New Birth by the Word

A teenager once left home to attend college like many young boys do. His worried mother gave him a Bible with his name and a verse on the fly leaf. He found college to be an endless series of parties.

And finally he had spent all his money and he pawned his Bible for some whiskey.

He did finally graduate. He became a doctor in a large hospital. One day he was treating a patient. The patient was dying. And he said, "Bring the big book. Bring my book." So somebody brought his book. And he died. And as William Mackey was looking through his possessions he found his Bible. It was the book.

He opened it and there on the fly leaf was his name and the verse.

He took the Bible to his office. There spent many hours. And when he left that office he had found God. The theme of the message this morning is from Nehemiah 8. You can turn to that.

What I didn't tell you was William Mackey was the writer of the song we just sang. That was the man we're talking about. That's how that song came to be written. And so the theme of the message this morning is the power of God's Word to revive.

The power of God's Word to revive and the title of the message will be New Birth by the Word. Now Nehemiah's task was complete. He had come to Jerusalem to have the wall rebuilt and the city secured and a safe place for God's people to dwell.

And the book could have ended there. That's where Nehemiah could have ended. That's basically what he set out to do. He accomplished it in an amazing way. But Nehemiah was not a person to forget his main purpose. You know there's some people that confuse means with ends.

They get so involved in the means they think that is the end. They build big church buildings. They establish programs. They get all the logistics right. They oil the machinery. Everything's wonderfully working mechanically. But Nehemiah did not forget.

He came to have a city for God. That was his purpose. He had a clear understanding of that purpose. And we leave him at the end of chapter 8 with a nation securely within its walls organized leadership established. Everything was there. It was poised to do its purpose to worship to be a nation to show to other nations what a nation looks like whose God is the Lord. That was the whole purpose and Nehemiah never forgot it. And many people in the logistics of the machinery and getting it running and keeping it running and maintaining the order and the programs and the whatever.

They forget to develop this real purpose that God has for their work. He was preparing a city for God. We don't have a city like that anymore but we have churches. And the Bible says the church is the habitation of God. And I'm always inspired by Hebrews chapter 12 where it says, "But you are come unto Mount Zion unto the city of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem to an innumerable company of angels to the general assembly and to the church of the firstborn." That's what you've come to this morning.

To the general assembly and the church of the firstborn which are written in heaven to God who is the judge of all and to the spirits of just men made perfect. So you can just transfer everything we're going to say about Nehemiah and have said about Nehemiah to this body right here.

We are here to demonstrate a nation of people. Peter said you're a chosen generation. A holy nation. A peculiar people. I missed something there. A priesthood royal priesthood. We're here to demonstrate that. That's a high and lofty calling.

And so we dare not get sidetracked. The goal of the congregation here this morning is to develop itself into a pristine it will never be perfect but that should be our pursuit. A pristine picture of a congregation where every person is passionately devoted to Jesus number one in his life and all the things that flow from that. That's what we're here for this morning.

And so that's what I'd like to challenge you with. The goal is a congregation of worshipers and I remind you what I don't want you to ever forget what that word worship means. It's the old English word worth ship. It's actually a contraction.

It has to do with values. That's what we're here for to get our values straight. To get the focus of our life the passion of our input into this congregation.

To make Christ the obvious priority in all aspects of life and I was listening carefully to the Sunday school lesson and I was saying Amen to everything that was being said. What comes out of our mouth. What people are going to hear excites us the most. What people are going to hear what we talk about the most. What people are going to see where we invest our time the most. Where people can look at our checkbook and see where the money went and look at the possessions we have. And they can say there's no question.

Every aspect of this person's life shows that his value is in this heavenly kingdom. And all these other things are just a means to an end and there's nothing in this person's life that has become an end in itself.

Now I said that's you can look at my life and I'm sure I have a long ways to go in some of these areas but that the Lord should see or people should see at least that that's our passion and that's what we're here for. OK.

So Jerusalem has been reconstructed. It's time for the people to be reinstructed. And this is really the whole goal that Nehemiah has had all along. It's obvious the rest of the book this this is the passion that he's been working toward. And so here is the outline.

