.920 God has a song stuck on his mind. 00:29:14.559 --> 00:29:18.480 And he is in heaven bellowing a loud song. 00:29:18.960 --> 00:29:20.240 You know what the song is about? 00:29:21.200 --> 00:29:22.319 It's about you. 00:29:24.720 --> 00:29:25.759 It's about you. 00:29:27.119 --> 00:29:30.319 The album is salvation, the song is your testimony. 00:29:30.799 --> 00:29:33.279 And God exalts to sing in it. 00:29:34.160 --> 00:29:40.799 He loves to save, and so we come with a spirit of conviction, and we leave with a spirit of joy. 00:29:41.440 --> 00:29:43.039 This is what the gospel always does. 00:29:43.200 --> 00:29:45.759 I'm reminded of this in this quote from Tim Keller. 00:29:45.920 --> 00:29:48.480 I've shared this before, I'll share it again because it's so helpful. 00:29:48.559 --> 00:29:59.759 He says, the gospel is this we are more sinful and flawed than we ever dared believe, yet at the same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus than we ever dare hoped. 00:30:00.960 --> 00:30:04.160 Every time we open up the Bible, we are reminded of those two realities. 00:30:04.400 --> 00:30:12.799 We are convicted of the reality that we are more sinful than we knew before, and we are reminded of the reality that we are more loved than we ever thought. 00:30:16.160 --> 00:30:17.680 So we gather expected. 00:30:18.240 --> 00:30:19.200 God has a word for us. 00:30:19.279 --> 00:30:21.920 We gather with response and repentance and find joy. 00:30:22.240 --> 00:30:25.119 Second thing I want you to see here is that we gather intentionally. 00:30:25.440 --> 00:30:26.400 Gather intentionally. 00:30:26.559 --> 00:30:32.960 Notice on in verse 13, all of what happened in verses 1 to 12 happened on one day. 00:30:33.759 --> 00:30:36.559 Verse 13, we come to the second day. 00:30:52.000 --> 00:30:53.680 What happened on the second day? 00:30:53.839 --> 00:31:06.240 After they had read the word from morning to late afternoon on the first day, on the second day we find them gathering together to then study it and apply it to their lives. 00:31:06.400 --> 00:31:27.759 Now we've we draw application from this, and the application is that a requirement, if you really want to drink from the fountain of God's grace, a requirement is that you both hear the word preached and then at another time gather around with other believers who then help to press the word in deeply to you. 00:31:28.000 --> 00:31:39.200 All throughout scripture, we find that you cannot have God's word pressed into you in the way that it ought to be if you are not gathering with other believers. 00:31:39.359 --> 00:31:46.720 And here we have such practical application in that the thing that they are applying is the word that they had heard preached. 00:31:46.880 --> 00:32:02.079 And so God has a special plan for the preaching that we hear in our local church to then use that word to shepherd us specifically through the ministry of the other saints around us, pressing that word deep into our lives. 00:32:03.599 --> 00:32:04.880 We need it. 00:32:05.279 --> 00:32:14.240 We need to gather with other believers in order for God's word to be pressed into the place of our heart that He desires it. 00:32:14.400 --> 00:32:15.839 He designed us that way. 00:32:17.519 --> 00:32:19.920 Now there's a thousand ways to do this. 00:32:22.319 --> 00:32:25.519 Different formats that you can make this possible. 00:32:26.079 --> 00:32:30.240 In our church, for 95% of our people, this is happening in small group. 00:32:30.480 --> 00:32:34.640 This is why most of the time in our small group, we do what we call pulpit curriculum. 00:32:34.799 --> 00:32:38.160 We take the sermon and we ask application questions from it. 00:32:38.240 --> 00:32:50.960 We gather together as God's people throughout the week, and we then uh continue to exposit the text with our face in the book, and we continue to ask this question: what does this mean for me? 00:32:52.960 --> 00:32:57.200 And so understand, miss this, and you are missing blessing. 00:32:57.279 --> 00:33:02.319 This is God's intention to drive God's word deep through the fellowship and ministry of other believers. 00:33:02.400 --> 00:33:05.200 They are tools of grace to be used in your life. 00:33:05.680 --> 00:33:10.480 Yet commit yourself to this, and you find what many in our church are experiencing, you find great blessing. 00:33:10.640 --> 00:33:11.359 God speaks. 00:33:11.440 --> 00:33:18.799 I mean, I'm on like week three of our small group meeting together, and it's astounding how fast God starts to work through the ministry of believers. 00:33:18.960 --> 00:33:19.200 Why? 00:33:19.359 --> 00:33:24.640 Because you do what He promised, He did what He told you to do, and He promised grace for when you do it. 00:33:25.119 --> 00:33:30.160 God called us to gather together, He modeled it all throughout the Old and New Testament. 00:33:30.400 --> 00:33:32.640 He gives us so many commands in the New Testament. 00:33:32.799 --> 00:33:37.359 Do this with one another, forgive one another, pray for one another, carry the burdens of one another. 