WEBVTT 00:00:01.380 --> 00:00:08.380 Generally in the Old Testament, you see lots of narrative stories that take place about different characters in their lives and circumstances in which they face, and 00:00:08.380 --> 00:00:12.590 how they overcame adversity to follow after the Lord, how God called them apart. 00:00:13.960 --> 00:00:21.120 One of the dangers that you run into is you focus so much on one of the main characters of a book is that you miss the overall theme of what God intends for 00:00:21.120 --> 00:00:22.600 us to understand through Scripture. 00:00:24.320 --> 00:00:31.840 As you look through the Bible in the Old Testament, you'll find many narratives that dictate a lot of the early Israel patriarchs 00:00:31.860 --> 00:00:33.140 and their leadership positions. 00:00:35.460 --> 00:00:39.940 But one of the things we fail to see is we focus on them and their individual selves. 00:00:39.940 --> 00:00:46.460 And the story related to their lives is that we forget the overall purpose that God desires to accomplish throughout, not just the Old Testament, but throughout the whole Bible. 00:00:48.300 --> 00:00:50.220 And that is his glory. 00:00:52.100 --> 00:00:59.220 So the main character of every book that's ever recorded within our Bible, all 66 books contained within it, the main character of 00:00:59.220 --> 00:01:05.379 Scripture is God and His glory, and seen and played out in the lives of individuals throughout history. 00:01:06.940 --> 00:01:08.980 And it's no different in the life of Nehemiah. 00:01:09.040 --> 00:01:15.500 The reason Nehemiah is recorded in our Bible today, and we are able to read it and see the nation of Israel being rebuilt. 00:01:15.520 --> 00:01:22.760 This man coming back to the city of Jerusalem, rebuilding Jerusalem's walls after being destroyed 150 years or 140 years previous to that is 00:01:22.900 --> 00:01:28.000 because God's glory is at work within the hearts and minds of the people of Israel. 00:01:30.560 --> 00:01:33.780 God's glory should be something that motivates all of us. 00:01:35.340 --> 00:01:41.510 The evidence of his glory should captivate us, should lead us to church every morning. 00:01:41.560 --> 00:01:48.020 It should inspire and encourage us to be a light to this lost world, that the evidence of God's glory can be seen. 00:01:50.840 --> 00:01:58.180 The Bible tells us in Isaiah 40 and verse 12 that literally, God expanded the entire universe and can hold it within the breadth 00:01:58.180 --> 00:01:59.930 of just a hand. 00:02:00.920 --> 00:02:01.260 He is glorious. 00:02:03.100 --> 00:02:06.860 The Bible tells us in Ecclesiastes that God has written eternity in our hearts. 00:02:07.060 --> 00:02:08.780 Creating man in his own image. 00:02:08.800 --> 00:02:15.980 Mirroring God, finding our own purpose and identity and everything that he is and the eternity of what man is about as summed up within God 00:02:15.980 --> 00:02:22.770 as he is written within our hearts, the desire and longing to know God and eternity with him. 00:02:25.020 --> 00:02:29.700 The Bible tells us that man lives not by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. 00:02:31.640 --> 00:02:38.810 Something that we should rejoice with as a church this morning is that God has revealed his glory to us. 00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:47.200 The Bible tells us in Isaiah chapter six and verse one, excuse me, the whole 00:02:47.200 --> 00:02:48.700 earth is full of his glory. 00:02:50.220 --> 00:02:57.320 Within this passage of Scripture, Isaiah is called up before God, and he records the host of angels gathered around his throne, singing and worshiping and the 00:02:57.320 --> 00:02:58.580 statement that the angels make. 00:02:58.580 --> 00:03:02.800 Is that the whole earth declares the glory of God. 00:03:05.520 --> 00:03:11.620 God has revealed his glory to us, and the earth becomes the evidence of the glory in which he upholds. 00:03:11.740 --> 00:03:17.840 Reminder to you that this earth is under a sin, curse, and yet still being in sin. 00:03:17.840 --> 00:03:22.480 We still have the evidence of God and the glory of God being made known. 00:03:24.360 --> 00:03:31.020 Glory means of weighty importance or of shining majesty in the presence of God. 00:03:31.360 --> 00:03:38.480 Throughout the Book of Psalms they become the Psalms are praises or songs of praise before God and worship for everything 00:03:38.480 --> 00:03:39.040 that he is. 00:03:40.340 --> 00:03:44.890 It tells us in Psalm 29 it says, give honor to the Lord for the glory of his name. 00:03:45.140 --> 00:03:46.830 Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness. 00:03:47.060 --> 00:03:49.360 The voice of the Lord splits the mighty cedars. 00:03:50.240 --> 00:03:52.260 The voice of the Lord makes the desert quake. 00:03:52.280 --> 00:03:54.580 The voice of the Lord causes the deer to give birth. 00:03:54.580 --> 00:03:57.000 And strips the forests bare. 00:03:57.800 --> 00:04:00.440 In his temple everyone shouts glory! 00:04:01.440 --> 00:04:03.140 The Lord rules over the flood waters. 00:04:04.240 --> 00:04:05.760 The Lord reigns as king forever. 00:04:06.360 --> 00:04:08.220 The Lord gives his people strength. 00:04:09.460 --> 00:04:14.620 Psalm 19 the heavens are telling of the glory of God, and their expanse is declaring the work of his hands. 00:04:14.620 --> 00:04:18.240 Day to day pours forth the speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. 00:04:22.180 --> 00:04:29.420 When we experience the birth of a young child or his laughter, you see the magnificence 00:04:29.420 --> 00:04:32.080 of the Grand Canyon or the beauty of the ocean. 