Bring The Book

Introduction

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Were I to take all the time I’d like to take to express all the things I’d like to say about this wonderful weekend we’ve enjoyed together, we would not have any time for the preaching of the gospel. But I’m going to forego that uh compulsion and get right to the book as quickly as we can. Suffice it to say that it has been again a glorious occasion for Norma and me. I have had a warm relationship with this church for many, many years, and I have what had a warmer relationship with Robert and his lovely lady for all these many years, even more than that. And it’s been a pleasure, it’s always a pleasure to be with them, and it’s a great pleasure to be with you.

You have endeared yourselves to me through the years. I’ve watched the church here as it makes its progress. I’ve watched some of these young people grow up, and they’re faithful and godly people, and that makes me feel very good. Now here I go, I’m about to do it, so I’ve got to quit this and get about the business for which we’re come together. Thank you for coming. Thank you for having us, and thank you for being who you are and what you are in the kingdom of the Lord. I appreciate it so much. I want you to turn to Nehemiah, the eighth chapter, with your kind permission. Nehemiah chapter eight. When the children of Israel had been carried away into bondage after Persia had conquered the Babylonians, the Jews who had been held captive were given permission by King Cyrus, in accordance with prophecies, actually, to return to their homeland.

Zerubbabel and Ezra’s work, inspired by Haggai and Malachi, began the business of what accurately might be described as a great revival or even a great restoration. Ezra and Nehemiah describe the return of the Jews to the homeland. Just as there were three different activities involved in these events, one took place at 606, another in 597, another in 586. There were three levels not only of the departure, but there were three levels of the return, oddly enough. In 536, Zerebabel brought back a good group of about 50,000 to Jerusalem, and they rebuilt the temple, finishing somewhere around 515 BC. Then in 455, Ezra brought back a second group, and it was at this time that the great revival began. Not nearly as many, but several hundred as I recall, came about this time, about 445 BC, when Nehemiah led a group back to Jerusalem and rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem in a scant less than two months, actually, about fifty-five days or so.

And so we have the instance of Nehemiah. Nehemiah was the cupbearer for Artaxerxes the king. And one day when he was talking with Artaxerxes, Artaxerxes happened to take note of the fact that he was very sad in his composure, that he was his countenance was down. You could tell he was discouraged. When he asked what was, he said, the walls of my city are torn down. I’ve had reports of that, and I’m very sad by it. Getting all of the courage that he could possibly muster, he asked King Artaxerxes for permission to go back and rebuild the walls. He was given that permission, and he took the people and went back. Not only was he given the permission, but the king gave guarantee of safe passage, and he also gave him, of course, the governorship of that area, so that he could get done what needed to be done.

You know most of the story. Now I shall begin reading in chapter 8 with your kind permission. And all the people gathered themselves together as one man in the street that was before the water gate, and they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded to Israel. And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation, both of men and women, and all that could hear with understanding upon the first day of the seventh month. And he read therein before the street that was before the water gate, from the morning until midday, before the men and the women, and those that could understand, and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law.

And Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit made of wood, which they had made for the purpose. And beside him stood Matitaih and Shema and Anah and Urijah and Hilkaiah and Masiah, and he on his right hand, and on his left hand Pudaiah and Mashuel and Micai, and Hashem, and Hashbonana, and Zechariah and Meshulim. And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people, and when he opened it all the people stood up, and Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands. They bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. And Jeshua and Bani and Sherebiah and Jaman and Akab and Shebethiah and Hodijah and Messielah and Kelita and Azariah and Jobaz and Hanan and Piliah and the Levites caused the people to understand the law, and the people stood in their places.

So they read in the book the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading. And Nehemiah, which is the Cheshatha, and Ezra the priest the priest and the scribe, and the Levites that taught the people, said unto the people, Today is holy unto the Lord your God. Mourn not nor weep, for all the people wept when they heard the words of the law. Then he said to them, Go your way, and eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared, for this day is holy unto the Lord. Neither be ye sorry, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. So the Levites stilled the people, saying, Hold your peace, for today is holy, neither be ye grieved.

And all the people went their way to eat and to drink, and to send portions, and to make great mirth, because they had understood the words that were declared unto them. And on the second day were gathered together chief of the fathers of the people, the priests and the Levites, and Ezra the scribe, even to understand the words of the law, and they found written in the law, which the Lord had commanded by Moses, that the children of Ish should dwell in booths in the feasts of the seventh month, and they that that they should publish and proclaim it in all their cities and in Jerusalem, saying, Go forth unto the mount, and fetch olive branches, and pine branches, and myrtle branches, and palm branches, and branches of thick trees to make booths, as it is written.

