Join me this morning once again
in the book of Ezra. Old Testament book of Ezra. Ezra
chapter 5. Ezra chapter 5. We were looking at chapter 4
last week of the book of Ezra and I just want to share a little
bit in preview for today and that is This passage of scripture,
this book of Ezra is so much like we are in our walk. First of all, in Adam we were
free. In Adam we fell. And in Adam,
we became sinners by nature and sinners by practice and sinners
by choice. And there was not a hint of salvation
contained within us. Adam could do nothing to bring
himself out of the plight he was in. It took the grace of
God. God came down and did something
that was a picture of what he does spiritually, and that was
he covered Adam and Eve with a covering that was acceptable
to God. Now that covering can only be,
that's the only thing that God will accept, the covering that
we must have must be the righteousness of Christ, not ours. There is
no righteousness, there is no justification by the works of
the law. We can only be justified by God with the righteousness
of Christ. Now, when that happened, we find
the picture here in the book of Ezra that the children of
Israel get to go back to where they were. We have, in every
sense of the word, paradise restored. We have the issue taken care
of. So they're able to go back. We're
only able to come back and have true fellowship with God and
with Christ in the blood of Christ and in his righteousness. Well,
they get back here and they start to share with the people around
them the gospel. They did it by building a temple.
They laid the foundation and we find in the scripture that
there is no other foundation that can be laid than Jesus Christ. So they're declaring that to
the tribes around them, the folks around them. Now, I'm sure that
some of them just like today in religion, they don't have
any idea what they're doing, but in God's purpose, they're
doing exactly what he wants them to do and that is to lay the
true foundation. We noticed when we got to that
foundation, they had to put it right back where it was originally.
They couldn't adjust it. God is very meticulous on what
he has demanded of people. And we find that meticulous brought
out in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. It had to happen
exactly as it was recorded in the Old Testament. He must do
this in order to set his people free from sin. So they came back
and they started to lay the foundation. Now we noticed it was great big
blocks of stone. When we're dealing with the subject
of Christ, we're dealing with Almighty God. We're dealing with
His great glory, His great purpose of grace. We're dealing with
His majesty and His honor and we don't have words in our language
to explain this. We use words and we try the best
that we can to explain the glory and the honor and the praise
of God and His greatness, His sovereignty, His majesty, His
grace, and His mercy, and we fall great. greatly short, but
there is one that is able to take those words that are contained
in the word and our interest in it, the Holy Spirit is able
to take those to our heart and share with us, it's bigger than
you thought. It's grander than you ever thought
about it. Well, they're laying these great
big blocks, they're declaring the gospel in picture form, and
we have some folks come up and says, we want you to stop it
now. We're offended. We don't like
it. We have our religion over here,
and it's just like you have over here, and won't you let us help
you out?" Well, we find that the person that was in charge
knew exactly what was in their heart. Now, if they had come
over in their folding chairs and gathered up there and say,
we're going to see what's going on here. Let's take this into
consideration. Let's see what they're doing.