00:04:32.660 --> 00:04:38.800 Its intended within you to spur the desire and longing to know something more glorious than you are. 00:04:41.200 --> 00:04:48.280 Never stand on the precipice of the Grand Canyon or the coastline of the ocean, and think about how wonderful you 00:04:48.280 --> 00:04:55.160 are, but how magnificent creation is, and the glory of God has become evident in our own lives. 00:04:56.900 --> 00:05:02.040 Moses was one such leader that as recorded in the Bible for us. 00:05:03.500 --> 00:05:06.020 He was a patriarch of Jewish history. 00:05:07.700 --> 00:05:10.180 God called Abraham first as a Jew, to set him apart. 00:05:10.300 --> 00:05:15.340 And then Isaac and Jacob came, and Jacob had a son named Joseph who took the Israelites into Egypt. 00:05:16.240 --> 00:05:23.600 And for hundreds of years they lived in Egypt before God called one such man out of Egypt to bring the people of Israel out of out of the land of Egypt, and to establish 00:05:23.600 --> 00:05:24.420 their own nation. 00:05:25.060 --> 00:05:27.380 And that leader was elected, and his name was Moses. 00:05:28.800 --> 00:05:35.260 In chapter three of the Book of Exodus, it records for us that when God called Moses, he literally took him up on the side of a hill and from a burning bush. 00:05:35.480 --> 00:05:38.560 God declared to him that he was to be the leader of the people of Israel. 00:05:39.720 --> 00:05:46.840 And he tells Moses, as he stands before God's glory, and the evidence of God being made known in his life to take off his shoes, because he's standing 00:05:46.840 --> 00:05:53.550 on holy ground, God signifying for us the difference between creature and creator. 00:05:53.980 --> 00:06:00.980 Moses have to remove his shoes, to walk upon the feel of the dirt from his feet, upon his feet from which he was created to remind himself how great God 00:06:00.980 --> 00:06:01.880 is. 00:06:02.620 --> 00:06:10.240 And as God revealed himself to Moses, he told Moses in Exodus chapter three and verse 14, no longer shall you refer to me as Elohim, which 00:06:10.260 --> 00:06:12.520 is a plural name for any God at that given time. 00:06:12.740 --> 00:06:14.200 I want you to refer to me as Jehovah. 00:06:16.520 --> 00:06:21.060 And for the first time in Israel's history, they learned the name of God. 00:06:21.120 --> 00:06:26.110 Jesus comes on the scene later in history and he refers to himself as Jehovah. 00:06:28.180 --> 00:06:30.380 God's glory was made known to Moses. 00:06:31.460 --> 00:06:38.480 You know, one of the beautiful things about that glory made known to Moses is the hunger for God's glory that created as Moses got to 00:06:38.480 --> 00:06:45.600 know God and his relationship and the glory of God within his life, and the evidence of God seeing the seas parted and the ten plagues that take place in 00:06:45.600 --> 00:06:52.940 Egypt, Moses became more and more hungry for the glory of God So much so that the end of the book of Exodus in chapter 33, 00:06:53.140 --> 00:07:00.380 it says this, that Moses said, now show me your glory, as if the glory that had been revealed to him in his relationship to God wasn't enough. 00:07:00.420 --> 00:07:02.420 He wanted to know everything about who God was. 00:07:03.720 --> 00:07:09.600 He said, but he said, God said to Moses, you can't see my face, for no man can see me and live. 00:07:11.140 --> 00:07:15.360 Then the Lord said, there is a place near, near me where you may stand on a rock. 00:07:16.420 --> 00:07:22.210 And when my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock, and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 00:07:23.240 --> 00:07:25.720 Then I will remove my hand, and you will see my back. 00:07:26.800 --> 00:07:28.700 But my face must not be seen. 00:07:30.740 --> 00:07:37.900 Records for us in the book of Corinthians that Moses, when he came from the mountain, after seeing the presence of God, that literally Moses's 00:07:38.020 --> 00:07:41.860 face would glow with the glory of God's presence upon him. 00:07:42.800 --> 00:07:49.980 Moses would wear a veil before the people of Israel, that they may not see the presence of that glory fade from his face because God's glory had 00:07:49.980 --> 00:07:51.710 shone so brightly upon Moses. 00:07:52.920 --> 00:07:57.990 And even in that relationship and leading the nation of Israel as he tasted the glory of God, it was never enough. 00:07:58.080 --> 00:08:00.530 Moses was always hungry for more. 00:08:02.640 --> 00:08:07.260 The entire Bible dictates the glory of God being made evident to us in our lives. 00:08:08.440 --> 00:08:15.540 And if we were to look at the Book of Nehemiah together and only focus on Nehemiah, we would forget the very purpose for which the book was written, and that is to display the 00:08:15.540 --> 00:08:21.210 glory of God, not just working in the life of Moses, but also working in the lives of the people during Nehemiah's time. 00:08:22.560 --> 00:08:24.540 Nehemiah records in chapter two and verse 18. 00:08:24.560 --> 00:08:28.900 He also says in verse 20 that the gracious hand of God is on me. 00:08:30.400 --> 00:08:32.980 God's glory is being made known in Israel once again. 00:08:34.940 --> 00:08:41.520 Israel, having been captive, taken captive by the nation of Babylon, sent off into captivity for 140 years. 00:08:41.720 --> 00:08:44.940 Nehemiah comes back to the area of Israel and to the city of Jerusalem. 00:08:45.360 --> 00:08:46.720 He has God's heart for the city. 00:08:46.720 --> 00:08:50.280 It literally says within Scripture that he weeps for this city. 00:08:50.360 --> 00:08:55.020 His heart is broken because he knows this is the future city of the Messiah, and it lays desolate. 