New Birth by the Word number one. We have a new counselor.

8 verse 1.

We have a new comprehension.

8 verses 2 to 8.

We have a new comfort.

And finally we have a new.

Compliance.

8 11 to 18.

This is a wonderful chapter. So let's talk about the new counselor.

Nehemiah was a wise man. We've been seeing that all along. There's nothing in Nehemiah's work that was left to chance or was left to some kind of a spontaneous afterthought. Nehemiah was a man who carefully planned and he saw something here. He saw that his gift had been pretty well fulfilled.

And for the next stage it was somebody else who would do the job better than he would. And so he steps down. And Ezra takes the scene and that's what we're going to have here in a little for the next little bit in this message.

And Ezra no question was the man for the job. Fourteen years earlier he had come with his own group of people and his purpose was to be a teacher of the Word of God to be a teacher of the law of God. He was a priest. He was a scribe. He knew the law of God probably better than anybody else living at that time.

And not only that but he had a passion. It says Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord to another words understand it from stem to stern. It set his heart that he would understand that law the best he possibly could and then to do it and then to teach it.

This man had a passion like the Apostle Paul said of himself. He said I labored to exhaustion to present every man perfect in Christ. That was this man's passion. He had no other overriding passion. He made that trip from under Artaxerxes same trip that Nehemiah made and made sacrifices and had to plan and went through hardships and difficulties. His whole purpose was to establish this nation on the law of God.

His passion was to align people with the law of God which he obviously believed was reality. When you align your life with the law of God you're aligning it with reality. If in any part it deviates from what God himself has in mind and he's made it very clear both written and in Christ what he had in mind for life. And if you deviate in any part of it from in that respect you deviate from reality and the universe is not behind you.

I appreciate it when Brother Harvey said that God's grace is there when we're aligned with God. He pours all of his grace into that. He doesn't pour his grace into things that we do that he doesn't want to have done. That makes sense doesn't it. Why would God open up heaven and pour his grace into somebody who goes out and buys a Cadillac.

Why why would God get excited about that and say we've got to give him grace if God needs money he borrowed a lot and we're going to help him. No God's not going to do that.

Anyway. So this man was determined to teach the law of God. What is the law of God. Let me give you a definition. It's the perfect unchanging external authority about the universe. Now notice I said external. OK. Many people allow an internal voice. Now God wants to put his law in our hearts and if it's the law in our hearts that's speaking OK that's good. God does want to do that but people become very subjective and they well I feel this way I hear it on the phone all the time. Well I think God loves everybody. I think this will be OK because I know God loves everybody and I feel that this is God's will.

I hear it all the time. Notice I said it's the external unchanging perfect authority. How many of you have been to Gravity Hill over at Bedford.

Put your hands high. Is it just all right a couple of you have. That's really uncanny Harvey. I mean your car is coasting uphill. That's that's the impression you have. You go up there you put it out of gear and leave your foot off the brake and it goes uphill.

But if you get a level out and put it on that road it is actually downhill.

There's a place like that in England too they say there are a couple of places like that in the world where you have this crazy sensation. And that's the way it is with some people. They have this crazy sensation that they're following God. But he says look get the level out get the level out. There's a reason why the Bible repeatedly says don't be deceived.

When you go to Gravity Hill you're being deceived.

Unfortunately it doesn't matter which is whether your car goes uphill or not but you're being deceived. You are deceived. What you're perceiving is not real. And the Bible warns us over and over again that this can happen. That people can believe.

That they're right. And be completely out of out of sync with what God had in mind. So that's why it's his perfect unchanging external law. It's outside of us. Christ outside it's all outside of us and it judges these subjective things that go on in our hearts and we have to get this ruler out occasionally put it there. Because people do all kinds of crazy things with the law of God.

The law is mentioned someone counted it 121 times in the writings of Paul. For all the people want to use Paul to discredit law he mentions it 121 times and sometimes this way the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. There's a law. We live in a universe of laws and Jesus said if you if you mark somebody as a lawbreaker.

