God’s People Love God’s Word
November 19, 2017

Scripture: Nehemiah 8:1-8

I. We want the Bible because it tells us who we are and whose we are.

A. The day on which the people of Jerusalem asked Ezra to bring out the book was a holiday. We see in the last verse of Nehemiah 7 in Neh. 7:73 that the seventh month had come. Leviticus 23:24: “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a day of solemn rest, a memorial proclaimed with blast of trumpets, a holy convocation.” The first day of the seventh month was the Feast of Trumpets, the beginning of the celebration which is the Feast of Tabernacles.

B. Reading the Bible then would help the people to not only understand the purpose of these holidays they were celebrating. It would also help the people to understand who they were as the Jewish people and whose they were: who they belonged to, the God who had made them and redeemed them. Crucial identity questions are answered in the Bible. And the answers that the Bible gives you tells you that you as a Christian have the only identity on earth that is received instead of achieved. You are a child of God. You belong to God.

II. We want the Bible because it tells us how much we need God.

A. Notice the posture of the people as they listened to the Bible being read. When he opened the book all the people stood (vs. 5). They showed their reverence for God by standing. They worshiped God as they read the Bible. The people also lifted up their hands as they worshiped (vs. 6). Why? Open hands lifted up to God is a symbol of praise in that it says that we come to Him with empty hands. We come to Him needy and dependent, believing that He can fill our empty hands. He can give us what we need. He meets our needs for Him as we read the Bible.

B. Jesus prayed in the garden of Gethsemane in Matthew 26:39: “And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” Jesus knew that His Father was on the throne and was completely good. So He could pray “Your will be done” in a time of need in His life. Jesus knew that He could trust that God had a good plan for Him even if He did have to die on the cross. We too can pray “Your will be done” in a time of need because God will meet our needs.

III. We want the Bible because it tells us God’s very words.

A. On the first day of the seventh month Ezra read from the Law of Moses (vs. 1). But the people responded to those words like God had spoken those words to them that very day. Notice what Ezra had to tell the people in vs. 9: “Do not mourn or weep.” When the people heard God’s Law, they wept. Why? They wept because they had broken all of God’s laws. They knew they needed atonement for their sin. They read in God’s Word that they could be forgiven, and they could be saved from the penalty of their sin. You too can be forgiven and be received into God’s family. John 1:12: “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” Forgiveness with God and adoption into God’s family are not achieved by us. They are received by us by faith as gracious gifts from God.

Application:
Receive Christ and His forgiveness. Read God’s Word on a daily basis.

Sources:
Commentaries on Nehemiah by Derek Thomas, James Hamilton Jr., Nancy Guthrie and H.G.M. Williamson