00:08:56.820 --> 00:08:58.160 And because God's hand was upon him. 00:08:58.240 --> 00:09:05.880 And God's glory is being shown in the life of Nehemiah and the people of Israel, they rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, every 00:09:05.880 --> 00:09:12.840 city during that time, if it were to be established and it were to be protected and it were to grow, it needed a wall to keep outsiders from invading it. 00:09:13.680 --> 00:09:20.680 And Nehemiah knew in order for the nation of Israel to return back to the former glory before its captivity, for the future Messiah to come, it would have to have its walls 00:09:20.680 --> 00:09:23.760 rebuilt again, that the nation of Israel could prosper and continue to grow. 00:09:25.320 --> 00:09:30.470 And God's hand, God's glory was upon him. 00:09:32.260 --> 00:09:39.060 Not only do we see that within the book of Nehemiah, we also see it in our own lives as well. 00:09:40.960 --> 00:09:48.200 The Bible goes on to tell us in John chapter one and verse 14 it says in John one one in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word 00:09:48.200 --> 00:09:49.400 was God. 00:09:50.100 --> 00:09:52.200 Associating Jesus as being God. 00:09:52.220 --> 00:09:59.500 And it tells us in 114 and that word became dwelt, became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his 00:09:59.500 --> 00:09:59.780 glory. 00:10:02.140 --> 00:10:09.200 The evidence of God's glory in our lives is shown and seen upon the face of Jesus, as he became flesh and dwelt among 00:10:09.200 --> 00:10:09.340 us. 00:10:10.460 --> 00:10:16.120 The Bible goes on to tell us in the book of Hebrews in the past, meaning not today. 00:10:17.140 --> 00:10:21.820 God spoke to our ancestors through prophets in the past, at many times in various ways. 00:10:23.200 --> 00:10:30.480 But in these last days he has spoken to us by His son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. 00:10:31.340 --> 00:10:38.400 The son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining 00:10:38.400 --> 00:10:42.440 all things by his power and his word, the powerful word. 00:10:44.600 --> 00:10:47.300 You want to see the glory of God working in our lives. 00:10:48.680 --> 00:10:50.720 The Bible tells us to look to Jesus. 00:10:52.420 --> 00:10:59.700 In John 14 and John chapter 16, Jesus shared with his church that there would be a Holy Spirit that would come, 00:11:01.260 --> 00:11:08.280 and the goal of that Holy Spirit would be to indwell those who believed in Christ, those who trusted in Christ, who were indwelt 00:11:08.280 --> 00:11:09.230 by the Holy Spirit. 00:11:09.280 --> 00:11:16.280 It tells us in John 16 that they would make much of Jesus and the way that you know that the spirit is working in your own 00:11:16.280 --> 00:11:19.940 heart and mind and in the life of your church, is that it points you to Jesus. 00:11:23.440 --> 00:11:30.620 Second Corinthians four six it says, God has shone in our hearts to give the light of the glory of God in the face of 00:11:30.620 --> 00:11:31.640 Jesus church. 00:11:34.680 --> 00:11:38.640 We as people find our purpose in everything that God has shown through his glory. 00:11:40.960 --> 00:11:44.660 God has created us to stand in all of that glory. 00:11:46.860 --> 00:11:48.300 Paul wrote about it in Romans. 00:11:51.420 --> 00:11:58.780 Recording for us that where we fall short as people is that we fail to see the evidence of God's glory and the life around us. 00:12:00.140 --> 00:12:07.260 It says in Romans chapter one and verse 22, although they claim to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of 00:12:07.280 --> 00:12:15.930 the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being, and birds and animals and reptiles. 00:12:16.520 --> 00:12:20.040 Meaning people went out into this world, and they saw the beauty and evidence of God's glory within their hand. 00:12:20.040 --> 00:12:26.600 But rather than give God praise, they began to worship things as opposed to God. 00:12:27.020 --> 00:12:33.780 It tells us in Romans 323, for all have sinned and fall short of what the glory of God. 00:12:34.520 --> 00:12:43.460 Do you see the significance in not only recognizing God's glory within the book of Nehemiah, but through all of Scripture making that glory made known to us when 00:12:43.460 --> 00:12:44.680 we gather on Sunday. 00:12:44.680 --> 00:12:51.760 It becomes a worship service for us because God's glory has been made known specifically, specifically through Jesus, into our lives. 00:12:54.060 --> 00:12:56.980 God has revealed his glory to you. 00:12:59.300 --> 00:13:06.380 So the question we posed this morning as we look at the rest of these points is, how do I know God's glory is being seen in my life? 00:13:08.200 --> 00:13:14.080 How do you know that God's glory in your specific individual life, that you lead his glory is being seen and known to you? 00:13:15.660 --> 00:13:21.730 I tell you, point number two this morning is that God's glory draws his followers to him. 00:13:23.060 --> 00:13:30.120 In the life of Nehemiah, during the time in which Nehemiah ruled the city of Jerusalem, it says, God's glory drew 00:13:30.120 --> 00:13:32.120 followers to him in Nehemiah's time. 00:13:32.200 --> 00:13:33.390 Look in verse six of chapter seven. 00:13:34.320 --> 00:13:38.340 This is why we're not going to study all of chapter seven together, because we only need to take out two verses. 00:13:39.040 --> 00:13:46.080 It says, these are the people of the province who came up from the captivity of the exiles, whom Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had taken captive, each 00:13:46.080 --> 00:13:53.080 to his own town, in company with Zerubbabel, Joshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Ramiah, Nehemiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, 00:13:53.440 --> 00:13:56.040 miss whatever, Bigvai, Nahum, and Banna. 