Let's ask some questions. Let's find out where can we fit
into this. But no, they came in and said,
we're going to help you. Well, I have a dear pastor friend
and I've used this illustration a number of times. He pastors
down in Houston, Texas and he had a guy come to church one
day and he says, ''Brother, I want to help you out.'' That brother
says, ''I don't want out.'' I don't want out. So, the guy
in charge says, ''We don't want out.'' So, they had letters written
back to the guy in charge way back over in Babylon. And they
said, you cease and desist declaring Christ right here. We're writing
a letter over here to the person in charge, and we want you to
stop until we get word back from him. And when we get word, you're
going to be stopping permanently. Well, I was just elated to find
out that's not the end of the story. Because as we go on in
here, not only did they send a letter, and there is a search
going on. When those folks that found fault
with them declaring Christ and Him crucified by the building
of that temple, by the building of the foundation and the walls,
when he got word of it, in the letter it said, these folks are
really rotten guys. If you look in history, you'll
find out that they have raised up against the kings time and
time again. So when they searched it out,
guess what? They were. They had raised up against the
kings. A friend of mine, he was visiting
with a friend of his, and he said, brother, in your church,
it's just filled with sinners. And my friend says, you got that
right. When a church is filled with
People that are just doing everything right. I want to find the place
where everybody is a sinner before God and redeemed by His blood. We're just nothing but saved
sinners. That's all it is. Sinners saved by grace. Nobody
that is saved by the grace of God will ever deny that they
are a sinner through and through. And we continue to sin in this
life and we will sin until we leave this life in death. But
God's mercy and grace has been given to his people, and he quickens
them in this life sometime. And they hear the gospel, and
they say, God, be merciful to me, a sinner, and that man went
home being justified. We just want to be justified
before God. Well, it's great as to find the
letter was, the command is, but you know what? In those days
and times, it took four minutes to get the word back. Four months to get a letter over
here to the king, and four months to get that letter back. Now,
if you're on mule or horse, it's not going to be quite that long,
but these folks walked four months from Babylon over here to Jerusalem
to start the work that God had ordained that they do. Preach
the gospel to every creature, and you're going to have people
raise up against it, and they did, and they're attempting to
stop the work. Well, we're very thankful as
we read here in Ezra chapter 5, We're going to skip over that. They are bad guys. The letter
has been sent. But while they're waiting, it
says in Ezra chapter 5, then the prophets. Now what does that
mean? Now I was, I grew up with, when
you find the word prophet, that's somebody that's telling the future,
and prophecy is telling what the future is. I found out that
the Bible, when it uses the word prophet, we could just put in
there the pastor, the preacher, The one called of God to declare
the word of God, that's the prophet. The prophecy is not telling the
future. Very little of that took place
in the Old Testament. We find that those prophets were
telling what God wanted his people to know. And it's going to raise
up a lot of praise to the people who know it, and it's going to
raise up, stop that, to the people that don't want to hear it. I
don't want to hear that anymore. And that just continues on. I
have been there. I know what it's like to have
someone tell me the gospel of Jesus Christ, and it's his blood
and his blood alone, and then have me go home and say, I cannot
stand him. I don't like what he's having
to say. Well, by the grace of God, when God regenerates his
people, they're going to say, thank God you sent somebody along
who knew something and preached that gospel in such a manner
that you brought it to my heart, you regenerated me. So then the
prophets had a guy, can you imagine going around all your life with
that name? But that prophet is just like
Norm, Mike, that was a common name
in that day and time. The prophet Haggai, the prophet
and Zechariah, the son of Ido, prophesied, declared, shared
with the Jews that were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of
the God of Israel, even unto them. What a hallelujah moment
came along when they had just been told to stop the work and
quit preaching Christ by building this temple and by laying the
foundation stones and building the wall up, that every part
of it declared something about the greatness of the salvation
that we have in Christ Jesus. What were they going to do when
they finished that temple? They were going to start offering
sacrifices that shared with the people and share as we look back
at it in time, the Son of God came only for one purpose and
that was to die. There must be a substitute to
take the place of the people. When we look over at the Passover
lamb, there was a life and death situation hanging in the balance. God had said everyone that did
not have the blood was going to have someone die in their
household. There is a life and death situation
here. And so he commands them to set
a lamb aside on the 10th day of the month and on the 14th
day of the month after you find out that it is without spot and
without blemish. They took that lamb and slew
it. and they took the blood and put
it on the doorpost. That night when the Lord passed
through the land when he saw the blood of a substitute, I will pass over them. If he
did not find blood, there was death in that household. Now,
when we look at that point blank, we find in every household in
Egypt, there was death. There was either the death of
the firstborn or there was a death of a substitute, but there must
be death. And if anybody is ever going
to end up before God and call Him our Father, which art in
heaven, and mean it from their soul, and be accepted in the
presence of God Almighty in the judgment, it must be by the blood
of a substitute, not ours, no one else's, and no animals can
do. So we desperately need the blood of Jesus Christ, which
cleanseth us from all sin. So they are in picture form,
they're building this temple, they're told to stop, and a preacher
comes along, oh no, two of them, and say, friends, don't stop. God is with you. You don't have
the letter in your hand yet. Just continue until you get that.