That person is really at the bottom of society. The Bible says in I think it's one of the prophets that the dregs of society is the false prophet. Not the murder not the adulterer. A murderer can of course tragically kill a few people that's terrible. But a false prophet can lead a whole church can lead a whole community can lead a whole nation to ruin.

And so Jesus was not on the side of lawbreaking. God isn't on the side of lawbreaking. There is any external established order.

And Ezra had set himself. To cover it. OK. Now he had a lot to cover because somebody has actually counted the commands in the Torah. I have it here somewhere 613 items. In the Torah. So if he was going to cover all the items in the Torah and we're not talking about the Mishnah and the what's the other one Talmud.

We're just talking about in the Torah they say there are 613 specific items for the Jewish people to have under their belt. So this is this man Ezra. And we should all be like Ezra learn as much as we possibly can about what God thinks what God has told us specifically how he wants us to apply it.

And if we do we'll be able to demonstrate this wonderful nation to the world. All right. Well the next thing I wanted to read this we're reading verses verse 1 just about Ezra I want you to see there at the end of chapter 73 the whole nation was poised to worship he had them already look it says so the priests and the Levites and the porters and the singers these are the religious leaders.

And some of the people and the Nethanim they would have been the Levite probably the Levites and all Israel dwelled in their cities and when the seventh month came the children of Israel were in their cities. OK. And then we have and all the people gathered themselves together as one man into 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 now we're going to look at a new comprehension.

These people had been in Babylon. They didn't have personal copies of the Bible. The synagogue was established to try to there's one thing the Jewish people learned in captivity and that is they were cured of idolatry and they also had the idea that they had got to finally get the law of God in their hearts so they set up the synagogue schools so they could teach the law so these people had some knowledge of the law but they didn't have it to read like you and I have they didn't have just good access to it. And so some of them were hearing it for the first time.

Let's keep reading and Ezra the priest they they these people gathered at the water gate that that gate was near the Gihon spring which was the water supply for for Jerusalem that was right outside the gate. I don't know what symbolism there's involved but the water we do equate washing of the water by the Word Jesus said now you're clean through the Word which I've spoken unto you. There's just a beautiful symbolism here as to where this actually happened but these people all gathered it says all of them. They had by the way had come back from captivity for this very purpose and so you did have a special group of people had a special interest in getting this right.

And so they all gathered at the water gate it says all many many times in this chapter it says all and they beg Ezra to bring the law of God they want to get this right. And so there they all are. Let's keep reading and Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men and women and all that could hear it with understanding.

So I don't know probably teenagers I don't know how far down it went 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.

That was probably five or six hours.

Would you have sat through that. We're going to find they didn't sit sit they were standing. Now I'm assuming we're not told everything I'm assuming maybe they were took a break every now and then I don't know how they did it but from from the morning until noon he was just reading. OK. Let's keep going.

So he was reading before the men and the women and those who could understand and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law. I mean they really did want to get it right.

I hope that's the way it is here this morning. I hope we all have ears for everything that was done in this service the songs the Sunday school we want to get it right. And Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood which they had made for the purpose and beside him stood and I'm not going to read all those names there are 13 names listed there and Ezra opened the book of the 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 people answered Amen Amen with the lifting up of their hands and then they're down on their faces.

And they said Amen Amen with the lifting up of their hands and they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their worship the Lord with their faces to the ground and there again we have 13 more names.

They caused the people to understand the law and the people stood in their place so they read in the book of the law of God distinctly and gave the sense and caused them to understand the reading that word understand is found six times in this passage.

So I want to talk about a new comprehension. This was the first day of the seventh month this is the Jewish New Year. This was a good time to make a new beginning it was a New Year there were by the way that month which is this month their their their first beginning of the year is here in September. So this would have been on September the first and there were three feasts in this month there was this feast of trumpets. OK.

And they're announcing the New Year and apparently that was taking place at the same time this other these other things were taking place they were announcing a New Year a new beginning with a new focus. OK. And then on the 10th day you have the Day of Atonement.