00:13:56.860 --> 00:14:01.230 The list of these men of Israel, and see that for the rest of the verses it lists all those people. 00:14:01.400 --> 00:14:03.260 And I'm not going to read those names to you. 00:14:04.500 --> 00:14:11.680 But God's glory is being evident to them, because he's drawing followers, and he's called these people to, in chapter seven, to 00:14:11.680 --> 00:14:18.740 go back to the city of Jerusalem and rebuild this nation, knowing what God desired to do through Israel, that 00:14:18.740 --> 00:14:22.220 glory craving to know him more drew them to that city. 00:14:23.880 --> 00:14:28.630 It says in verse 66, the whole company numbered over 42,000 people. 00:14:29.700 --> 00:14:36.880 But it tells us when the nation of Israel got to that city, the desire and hunger to know God more deeply and to see his glory made known in dinner. 00:14:37.140 --> 00:14:38.280 Their lives didn't end there. 00:14:39.800 --> 00:14:43.700 It tells us in verse one, all the people came together as one in the square before the Watergate. 00:14:44.020 --> 00:14:49.480 They told Ezra, the teacher of the law, to bring out the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded for Israel. 00:14:50.300 --> 00:14:57.360 So on the first day of the seventh month, Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly, which was made up of men and women and all who were able 00:14:57.360 --> 00:14:58.020 to understand. 00:14:59.140 --> 00:15:06.080 He read it aloud from daybreak till noon, as he faced the square before the water gate, in the presence of the men and women and others who could understand. 00:15:07.620 --> 00:15:10.740 And all the people listened attentively to the book of the law. 00:15:12.380 --> 00:15:18.740 It tells us that Israel started to dedicate time towards understanding what who God was and his revelation to them. 00:15:19.820 --> 00:15:27.020 It says in verse three that they literally stood before the assembly until and from morning until the afternoon, until the morning 00:15:27.020 --> 00:15:34.060 until midday, from sun up till the sun was directly over their head, they stood in attention to the 00:15:34.060 --> 00:15:35.020 reading of God's Word. 00:15:35.020 --> 00:15:38.000 They gave him time and they understood His word. 00:15:38.880 --> 00:15:45.320 It tells us in verse four as we go further and read, that Ezra, the teacher of the law, stood on a high wooden platform built for the occasion. 00:15:46.300 --> 00:15:53.480 Beside him, on his right stood Mattathias, Shema, Ananias, Uriah, and the rest of the names in 00:15:53.480 --> 00:15:54.250 verse five. 00:15:54.340 --> 00:15:55.260 Ezra opened the book. 00:15:55.880 --> 00:15:58.200 All the people could see him because he was standing above them. 00:15:59.080 --> 00:16:02.680 And as he opened it, the people all stood up. 00:16:03.820 --> 00:16:09.580 As we're reading from a podium, you can imagine the entire nation of Israel gathered to one place for the reading of God's Word. 00:16:10.820 --> 00:16:12.620 One assembly in one city. 00:16:12.920 --> 00:16:13.340 For the Lord. 00:16:14.500 --> 00:16:18.790 It tells us in verse seven, skip down for just a minute to verse seven. 00:16:19.040 --> 00:16:22.340 The Levites that list their names again instructed the people in the law. 00:16:22.560 --> 00:16:29.840 While the people were standing there, they read from the book of the law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people understood what 00:16:29.840 --> 00:16:30.560 was being read. 00:16:32.140 --> 00:16:38.740 Can you imagine for 140 years that you're taking off into a different country, speaking a different language within that 140 years. 00:16:38.840 --> 00:16:42.400 Guess what language your children start to speak the language of that country. 00:16:43.560 --> 00:16:45.200 But the Bible is written in Hebrew. 00:16:46.420 --> 00:16:50.840 And so when you want to understand the Bible, it requires someone who could speak Hebrew to explain it to you. 00:16:51.540 --> 00:16:58.660 And so the priest, the Levites gathered around the nation of Israel as Ezra stood on this podium and read to the people the book of the law. 00:16:58.720 --> 00:17:04.990 They went around and explained to the people what God desired for them to know from this book. 00:17:06.040 --> 00:17:07.020 They gave God of their time. 00:17:07.720 --> 00:17:09.319 They gave God attention to His Word. 00:17:09.579 --> 00:17:16.640 And in verse six, which we skipped over, it says, as we praise the Lord, the great God and all the people lifted 00:17:16.640 --> 00:17:18.119 their hands and responded, Amen. 00:17:19.099 --> 00:17:22.619 Then they bowed down and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. 00:17:24.440 --> 00:17:26.880 They drew near to God in prayer. 00:17:28.960 --> 00:17:30.920 God draws his followers to him. 00:17:30.980 --> 00:17:38.300 And the way that we know that God's glory is working in my life, as I feel drawn to grow closer to him and understanding of 00:17:38.320 --> 00:17:38.520 his glory. 00:17:40.480 --> 00:17:43.360 The Bible tells us that glory is still working in us today. 00:17:43.360 --> 00:17:50.540 In Romans chapter nine it says, and he did so to make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy, which he prepared beforehand 00:17:50.540 --> 00:17:51.800 for glory. 00:17:52.460 --> 00:17:55.720 He's referring in this verse to those who've trusted in Jesus as Savior. 00:17:55.920 --> 00:17:59.880 He's making the riches of his glory known in the church. 