Let's read here. Then the prophet Haggai, the
prophet Zechariah, the son of Ido, prophesied unto the Jews
that were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel,
even unto them. They have the right message.
They have the right author of the message. Then rose up Zerubbabel,
and the son of Sheutel, and Jeshua, the son of Josedek. Now, these
two guys are the ones that said, if you don't have the God of
Israel as your savior, you can't help us. Get your chairs out
here and listen, but you can't help us. You don't have anything
to add. We don't want to add anything.
We want Christ and Christ alone. And you're wanting to add something
to it. You're wanting to add the law.
You're wanting to add ordinances. You're wanting to add all these
other things that cannot be because they cannot ever accentuate or
help the blood of Christ. We're preaching Christ and Christ
alone. You want to add something. You
can't help us. We don't want your mixture. I
was telling the men in the study this morning, there was an outstanding
story on PBS this last week about the fellow that got the Food
and Drug Administration started. The reason he did is it bothered
him how much additives was in the food at that day and time.
I cannot believe what people were adding to the food, formaldehyde. It helps meat stay firmer and borax. They were adding all kinds
of chemicals that were killing people and selling it. You know it took him 25 years
to get Congress to act on it and get something done about
25 years. Why? Too much money involved
in it. Now, I said that to say this,
God's people have been spending, since the day that Adam fell,
have been saying, we can't add anything to the gospel. And you
know why there is additives to the gospel throughout religion?
There's too much money. I've said this, what would happen
if tomorrow, 90 if every church in the land was ordered not to
pay their pastor a dime The next day there would be insurance
salesmen all over These folks are not doing it
per pay These folks are preaching the gospel because they love
God Almighty and have been called by Him to do this job. They go and then it says, those
were the guys that says you can't help us and Joshua the son of
Joshua that can begin to build the house of God which is at
Jerusalem and when with them were the prophets of God helping
them. My goodness, they were right
in the middle of this. They prophesied. They brought
the message of grace. They brought the message of God
to these people. And how does God's prophets help
the folks? What's the best way to help God's
folks when we preach in the gospel, when we're declaring God? I like
what we find in the book of the Proverbs. Happening just as we read in
Proverbs 21 1 the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord as
rivers of water He turneth it whether so ever he will You mean
the decision that's going to take place over there in Babylon
has already been decreed by Almighty God absolutely You're not in this alone You
have God the God of everlasting salvation The king's heart, that
king over there, Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, whoever it is. Every senator,
house of representative member, every mayor, every dog catcher,
every president, everybody. I've got their heart in my hands
and I turn it whither so ever I will. Who brought up the issue
to go down there and tell those folks to shut this down? God
stirred them up because we're gonna find out right now, just
as we find out during the times of the 12 disciples. We're gonna find out who's for
me and who's against me. Jesus said when 5,000 people
left, he said, will you also go away? And Peter jumped up
and said, where shall we go? You have the words of eternal
life. And there was one that always was counting the money.
And Jesus said, I have one here among you that has the purpose
to do what he's doing. But it would be better if he
had never been born. So we have the guys coming up
saying, we want to join you. We have the guys saying, no,
we're going to preach the gospel just like it is, and we're going
to continue preaching the gospel. Now, there have been times in
the history of the United States that gospel preachers have been
told to shut up. You know where they went? To
jail. They went to the burning post.
They went to the pillory. They went everywhere, but they
could not and would not. Now, those who did shut up, those
who didn't continue to preach, didn't have much to begin with
because those who knew something knew. The king's heart is in
the hands of the Lord and he turns it with us wherever he
wills. Malachi chapter 3 and verse 6, we're getting there
in our study in the book of Malachi. For I am the Lord, I change not. My goodness, I've had preachers
tell me that God changes his mind all the time. The Bible
tells me God said, I change not, therefore ye sons of Jacob are
not consumed. What a comfort it is for God
to put that right in his book and share with us as the prophet
comes along. I want you to know God is not
changing his mind. God has never changed his mind.