And then on the 15th day you have the beginning of the feast of tabernacles which lasted a week. So you're going to find that they probably celebrated all three in this chapter. So it was the Jewish New Year. It begins that New Year by the way it's not September the first it's September the 22nd. At an evening that's when the New Year begins for the Jewish people.

So here was a city I think that was yearning for a new beginning they knew what had happened they knew why it happened and they had a pretty clear idea of what needed to happen. And so here they are all gathering a spontaneous gathering didn't say Nehemiah made them come it didn't say anybody was forced to be there nobody was threatened.

Spontaneously it's a New Year and somehow they all felt we need to go down to the water gate all of us together we're going to make a new start here for this city. And we're going to make a new start by asking Ezra to come and read the law which we have neglected in the past with horrible consequences we want to hear what God had to say what got neglected.

And now they had built a platform for him it says he was above the people I don't know how symbolic that was. But it seemed like it well first of all so he could be seen by this huge group and secondly so the Word of God would be up here and they were down here you know if you visit churches in Europe.

And I did a little research on this you'll see they actually the place where the preacher preaches is a platform is a little cubicle a little pulpit high above the congregation there are steps to go up to it. And they say the reason for that is because they wanted people to have a visible concept that the Word of God is above everything and everybody.

Because it's way higher than what it have to be for people to see the man so I guess that's the reason. Well we can laugh at that but that's that's you can appreciate what that might represent. OK. So they begged him to bring the book. And they had people there ready to help them with understanding now these people while they were in Babylon had had taken on the lingua franca of the Mesopotamian world which was Aramaic.

And they probably knew some Hebrew but it it their Hebrew had gotten really rusty. And so here they are first of all they don't have personal copies this is all unfamiliar to that much of an unfamiliar and it's being it's being read to them in a language they only dimly understood. And so they had people to go throughout. Standing throughout this crowd.

And the way I pictured is Ezra would read a portion and then they would huddle in their little groups and these 13 men would tell the little group that he was there with what that meant. Actually tell tell them what the Scripture said.

And I think probably gave them some application and whatever they wanted to make sure that these people never again violated God's law so they were giving them a clear sense of what God's law said. OK.

Well. They believed that they would hear God's very words. Did you come this morning with a concept you were actually going to hear not John Dee's words you were going to hear when we read this book these are God's words. I didn't mean they were word for word English that's not what I meant I meant we are actually hearing from this this is not a human text.

This is a text where God is actually speaking to us. And these people had a tremendous reverence it says they were attentive they stood up. They bowed to the ground they lifted up their hands in every way they could with their body demonstrated that they had a tremendous respect for God and they had a platform that had the reader above the people.

Do we see the Bible that way. That's verse in Hebrews is verse 12 is something else let us labor therefore to enter into that rest let us any man fall after the same example of unbelief for the Word of God is quick. Powerful. Sharper than any two edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit.

What's that mean. Well you hear people talk about the soulish part of us. That's the part that we would maybe call the flesh. The the part that is our humanity. And our humanity confuses the spiritual things pretty badly if we're not careful and the Word of God is able to go.

That music is soulish that music is godly. That thing that you bought is worldly that thing that you bought is a good means to the the end that God wants you to have it for just constantly if we let it. But there's a lot of confusion when people do not let this word speak and his word is sharp it's quick it it does the job completely it divides between that soulish part and that spiritual part if you're careful to use it the way it's supposed to be used.

It divides between the soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow. And as a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart you might be lying to yourself but the Word will tell you what you really think neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight but all things are naked and opened unto the hymns unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

Hmm.

Somebody has said.

You read the law but if you read it carefully it reads you. It reads you. And you should stick with it until it does that. Otherwise you're just going through the motions but you should read the law until it reads you till it says something in your heart that says there's a dividing place that should be in your life that isn't the way it's supposed to be.