00:33:37.440 --> 00:33:41.119 And then we don't do it, and we expect, we ask God, why is our life so dry? 00:33:41.279 --> 00:33:43.200 Why is our spiritual life so empty? 00:33:43.279 --> 00:33:47.039 It's because you are not doing the thing that God called you and designed you to do. 00:33:47.200 --> 00:33:49.200 You're not meeting with other believers. 00:33:49.759 --> 00:33:51.119 It's required. 00:33:52.079 --> 00:33:53.680 Notice then who gathered. 00:33:54.000 --> 00:33:56.960 They gathered, but noticed who it was: it was the men. 00:33:58.160 --> 00:34:00.960 Here they are at the center of God's mission. 00:34:01.119 --> 00:34:10.960 The walls have been established, the temple has been rebuilt, and now the question is this: what must be instituted in our nation in order to be the people of God again? 00:34:11.199 --> 00:34:23.280 They are at the very heart of the establishment of God's kingdom, gathering together as men to ask this: what does God require us in this day and age to do? 00:34:23.440 --> 00:34:28.719 Now, for them, it was to establish again the ceremony of the feast of booths. 00:34:29.039 --> 00:34:40.800 But for us, we've seen this all throughout Nehemiah, that the way that we can't build God's kingdom is by building up the spiritual temple of God, which is his church. 00:34:41.360 --> 00:34:48.079 The mission now is the great commission that Christ has given us to go and make disciples. 00:34:48.239 --> 00:34:56.000 And as you see lost people saved, you are grabbing a brick from the world and putting it onto the temple that is God's church. 00:34:56.159 --> 00:35:01.599 And as you see saved people matured, you are polishing that brick so it looks as God designed it. 00:35:01.760 --> 00:35:08.880 And as you see mature people multiplied, the temple of God is being built up and the kingdom of God is being established. 00:35:09.599 --> 00:35:13.360 This is how you and I seek to establish the kingdom in our day and age. 00:35:13.440 --> 00:35:16.960 It is through the pursuit of the Great Commission. 00:35:17.280 --> 00:35:22.800 Notice then that it is the men who are at the center of it. 00:35:23.760 --> 00:35:25.440 Now, women, you can do something for me. 00:35:25.519 --> 00:35:29.280 You can take your fingers, you know, you can plug your ears right now if you want. 00:35:29.920 --> 00:35:31.760 Because I have a word for the men. 00:35:34.559 --> 00:35:37.920 Let me ask you this question: are you doing this? 00:35:39.039 --> 00:35:43.760 Is the building of God's temple your main priority? 00:35:44.719 --> 00:35:46.400 Is this a reality in your life? 00:35:46.480 --> 00:35:55.440 As your family looks at you, men, do they see you building up the kingdom of God? 00:35:55.760 --> 00:36:01.360 Do they see that your obsession is to do what Christ said? 00:36:02.000 --> 00:36:03.840 Go and make disciples. 00:36:04.000 --> 00:36:09.679 I can't get these words out of my head that Christ told us to do one thing. 00:36:10.000 --> 00:36:12.400 He said, Go and make disciples. 00:36:12.639 --> 00:36:14.639 Men, are you doing it? 00:36:16.400 --> 00:36:19.360 He did not say, go and make great businesses. 00:36:19.519 --> 00:36:20.079 That's great. 00:36:20.239 --> 00:36:24.960 Listen, climb the ladder of your career, build great businesses, that's great. 00:36:25.119 --> 00:36:28.239 But know that that was not the one thing Jesus said to his disciples. 00:36:28.400 --> 00:36:30.559 He said, Go and make disciples. 00:36:31.119 --> 00:36:40.559 He did not say, make sure your kids have all the access to the extracurricular activities that they want, that they become great hockey players, that they become great musicians. 00:36:40.719 --> 00:36:43.679 He said, Go and make disciples. 00:36:44.559 --> 00:36:46.159 Do you model it? 00:36:46.719 --> 00:36:57.360 Does your family see you at the center of God's chosen institution, desiring to push forward the kingdom of God through the church? 00:36:59.119 --> 00:37:00.239 May it be so. 00:37:01.280 --> 00:37:05.519 May we not be distracted by the priorities of this world. 00:37:05.679 --> 00:37:10.400 May we be busy with the toil of the kingdom. 00:37:10.559 --> 00:37:17.920 I love I was studying this with the elders this week, first, Timothy, chapter four. 00:37:18.639 --> 00:37:22.400 I love what Paul says to Timothy. 00:37:25.039 --> 00:37:26.480 I'm gonna find it here. 00:37:27.119 --> 00:37:39.599 In verse 10, he says, for to this end we toil and strive because we have our hope set on the living God. 00:37:41.519 --> 00:37:43.440 We have our hope set on the living God. 00:37:44.159 --> 00:37:52.719 And listen, the reality, men, men, men, the reality is that some of you are toiling and striving with your hope set on things of this world. 00:37:52.880 --> 00:37:54.159 Some of you are toiling. 00:37:54.559 --> 00:37:55.679 Is anyone not busy here? 00:37:56.079 --> 00:37:57.039 Men, can you put up your hand? 00:37:57.360 --> 00:37:57.920 You're not busy? 00:37:58.000 --> 00:37:59.760 Because I got some things for you to do. 00:38:00.880 --> 00:38:02.559