God is not going to change his mind. It's going to be the blood
of Christ or nothing from now and forever. Someone else said,
Isaiah said, can a woman forget her sucking child? I used to
think how is that possible that a mother could forget her sucking
child until my mother got Alzheimer's. Then I found out she didn't know
who I was. I was a stranger to her. I tried
to help her out of the street one time and she slapped me across
the face because she thought I was a stranger. I was. How
can that happen? It happens. But take counsel,
take comfort, that she should not have the compassion on the
son of her womb. Yea, they may forget, yet will
I not forget thee. That's what God's promise to
the church is. I will not forget you. It may
look like it, but I have not. My eye is upon you forever and
ever. We must have our beginning with
God. And as we heard in the Bible
class this morning, Genesis 1.1, in the beginning God, he must
be the first of all things. These wonderful things that the
prophet brought continue on, continue on. We heard read there
in the book of Acts chapter 5 this morning, those apostles said,
should we obey man or should we obey God? and they continued
to preach the gospel because that was more important. In the
book of Haggai, now, would you turn there with me to the book
of Haggai? It's a little book in the Old Testament, and I'm
going to have to look here for it. I was going to put the page
number so I could be really quick at it. But in the book of Haggai,
in chapter 1 verses 12, 13, and 14, This wonderful passage of
scripture with regards to our passage in Ezra chapter 5 is
found here about what the record is by one of the prophets that
came and preached to these folks. In Haggai chapter 1 verse 12,
the scriptures share this. Then Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel,
and Joshua the son of Josedek the high priest, with all the
remnant of the people. You know, that's the only folks
that went back. the remnant of the people. Now, that brings
up a point that the Apostle Paul brings up in the book of Romans.
There is a remnant and always has been and always will be somewhere
in this earth, somewhere a remnant according to the election of
grace. It's not because we got real smart one day, it is because
God showed mercy to us. It isn't because we read the
scripture and boy, I see the light, it's because he gives
us the light. So it goes on here in Haggai
chapter 1 verse 12. These folks, the high priests
and all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord
their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the Lord their
God had sent him, and the people did fear before the Lord. Boy,
the word of God was the encouragement that they needed. These that
were on the outside had said, stop building, quit preaching
Christ, and God sent them a prophet, a preacher, and he said, God
is with you keep going and here it says and as the Lord their
God had sent him and the people did fear before the Lord then
spake Haggai the Lord's messenger in the Lord's message unto the
people saying I am with you saith the Lord and there are a few
this is hallelujah And then the Lord stirred up the spirit of
Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit
of Joshua, the son of Josedek, the high priest, and the spirit
of all the remnant of the people. And they came and did the work
in the house of the Lord of Hosts their God. God stirred them up
to do the work. And we get to be the recipients
of that. We get to see it in action. We
get to see it over here in pictures. We get to the New Testament.
We see it from a spiritual standpoint, and we get to see it in the lives
of God's people. It's a tough day, but I shall
trust the Lord. Going back to the book
of Ezra, it tells us there that they began to build the walls
again. In Ezra chapter 5 and verse 3,
it says, at the same time came then Tadaniah, the governor on
this side of the river. Now, if you'll notice this, these
names have been changed from what we read in chapter 4. One
of two things had to happen. Number one, those that were there
got fired or they died. And now we have a group of people
that have been raised up, governor on this side of the river, and
Shethnaboz and I, and their companions, and said unto them, who hath
command you to build this house and to make up this wall? Then
said we unto them, after this manner, We are the names of the
men that make this building. But the eye of their God was
upon the elders of the Jews, that they could not cause them
to cease, till the matter came to Darius, And then they returned
answer by letter concerning this matter. What is being said here? We have a group of folks that
God has raised up that are a little bit more congenial than the folks
that were there. And they says, we'll wait on
the King's word about this. But did you notice what we read
there in verse 5? My goodness, to have the eye
of the Lord. the eye of the Lord, but the
eye of their God was upon the elders of the Jews. God was particularly
interested and had particularly purposed what was going on here
and he was going to continue the declaration of the gospel
in that place by those folks as they continue to demonstrate
There is a temple. It's in heaven, Christ Jesus.