So they had these teachers to help them hear intelligently and apply it realistically and in the way God intended. Now there is no greater vocation than that when I was studying this I thought now what would a man want to do in his life that would be more important than getting people to understand what God is saying to them so that they can line their life up with reality and enjoy all the resources of heaven and a life that does what it's supposed to do.

That's a tremendous vocation if anybody's here trying to decide what you're going to do with your life to be a teacher to be a preacher to be an instructor of the Gospel. There is no higher calling I think it was William McKinley when his mother was asked what do you think your son was elected to be President of the United States I think it was McKinley's mother that said oh I'm so disappointed I was hoping to be a preacher and now he's just the President of this country.

We smile because that's not the way people think that's we don't even tend to think that way.

This is a tremendous I just want to encourage this morning being Ezra bury yourself in this book try to learn every detail you possibly can of what God thinks about every subject make that your life purpose and then cultivate the ability then to explain that to other people so they can get their lives in line this is a tremendous vocation.

Tremendous vocation. To help people line their life with God's law with reality. All right verse three so what effect did this all have well let's read verses 9 and 10. It says and Nehemiah.

Which is the Tershethah and Ezra the priest the scribe and the Levites that taught the people said unto the people this day is holy unto the Lord your God more not neither weep for all the people wept when they heard the words of the law.

So it convicted them. And they started weeping.

Their first response was like Isaiah's he saw the Lord high and lifted up and it says his train filled the temple. Now the train is the hem of somebody's garment they had always thought that God's presence was all contained in that temple. Oh it was just just just the tip of his garment that's all they saw in the temple and Isaiah was able to see who he really was.

And the most holy man in Israel when he saw that was on his face saying woe is me I'm undone I'm a man of unclean lips. But my eyes have seen the Lord of glory. And that's the response these people had they started weeping they saw the discrepancy between the beauty of God the beauty of his law and the ugliness of the way they were proceeding through life.

Now we need the law for the consciousness of sin. I shall never forget Lord Hartzler was preaching at Chambersburg Mennonite Church a series of revival meetings I won't tell you the subject that he was preaching on that evening.

And he preached a wonderful sermon. And after the service a sister headed back the aisle just weeping and she said I see I'm going to change I'm going to be what that man said I'm going to pursue what he taught.

That's what the Word of God can do if we let it and she did she was a worldly person who completely changed her life as a result of that sermon.

Then what happens. Well they're saying when there's repentance then you shouldn't keep on mourning because repentance puts you right with God it puts you in line aligns you again with the universe. You should be rejoicing you should be filled with joy.

Now we need this law. Because the Bible says and it's the New Testament that says because of the law is the consciousness of sin. And the tendency is to rationalize our behavior I have people calling me all the time saying I don't need Jesus I know what's right I know how to love people I know how to be kind I know.

And I said you're underestimating something. You're going to do it according to what you think and if there's any part of your life that doesn't quite match what you think it should you will quickly adjust your thinking to make your life mat to make your thinking match what you want to do.

You know I've never had a person argue with me. When I explain that they all know that's what we tend to do. And that's why we need to come back over and over again what did Jesus actually say about money. Because you see we've rationalized that whole thing we've said we can amass huge amounts of money if and that if is a huge theological rationalization.

But what did Jesus say what did he actually say. What did Jesus actually say about many subjects. That people have rationalized I mean divorce remarriage surely God did not mean for a man to live singly because he got involved in. So we have a theology. Surely God didn't mean don't swear oaths I mean that'd be stupid to go into court and say you don't swear oaths.

So we have a theology. Surely God did not mean we shouldn't get even with people who do us wrong I mean they need to be taught a lesson. So we have a theology called a just war. Surely God did not mean I should not accumulate wealth how in the world would you live if you didn't accumulate Apollo stuff to retire on and be ready for any emergency.

So we have a theology. You can understand why I tell people I'm not a theologian now we all have a theology is what we believe about God and I do have a theology I'm talking about systematic theology that tries somehow to read between the lines of what God has actually said.