00:18:02.000 --> 00:18:09.040 It says in chapter eight and verse 18, for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be 00:18:09.040 --> 00:18:10.720 revealed to us in Christ. 00:18:11.580 --> 00:18:16.300 For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the Son of God, for the anxious longing of the creation. 00:18:16.680 --> 00:18:17.540 Why am I reading that twice? 00:18:20.930 --> 00:18:25.640 The point is this God's glory was being made known in Nehemiah. 00:18:26.900 --> 00:18:32.270 God's glory is being made known to you As you draw near to him. 00:18:34.980 --> 00:18:40.820 God created you for the purpose of finding his glory satisfying. 00:18:43.060 --> 00:18:50.100 And it reminds us as a as a church, that the glory that awaits us one day as we see him face to face, is far greater 00:18:50.100 --> 00:18:53.270 than any suffering that we may endure in this world. 00:18:55.040 --> 00:18:59.560 It says in Romans 11 six, for from him and through him, and to him are all things. 00:18:59.700 --> 00:19:01.080 To him be the glory forever. 00:19:02.620 --> 00:19:04.480 Amen. 00:19:05.180 --> 00:19:10.090 Second, I would say God's glory changes those with open hearts. 00:19:13.280 --> 00:19:20.300 In verse nine, the book of Nehemiah in chapter eight, it says, Then Nehemiah the governor, as ah, the priest and teacher of 00:19:20.300 --> 00:19:20.680 the law. 00:19:20.700 --> 00:19:27.300 And the Levites who were instructing the people, said to said, to all this day is holy to the Lord your God. 00:19:28.420 --> 00:19:32.920 Do not mourn or weep, for all the people have been weeping as they listened to the words of the law. 00:19:32.920 --> 00:19:37.530 Nehemiah said, go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. 00:19:38.300 --> 00:19:39.900 This day is holy to our Lord. 00:19:40.800 --> 00:19:44.340 Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. 00:19:47.120 --> 00:19:47.960 Nehemiah's day. 00:19:48.020 --> 00:19:54.560 The people began to experience a heart change as God revealed himself more specifically through His Word. 00:19:55.360 --> 00:20:02.880 See, the evidence of God revealed to us in his glory is seen in creation, but God becomes more specific in his identity as we see 00:20:02.880 --> 00:20:05.150 him for who he is within His Word. 00:20:06.880 --> 00:20:13.980 Israel, having not been able to read Hebrew, hadn't had much opportunity to understand the word of the of God, and as they began 00:20:13.980 --> 00:20:20.160 to read it together, they saw for the first time corporately worshiping together that they were living in sin. 00:20:22.640 --> 00:20:24.100 And they began to feel convicted. 00:20:27.060 --> 00:20:29.420 Conviction isn't about feeling bad. 00:20:30.920 --> 00:20:35.100 I think it's a godly thing to go through conviction when there's sin in our lives. 00:20:35.260 --> 00:20:40.040 But conviction isn't to walk around this world with guilt or feeling bad for things that you've done. 00:20:40.740 --> 00:20:44.000 The purpose of conviction is to get you to understand the joy of the Lord. 00:20:44.000 --> 00:20:48.780 And it says in this passage of Scripture, I see everything that opposes God. 00:20:48.940 --> 00:20:50.600 And if I stand for that, I feel convicted. 00:20:50.820 --> 00:20:54.390 And the purpose of my conviction is not to feel bad, but just simply change. 00:20:55.780 --> 00:21:01.360 To realize within my own life that the glory of God is being made evident and I have been ignoring it. 00:21:01.360 --> 00:21:08.620 And so in conviction and understanding of what God's Word is saying, I need to turn from this and behold the glory of everything that he is. 00:21:08.620 --> 00:21:15.920 And in understanding what convictions purposes do, it becomes a beautiful word, because it's compelled to draw me closer to the glory of 00:21:15.920 --> 00:21:16.180 God. 00:21:17.960 --> 00:21:23.450 And the beautiful thing of his glory is that it's loving and gracious towards us. 00:21:25.160 --> 00:21:31.270 If we lived in a religion and we lived according to law, which is what religion teaches. 00:21:31.980 --> 00:21:32.900 And it's why I hate religion. 00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:36.560 Religion just oppresses us. 00:21:38.220 --> 00:21:43.040 It makes us feel guilty for not living up to some sort of standard that we can't achieve to please God. 00:21:44.880 --> 00:21:52.330 But revival in the heart, a relationship to God is what brings the joy. 00:21:53.600 --> 00:22:00.640 Because as the nation of Israel looked at this verse and they saw and they read the word of God, and they began to feel convicted, they understood that a messiah 00:22:00.640 --> 00:22:03.680 was to come that was going to set them free. 00:22:05.540 --> 00:22:09.300 And Galatians five one, when you come into our church, it's written on our front door. 00:22:09.340 --> 00:22:11.320 Christ has set you free. 00:22:12.460 --> 00:22:13.800 The emphasis here isn't religion. 00:22:13.880 --> 00:22:20.960 The emphasis here isn't law is that the glory of God has been made to you and made known to us so graciously in our life, that he has set us free from the 00:22:20.960 --> 00:22:22.860 sin cursed world and the living of law. 00:22:22.860 --> 00:22:25.840 And it's free to a to relationship of growing with him. 00:22:28.060 --> 00:22:31.020 We live under law, we live according to religion. 