Here's a picture of that temple. We have the foundation. It is
strong and powerful, and everybody that is attached to that foundation
has a true foundation. We have the walls going up which
is made up of all the people of God's grace and they glorify
God in every way. They trust Him with their whole
heart because they've been given the capacity to do that. They
trust Him with their salvation because they've been given the
capacity to do that. They trust in the blood and righteousness
of Christ alone because they have been given the capacity
to do that and it glorifies God and not themselves and not man. This salvation that God gives
and has given from the very beginning is a salvation that glorifies
God alone and we are just the recipients of it and yet we glorify
God for it. We thank God Almighty for the
blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ alone and for him in our
lives. Sometime coming along with the
gospel and allowing us to see him in his purity and in his
truth and not a negative thought about him. The only times I wish,
and I was straightened up on this by the scripture, I wish
I'd have been saved younger in life, but I found out as it was
to Paul. Would it please God? Would it
please God? He is in charge of all our salvation. The eyes of the Lord are upon
His people. We are encouraged in this passage
of scripture to hold fast to the Word of God, to hold fast
to the Almighty God, to trust Him on every side. In fact, prove
all things, hold fast that which is good. You know who's holding
fast? He is on us. I used to take my granddaughter
up to the park up here, and she'd want to swing on that trapeze
bar or whatever it was, and she couldn't hang on enough. You
know what I did? I put my hands over hers. Now, she could swing. She thought
she was doing it, and I knew who it was. Who's holding on
to us? Only God is holding on to us
and we'd fall into a heap immediately. Hold fast the form of sound words
which thou hast heard of me in faith and love which is in Christ
Jesus. See him then that you have a
great high priest. That is the key. Who is the high
priest of our life? Who's our high priest? If it's
a man, he's going to fail miserably. If it's God, he will not fail. Seeing then that we have a great
high priest that is passed into the heavens, what does that mean?
It means he has done exactly what he said he would do. I come
to this world for one purpose, and that was to lay down my life,
a ransom for many. He's passed into the heavens.
Once he gave his life, a ransom for many, and said, gave up the
ghost, it's finished. They took him off the cross.
You know what those who are in authority said? Is he so soon
dead? This isn't normal. This isn't
the way it happens. And because it was a high day
the next day, they went and did something to the two other thieves
that killed them. But this one is already gone.
They took him off. They wrapped him in clean linen.
They placed him in a borrowed tomb and closed the, rolled the
stone in front of it and they put it, the person in charge
says, now you make sure that you put my signet into that mortar
that holds that stone in place because I don't want anybody
bothering it. Make it as sure as you can. Well, he's entered into the heavens. What does that mean? He is raised
from the dead. He came out of that tomb victorious,
just as he said he would. And he has ascended back to the
Father, and now is seated down, sat down. All of the other high
priests, even those in the days of Ezra, never got to sit down
in their religious work. Now they went home and sat down
in their recliner, I'm sure. But when it came to their work,
it was never finished. But this work is finished, the
work of Christ. He sat down. He's entered into
the heavens. Jesus, the Son of God, let us
hold fast to our profession. Jesus, the Son of God. He is
God the Son, the Son of God. Having Jesus that is not the
Son of God, or having Jesus that is not God, is not the saving
Jesus. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son
of God. In the beginning was the Word,
the Word was with God, and the Word was God. There were new
governors that had come. The eyes of the Lord was with
them. And we find, turn with me if you would, back to the
book of 2 Chronicles. Second Chronicles. I don't want to insult anybody,
but I'd rather have the eyes of the Lord on me than some guardian
angel. I hear all about that. People
tell me about that. Well, I have the eyes of the
Lord is on the church. That's far more valuable. Over
here in the book of Second Chronicles. We read these words, 2 Chronicles
chapter 16. 2 Chronicles chapter 16 and beginning
with verse 7. 2 Chronicles chapter 16 and verse 7. And at that time, Hanani, the
seer, came to Asa, king of Judah, and said unto him, Because thou
hast relied on the king of Assyria, and not relied on the Lord thy
God. Now, if we put that into today's
vernacular, you've depended upon baptism. You've depended upon
the ordinances. You've depended upon a good life.