I don't believe in it. I fight against it all the time. My tendency and I do have a tremendous tendency to rationalize I can do it just as well as any person other person I have to fight it all the time because this flesh wants to do certain things that God has said the opposite.

So we've become accustomed to the dark. You go into a restaurant they have almost no lights and first of all you can't quite see anything and then after a while sure enough you get used to the dark. But if somebody comes in and flips on a light you immediately see that you really weren't seeing everything.

We just have a tendency both physically and spiritually to get used to the dark and we need something to expose God's perfect unchanging external law.

So they said this day of repentance is a holy day. Did you ever think about that the day of repentance is a holy day and on holy days we celebrate.

It should be accompanied with joy. The same word that wounds somebody said is also the word that heals. David knew that he said the statutes of the Lord are right rejoicing the heart. Most people when they think about law they think of some negative David said no he says my your statutes have been my songs in the day of my pilgrimage I sang the law I go down the road singing how much I love the speed limit I mean I. I said that on purpose I don't usually do that.

But David loved those those curbs that kept him where he was supposed to be and put him right in the center of God's he loved it he rejoiced in it it was his rejoicing. I rejoice at thy word as one that findeth great spoil I'm quoting David now so you're you're plowing along in your field and all of a sudden you hear a scrape on something metal and you dig and here's an old chest of of gold coins of somebody buried and it's worth an untold amount of money. He said that's that's how I find your word I go along and oh.

There I found a chest of gold.

It's like a digger unexpectedly finding a chest of gold. All of Psalm 119 the longest book in the Bible is a celebration of God's law. OK.

So it's not enough just to read the word. You have to involve yourself with the word and allow its work in your life to the point where it causes you to rejoice.

OK.

David says his delight is in the law of the Lord in his law he meditates day and night. Do you delight in God's word. Or would you rather. Have food rather than God's word David says I I I I delight in God's word more than my necessary food.

Do you delight in God's law more than sleep or do you tend to sleep in and forget your devotion or you know what that type of thing. Is the law of God more important to you than getting that little bit more sleep.

What about wealth. Do you delight in God's law more than you do delight in how much fun it is to make money. God will delight in you. If you delight in him that's the tenor of of the Old Testament law.

Now.

They had so much joy we were talking about can you keep from sharing it. They said look the joy of the Lord is your strength I looked up that word strength that means you're a secure place to abide.

The joy of the Lord is is your place of safety it's your place of fortification it's it's your place where you will be strong the drug against anything that comes against you the joy of the Lord is your strength and they said now go out and spread it take gifts to the people around and let people know about this joy and it's wonderful got law that you just found and how excited you are about God's let let let everybody around you know that take gifts take food take just tell everybody and they did that.

And they got so excited. That verse 13 says on the second day they came to hear more.

That's where we have the new compliance. So now they want to get specific they've heard a lot of things about the law and so now they come they come to Ezra and they answer in the priest and they say we we we found something written in the law we want to do this.

Well what they had found was the Feast of Tabernacles living in booths. Now there might have been some people that said well that's not a salvation issue.

I mean what does living in booths on our rooftop have to do with getting ourselves in line with the universe and I can see sand ballot saying wow. Those people build a lousy wall but they don't even know how to build houses look at those shacks all over the city what's this all about.

Stupid. What I'm trying to bring out is these people said if God says it no matter what sand ballot says no matter how it looks to anybody we are going to do it. There is no such thing as something that is not a salvation issue.

The most insignificant thing that God has required is there for this whole salvaging process to put us in line with his will and we don't always understand but don't ever say that to me this is not a salvation issue now most people who say that mean it won't keep you from going to heaven when you die.

That's all they have in mind anyways just to be selfishly focused on getting to heaven so I can get to heaven without doing this I know God said it but so it's not a salvation issue. You know I don't think there's anything God hates worse than that.

What a way to talk about what God requires and what a way to evaluate what's important and what isn't. If God says it even if it's building shacks on your roofs that looks stupid to everybody looking on it makes maybe not a whole lot of sense to you you do it you do what God says.