So the people went forth and brought them, and made themselves booths every one upon the roof of his house, and in the courts, and in the courts of the house of God, and in the street of the water gate, and in the street of the gate of Ephraim, and all the congregation that were come again out of the captivity, made booths and sat under the booths. For since the days of Joshua the son of none unto that day had not the children of Israel done so, and there was great gladness. And day by day, from the first day until the last day, they read in the book of the law of God, and they kept the feast seven days, and on the eighth day was a solemn assembly according to the manner.

1. Bring the Book: The Principle of Restoration

What we have here is a look at the restoration. This is going to be a restoring of the old Jewish law. The people had absented themselves from it. They had gone away after their own thoughts and ideas. They had done what they wanted to do, and as a result, the law of God had been forgotten. And so what we have in Nehemiah chapter 8 is the principle of restoration. It is the great revival. He get all the people together. It’s a beautiful scene to behold. And he gets to the beautiful pulpit that they made for the purpose, and he dispenses to them the laws of the restoration. And he bring he begins with one thing. He says, Bring the book. Bring the book. We’re going to talk about that.

Because what restoration is all about is bring the book. If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God. If any man minister, let him minister as of the ability that God supplieth, that in all things God may be glorified. Please take note of the fact, ladies and gentlemen, that he says we are here to please God, not ourselves. We’re here to bring the book and speak out of the book. If we speak the oracles of God, God is glorified. And no matter what we do, it needs to have the approval of God. And so restoration is introduced to us in chapter 8 of the book of Nehemiah. To restore something is to bring it back to its original condition. My friend Brent Lewis is in the audience tonight.

2. Restoration Is to Bring Something Back

His wife is an antique person. I don’t mean she’s antique, but she collects antiques. Don’t you tell her I said that, Brent. Anyway, when she gets those antiques, many times she can restore those to their original look. She can take all that’s needful to rub off all the stuff that’s been added to it and all of the things that have been changed and restore it to its original, its original uh place. Now, for our purposes then, restoration is to restore to bring something back. Let me see if I can get it a little bit close at home. Since we’ve got this day, which is Super Bowl Day, those of you that have those little things in your ears, I know what you’re doing. I want you to suppose for a moment, this may be hard for you.

I want you to suppose for a moment that time passes, maybe a hundred years or so, and for some reason or other, NFL football is forgotten. Nobody knows anything about it. And another generation comes along, and another one comes along. And finally, your great-great-great-grandson is rummaging through some things in an old trunk in the attic of an old house, and he finds an NFL rule book. And he sits down after brushing off the dust off the top, and he sits down and he looks at the book and he says, This is interesting. And he reads some more and he reads some more and he says to himself, I’m about to restore this. I’m going to have a football team. So he found him twenty-two guys, eleven on one side.

He got him the pig skin and he inflated it and had it just exactly according to the rule book. And he brought the book and he looked at the hash marks and he marked those off and he marked them off a field of a hundred yards plus the end zones and he put up the goalposts and he on a given Saturday or a given Sunday, he got all these people together and they had a football game. And all of a sudden everybody is involved in it. They want to be a part of it. But the young fellow that’s playing said, look, the football is too big. My hands are too small. I want to bring the football down to a smaller size. Okay, we still have NFL football.

No, sir, not anymore. We’ve gone away from the book. Do you see the point of that? Another fellow comes along and says, ten yards is too much to try to gain and four downs. Let’s make it nine yards. And the first thing you know, you just destroy NFL football, and it starts with very small things. So I’m going to tell you what we have to do is get back to the book. We have to bring the book. And if you want to talk about anything that has to do with God, the key to restoration is very simple. Chapter 8, verse 1, they ask him to bring the book. Bring the book, the key to all restoration. No matter the enterprise, no matter the activity, no matter what somebody comes up with to do, bring the book and look at the book first.

3. Bring the Book on the Plan of Salvation

It pertains to the plan of salvation. If you want to know whether you have to be baptized to be saved, bring the book. What does it say about it? There are nine different cases of conversion in the book of Acts of Apostles. Bring the book and read it. I had a class with a young lady just this past week, and I said, We’re going to look at these nine cases. Here are nine cases of conversion. You go to the book. How did they do it in New Testament times? How did they do it with apostolic approval?