00:22:33.380 --> 00:22:35.760 We talk about the joy of the Lord. 00:22:36.580 --> 00:22:43.620 We live in relationship and conviction to the church becomes a beautiful thing because when we're convicted, what we're saying is 00:22:43.900 --> 00:22:51.020 I'm compelled to get closer to Jesus and grow in that glorious understanding of everything that he is, because he desires to be close 00:22:51.020 --> 00:22:51.720 to me. 00:22:55.580 --> 00:23:02.680 Bible tells us, as the people of Nehemiah's day went through that heart change, that we as well can also go through that heart change with the 00:23:02.680 --> 00:23:03.180 Lord. 00:23:05.440 --> 00:23:12.740 Tells us in verse 11 and 12, the Levites claimed calmed all the people, saying, be still, 00:23:12.740 --> 00:23:13.800 for this is a holy day. 00:23:14.440 --> 00:23:14.840 Don't grieve. 00:23:16.040 --> 00:23:23.040 Then all the people went away to eat and drink, and to send portions of food, and to celebrate with great joy, because they now understood the words that 00:23:23.040 --> 00:23:27.000 had been made known to them the nation of Israel. 00:23:28.500 --> 00:23:35.730 God has brought you to Jerusalem not to mourn over your sin, but to rejoice in the glory of his hand being revealed in your life. 00:23:38.460 --> 00:23:45.500 For the church today, it says, for the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath been made, hath made me free from 00:23:45.500 --> 00:23:47.180 the law of sin and death. 00:23:48.860 --> 00:23:53.200 Everything that the law identified for my life that was wrong in my relationship to God. 00:23:53.560 --> 00:23:59.790 Jesus has set me free and has begun to work a revival within my own heart. 00:24:00.720 --> 00:24:06.600 It says for what the law could not do in trying to make me righteous before God, it says, and that it was weak through the flesh. 00:24:06.720 --> 00:24:11.940 God sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin. 00:24:12.340 --> 00:24:13.320 Jesus sets you free. 00:24:14.820 --> 00:24:21.720 And we can celebrate the glory of God in our lives this morning, because God desires nothing more than to set us free. 00:24:23.840 --> 00:24:29.040 I think about other religions in this world gathering this morning to worship whatever God. 00:24:30.640 --> 00:24:36.190 Every religion in this world teaches that you please God through living of the law, except for Christianity. 00:24:37.880 --> 00:24:45.280 It teaches that we please God through accepting the sacrifice that Jesus has made on our behalf, because we can never satisfy a holy God by 00:24:45.280 --> 00:24:45.920 living law. 00:24:47.880 --> 00:24:55.380 And all these religions in the world are gathered today conducting dead works, trying to please God, never knowing if their works are 00:24:55.460 --> 00:24:55.920 good enough. 00:24:57.720 --> 00:25:01.660 But here in this verse, the glory of God tells us that it is free. 00:25:03.340 --> 00:25:10.340 And around the world, those who are worshiping other gods fear the evidence of God's glory, because they don't know how God's going to 00:25:10.340 --> 00:25:12.750 respond to them in their sin. 00:25:14.700 --> 00:25:18.280 God's glory becomes a beautiful thing for the church. 00:25:20.160 --> 00:25:27.170 And when you understand what that relationship with God is about, it tells us in Galatians five one, Christ has set you free. 00:25:28.600 --> 00:25:30.600 How do I know the glory of God is working in my life? 00:25:30.720 --> 00:25:32.320 Well, first of all, God has revealed his glory. 00:25:32.380 --> 00:25:35.080 Second of all, God draws followers to him. 00:25:35.100 --> 00:25:40.880 Third, God's glory changes those whose hearts are open to what he's drawing you to in Christ Jesus. 00:25:41.300 --> 00:25:45.160 And fourth, I would say God's glory inspires pure worship. 00:25:47.720 --> 00:25:49.100 Let me read this for just one moment. 00:25:49.300 --> 00:25:57.260 And seeing the glory of God revealed, it tells us in Jude chapter 24 to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to the present before 00:25:57.280 --> 00:26:04.720 his glorious presence, without fault and without and with great joy, to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, and power and 00:26:04.720 --> 00:26:06.340 authority through Jesus Christ our Lord. 00:26:07.720 --> 00:26:12.120 Within this text in the Hebrew, it connects both God and Savior to the name of Jesus. 00:26:14.020 --> 00:26:16.280 His glory working in our lives to change our hearts. 00:26:19.060 --> 00:26:26.180 And in the life of Nehemiah tells us in verse 13, as the nation of Israel continued to read, they begin to recognize 00:26:26.180 --> 00:26:32.860 within Scripture that the time that they're reading from the text of the Word of God that they're supposed to be engaged in at a particular feast. 00:26:33.020 --> 00:26:34.380 It's called the Feast of Booths. 00:26:35.520 --> 00:26:42.690 And it says on the second day of the month, the heads of all the families, along with the priests and the Levites gathered around Ezra the teacher, to give attention to the words of the law. 00:26:43.760 --> 00:26:50.800 And they found written in the law which the Lord had commanded through Moses, that the Israelites were to live in temporary shelters during the festival 00:26:50.820 --> 00:26:57.860 of the seventh month, and that they should proclaim the word and spread it throughout their towns and in Jerusalem, go out into the hill country 00:26:57.860 --> 00:27:04.980 and bring back branches from olive and wild olive trees, and from myrtles and palms and shade trees to make temporary shelters. 00:27:05.700 --> 00:27:10.760 As it is written, this feast goes back to the time of Joshua. 00:27:11.060 --> 00:27:17.160 The Feast of Booths says Israel, through Moses left Egypt, and they wandered through the wilderness when they came to the nation of Israel. 00:27:17.480 --> 00:27:20.160 God told the nation of Israel to observe the Feast of Booths. 00:27:21.420 --> 00:27:24.540 It was a reminder to them that God provided all the years of warning. 