And it's interesting the chief of the fathers were involved here you had the the heads of the nation involved. I want to say something about faith and works here.

I learned this from R.C. Sproul believe it or not I was listening to one of his messages recently and I thought now he hit that one on the head. He says we are saved by faith alone. But God is the only person who sees in here and he saves you the minute he knows that's true faith.

But only he sees it. James says by works that faith is vindicated it's demonstrated that it's real that's the part that people see I like that. You are saved the minute God knows that there's faith being implanted in your heart nobody's seen it you may have no evidence whatsoever when it happens but God sees it and that's what saves you.

But then that faith has to be vindicated God looks in the man a heart man looks on the outward appearance. And so I really like that. And we have many many warnings not to be deceived I appreciate it answer says we need to get the whole man redeemed not just his in his mind or his heart or whatever.

It was a day of holiness a day of wholeness I've said it many times it's a little bit difficult if you study the word to get the difference between holiness. And wholeness which means health. Those words essentially mean the same thing I think the Hebrew word is Halak which means health.

I'm trying to get you to understand the wonderful wonderful gift that God has given to us by his law. OK and I'm talking now basically about the law in Christ Jesus.

Let's see where do we go from here. Now new compliance if God says build booths brother we're going to build them. We'll build booths. And they were happier than ever look at what it says at verse 7 and there was a very great gladness.

This is an amazing chapter.

Well those booths did a number of things for them one is it reminded them of the privation and the deprivation that they experienced when they were in the wilderness they were living in very very unideal situations. And so and now here we are in this land of promise.

And that God brought us this far. That was a tremendous reminder to them. The other thing it was a reminder to them is they may be living in Jerusalem but it's only temporary. There's a Messianic age coming. And it reminded them to keep their focus on that Messianic age to be pilgrims not to not to settle down in Jerusalem and make make a comfortable little nest for themselves.

That eighth day was a high day that's interesting to me you know they talk so much about the seventh day the people who want to emphasize seventh day Sabbath you can go to the Old Testament you can find at the end of many of those feasts the highest part of the feast was the eighth day and that's the case here.

OK.

Day by day from the first day until the last day he read from the book of the law of God and the cape kept the feast seven days and on the eighth day was a solemn assembly according to the manner.

Well.

Have you strayed from God's law. Is there something that you know that you have done a theology on. And you build a nice little detour around what Jesus actually has said or God has actually said. I'm calling you this morning to respond like these people responded to say I don't understand at all. I don't understand why I have to build these the shack on my roof.

But if this is what God says then that's where his grace is going to be and that's where I want to be. One bright Sunday morning in the 18th century London. Happy people were hurrying to church. Robert Robinson.

Was among the crowd but he was a lonely man. He had once been an effective preacher a fiery passionate evangelist. But he had wandered into Unitarianism doubting the deity of Christ and he'd become a very very lonely unhappy man.

A carriage pulled up. And he stepped into the carriage to go to his destination and then there was a lady and she was reading this song come thou fount of every blessing tune my heart to sing the praise streams of mercy never cease all she was saying what for a wonderful song this was she said I wish I could meet that Robert Robert Robinson who wrote this song.

He said lady. I am the unhappy author of that song. And I would give a thousand worlds if I had them to give if I could ever reclaim the happiness I felt when I wrote those lines. She said well you said later in the song. That you wanted God to bind your heart like a fetter you can ask God to do that now.

And the story is a little bit conflicting as to how that story ends most people say that he actually did that and came back to God as a result of his awakening to that reality some others say he did not so I can't say for sure what happened to Robert Robinson but if you're here this morning and you realize that in some areas of your life you have played the theological game I just plead with you there's no happier place than the place where these people were no matter how insignificant or how ridiculous maybe even it might seem it would be to do exactly what God said.

I would like to sing as a closing number 669 and that's what we'll sing it the way you want it to be sung because we're going to sing it the way Robert Robinson sang it. Any comment. I just was so inspired to get my life in line with God's law and teach everybody that I could buttonhole to listen so that they can get aligned with the universe as well. OK anybody.