You've depended upon keeping the law. You've depended on something
else. You have not relied on the Lord
thy God. You took something else. It wasn't
enough. When we say that Christ is not
enough, we have slapped him in the face. He is all there is. Therefore is the host of the
king of Syria escaped out of thy hand. Were not the Ethiopians
and the Lubyans a huge host of very many chariots and horsemen?
He changes the subject just a little bit. Don't you remember when
these folks came up against you? Can you not remember when these? Yet because thou didst rely on
the Lord, he delivered them into thy hand. For the eyes of the
Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show Himself
strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward
Him. The eyes of the Lord run to and
fro on the behalf of those whose heart is perfect toward Him.
You know, in a natural state, I just say, uh-oh, I'm lost. Never had a perfect heart in
my life. It's beyond me. Can't get there from here. I've
been asked to jump over this. Nancy and I for a few miles on
our trip down to the Panama Canal, we were on the Pan American Highway.
And I've read about it, heard about it, I'm on it. I was talking
to a guy yesterday and he'd been on the Pan American Highway down
below Columbia and it stops right there and there are guards and
you cannot go any further. Why? Because there is a great
big place there they cannot fill up with rock yet. Now on the
other side you're okay but this great chasm you can't get across
it, you're stopped. I'm so thankful that that isn't
true with God. You run so far, so good, and
finally you come up and there's a guard saying, no further. This
God has promised that he will take all his people all the way. And those are those that have
their heart perfect upon him. How is that? How can that happen?
The new birth and the new birth alone allows us to have our heart
upon Christ. How does that happen? Because
the Holy Spirit indwells his people and he is in perfect fellowship
with the Father and the Son and votes on our behalf. Where's his righteousness? I
am, that's what the Lord says. Where did he keep the law? I
did it for him. What about all the other stuff
that God has demanded? I fulfilled it all. I am the
perfect substitute to impute my righteousness to this, my
church, my people, and they will continue to glorify me. And you
know what? Even when we have a down day,
His righteousness continues to be on glorious display. The eyes of the Lord are upon
the righteous. as we find in the Psalms. Well,
they went back, the eyes of the Lord was with them, and it reminds
me of a passage of scripture over in the book of Matthew chapter
16 and verse 18, where it says, thou art Peter. Now Peter means
a pebble. So he's not talking about him
being the head of the church. He's saying, Peter, you don't
qualify as good as you are, and you might even have some of the
same material in you, but you don't qualify to be the foundation
of the church. Thou art Peter, and upon this
rock, Peter, you're a rock. This rock is a rock like Gibraltar. The giant rock, the everlasting
rock, the rock is Christ. Upon this rock, I will build,
and I can just see the Lord saying, upon this rock, I will build
my church. And the promise is made, and
the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Even though they
raised their hand against you, and the letter's gone clear over
here to the king, four months away if you walk, Little quicker
if you ride your horse. But when he makes the decision,
it will come back and say, go ahead and build. You have the
decree from God. Continue, hold fast, go on. For the blood of Jesus Christ
which cleanses us from all sin, there will never be any impurity
in it. And you will continue and you
will end up, that song we sang this morning, when the time comes
to lay my head down, I'll wake up in your presence. And that's
a hallelujah moment. What does it mean that we'll
not fear death? My goodness, if you read anything about the
second death, that's to be feared. But the Bible teaches us that
we do not fear death if we have Christ, because he's been there
on our behalf. He's fulfilled it. So, continue
building. Demonstrate the work of grace
in your hearts. The king can't override you.
These folks can't override you. All those hangers-ons that want
to come in and take over, they can't override you because it's
the Lord's work. He will continue it on. We are
His workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which He
hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Glory to
Almighty God for all his good work. And those two guys that
came along says, folks, God got a message for you and that is
keep building. Nothing will overcome it. The
gates of hell will not prevail against the gospel. Brother Mark.