00:27:24.560 --> 00:27:28.960 40 years of wandering through the desert, and that God would continue to provide the needs of their lives. 00:27:29.740 --> 00:27:32.560 And so they simplified their lives by literally building tents. 00:27:32.980 --> 00:27:37.360 What we would use as tents today, they use as tree branches, built tents and different places throughout Jerusalem. 00:27:38.520 --> 00:27:45.880 And they celebrated the way that God had continued to provide within their lives since the time of Joshua tells 00:27:45.880 --> 00:27:51.930 us within this passage that what they gathered were trees that had symbolic significance to the nation of Israel. 00:27:53.280 --> 00:27:59.820 The myrtle tree, which had flowers and fragrance upon it, reminding them of God's beautiful work in their lives. 00:28:00.880 --> 00:28:08.180 The wild olive tree, which in our day would be the willow tree, which always grew next to a water source. 00:28:09.540 --> 00:28:12.220 It was a source of shelter as the nation of Israel looked at it. 00:28:12.220 --> 00:28:19.300 It would keep the rays of the sun from coming in, and a lot of animals would lie under this willow tree for protection from the heat 00:28:19.300 --> 00:28:20.080 of the sun's day. 00:28:21.520 --> 00:28:23.940 The palm tree was a tree of victory. 00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:27.860 You remember of Jesus as he went into Jerusalem for the final time. 00:28:27.860 --> 00:28:35.380 It's referred to as his triumphal entry, as he rode on the back of a donkey that the nation of Israel lined the streets and herald the name of Christ, saying, Hosanna! 00:28:35.380 --> 00:28:41.600 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, and laid down the palm leaves on the path as Jesus went down the city of Jerusalem. 00:28:43.920 --> 00:28:47.860 It was a tradition that they heralded for kings returning from battle victoriously. 00:28:50.700 --> 00:28:57.740 The palm branch is a tree that can sustain where no tree can, that can endure the hardships of the desert when no tree 00:28:57.740 --> 00:28:58.260 can. 00:28:58.260 --> 00:29:05.320 It's an evidence that the King goes out to conquer for battle, that he's conquered all the land as he's reached the edge to the ocean 00:29:05.320 --> 00:29:07.400 where the palm trees are growing. 00:29:08.760 --> 00:29:09.870 And when the king returns. 00:29:10.560 --> 00:29:17.580 The reminder of the victory by heralding the palm trees in hand to the nation of Israel. 00:29:17.780 --> 00:29:22.460 These tree branches symbolize the hand of God that worked in their lives. 00:29:24.280 --> 00:29:25.580 He provided for their needs. 00:29:27.420 --> 00:29:30.400 God's glory for us inspires pure worship. 00:29:32.380 --> 00:29:37.220 You see the nation of Israel as they began to see the glory of God and the hand of God working within their lives. 00:29:37.260 --> 00:29:39.200 They respond to God through worship. 00:29:41.220 --> 00:29:45.580 They gather for this feast and they collect these leaves and they worship. 00:29:47.920 --> 00:29:54.920 It tells us in verse 16, so the people went out and brought back branches and built themselves temporary shelters on their own roofs and their courtyards, and 00:29:54.920 --> 00:29:58.640 the courts of the house of God and the square by the water gate, and the one by the gate of Ephraim. 00:30:00.020 --> 00:30:05.480 The whole company that had returned from exile built temporary shelters, and lived in them from the days of Joshua, son of nun. 00:30:05.780 --> 00:30:12.940 Until that day the Israelites had not celebrated like this, and their joy was very great, tells 00:30:12.940 --> 00:30:19.580 us in verse 16, when the glory of God is working in their lives, the nation of Israel literally scattered all over the nation and began to worship God. 00:30:20.760 --> 00:30:25.740 And when the evidence of God's glory is working within my own lives, I don't just come to church and worship every day. 00:30:25.740 --> 00:30:31.380 Every moment that I think of that the hand of God and the glory of God working in my life, I take the opportunity to worship. 00:30:35.220 --> 00:30:38.230 Verse 17, it tells us that they worshiped like never before. 00:30:39.960 --> 00:30:47.060 When God first gave this feast to the nation of Israel, this Feast of Booths or Tabernacles, Joshua was the one who 00:30:47.060 --> 00:30:47.890 started it. 00:30:48.700 --> 00:30:51.620 And since that time, Israel really hasn't celebrated the way they should. 00:30:51.640 --> 00:30:52.100 But it says like. 00:30:52.380 --> 00:30:53.180 Like never before. 00:30:53.180 --> 00:30:55.640 Since the time of Joshua, they begin to celebrate this feast. 00:30:55.640 --> 00:31:00.240 And can I tell you, when God's glory works in your life, it becomes evident to those around you. 00:31:00.240 --> 00:31:06.320 Because like never before in your life, you're worshiping God. 00:31:06.320 --> 00:31:13.340 I think one of the most powerful things that takes place within this scripture, and this is written in your 00:31:13.340 --> 00:31:14.140 notes, wrong. 00:31:14.140 --> 00:31:17.400 This morning happens in the book of John. 00:31:18.940 --> 00:31:25.780 John chapter seven and verse 37 and 38, and John chapter eight and verse 12, I think it says seven and two in your notes. 00:31:28.580 --> 00:31:35.700 Jesus is in Jerusalem in this passage of Scripture in Jerusalem at this time is celebrating the Feast 00:31:35.700 --> 00:31:36.390 of Booths. 00:31:38.940 --> 00:31:45.940 During this Feast of Booths, there were particular ceremonies which took place within the temple, one of which, at the beginning of the Feast of Booths, they would pour a 00:31:45.940 --> 00:31:49.560 drink offering upon the altar in worship to God. 00:31:51.980 --> 00:31:59.000 And as this feast is taking place, Jesus enters into the temple, and as all these people are engaged in 00:31:59.000 --> 00:32:05.650 worship, Jesus makes this statement in chapter seven and verse 37 he says, come to me and drink. 00:32:05.840 --> 00:32:10.260 He who believes in me from his innermost being will flow rivers of living water. 00:32:11.820 --> 00:32:18.120 What Jesus is saying to these people of Israel as they're worshiping during the Feast of Booths, is that this Feast of Booths was intended to point to me. 00:32:19.140 --> 00:32:26.400 And if you want to find freedom in everything and the glory of God and all that he's declared for your life and everything that he's promised you and everything that he wants to bless your 00:32:26.400 --> 00:32:31.060 life with, it comes through me because I am that fountain of living water. 00:32:33.120 --> 00:32:40.160 Could you imagine that nation of Israel, as they stood in that temple and worshiped, and all of a sudden this man stands before him, pointing 00:32:40.160 --> 00:32:44.580 to himself as the evidence of God's glory, that which sets people free. 00:32:46.020 --> 00:32:49.520 And that wasn't enough for Jesus at the end of the feast. 00:32:49.520 --> 00:32:56.700 There was a ceremony that took place where the people of Israel would gather torches and they would walk outside of the temple, and they would put torches on the outside of the temple to remind the world 00:32:56.700 --> 00:33:01.520 that the nation of Israel is the light of God to the people of this world. 00:33:03.540 --> 00:33:11.100 And Jesus, believe it or not, comes at the end of or excuse me in the middle of John chapter eight, and he makes this statement to the people I 00:33:11.100 --> 00:33:13.100 am the light of the world. 00:33:16.320 --> 00:33:21.200 If you're looking for the evidence of God's glory, it's Jesus. 00:33:24.140 --> 00:33:26.220 Jesus made no ifs, ands, or buts about. 00:33:27.760 --> 00:33:34.840 It tells us in Colossians chapter two, In Him the fullness of the Godhead dwells in bodily 00:33:34.960 --> 00:33:36.010 form. 00:33:38.120 --> 00:33:41.700 God came to this world to display his glory to you. 00:33:44.020 --> 00:33:49.400 God has given you His Spirit that you may experience that glory in a relationship with him. 00:33:51.560 --> 00:33:53.620 If you trust in Jesus. 00:33:56.880 --> 00:34:03.960 The Bible tells us in John chapter eight and verse 24 that unless you believe that I am he, you will die in 00:34:03.960 --> 00:34:06.020 your sins unless you believe that I am he. 00:34:08.219 --> 00:34:13.679 Jesus made it clear to us that he is the way, the truth, and the life in John chapter 14. 00:34:16.239 --> 00:34:23.580 As a church this morning, I just want you to know that the greater his glory is made known in your life, the 00:34:23.639 --> 00:34:25.420 deeper your worship will go. 00:34:27.520 --> 00:34:33.239 Psalm 26 and verse eight, it says, oh Lord, I love the habitation of your house and the place where your glory dwells. 00:34:36.580 --> 00:34:38.920 How do I know that I'm experiencing God's glory? 00:34:41.639 --> 00:34:45.659 I would tell you this morning that, first of all, that you're drawn to him. 00:34:48.100 --> 00:34:52.280 Second of all, that he begins to change your heart as you open it up to him. 00:34:54.460 --> 00:34:57.740 And third, that he is inspiring pure worship in your lives. 00:35:00.640 --> 00:35:07.820 The Bible tells us, for those who haven't trusted in Christ, but who want to make known their lives the glory of God and experience that 00:35:07.820 --> 00:35:08.520 relationship. 00:35:08.660 --> 00:35:10.840 It says in Psalm 34 and verse eight. 00:35:10.900 --> 00:35:12.600 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. 00:35:12.660 --> 00:35:16.670 How blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. 00:35:20.320 --> 00:35:27.320 Can I tell you this morning, in conclusion, for us to be a healthy church and 00:35:27.320 --> 00:35:34.640 for you to be a healthy believer in Christ, the best thing that we can walk away with this morning is 00:35:34.640 --> 00:35:36.880 to become addicted to his glory. 00:35:38.780 --> 00:35:45.820 Become addicted to the glory of God being made known in your life because the Bible tells us, and understanding 00:35:45.820 --> 00:35:52.960 his glory and responding to it as the nation of Israel did in Nehemiah, we find joy in his presence. 00:35:54.440 --> 00:35:54.760 Let's pray. 00:35:58.460 --> 00:36:07.520 God, I thank you that your work, your word, reveals to us the evidence of your hand and 00:36:07.520 --> 00:36:14.220 the fact that your Bible is even present today, shares and declares to us as people that you desire for us to know you and all your glory. 00:36:15.820 --> 00:36:22.860 And God, it is a gracious, truthful, beautiful glory in which we can love God because you loved us. 00:36:24.680 --> 00:36:27.920 God, I thank you that the power of your glory was made known in Christ. 00:36:29.400 --> 00:36:35.140 God, as we turn to him as the fountain of living water, the light of this world and the way and the truth to all things. 00:36:36.080 --> 00:36:39.140 God, as we trust in the sacrifice made for us on the cross. 00:36:40.400 --> 00:36:41.560 Thank you that you set us free. 00:36:42.800 --> 00:36:49.120 Free from law, sin and death, and God to go deeper in understanding your glory in our lives. 00:36:50.620 --> 00:36:52.860 Jesus, continue to set your church free. 00:36:54.040 --> 00:36:56.840 Free from everything that keeps us from recognizing you and who you are. 00:36:57.900 --> 00:36:58.740 It's in your name we pray. 00:36:59.320 --> 00:36:59.820 Amen.