Join me in the book of Ezra this
morning. The book of Ezra. The gospel
according to Ezra. I would like to read the last
three verses of chapter two, and then read the first few verses
of chapter three. Ezra chapter two, beginning with
verse 68. And some of the chief of the
fathers, when they came to the house of the Lord, which is at
Jerusalem, offered freely for the house of God to set it up
in his place. And we commented on that passage
in a message about the just shall live by faith. This temple is
destroyed. There is nothing there. And yet
they come, and in their mind, they're able to see it. just
as God's people are able to see the Lord Jesus Christ without
ever seeing him in the flesh. So by faith, God gives us the
ability to see things spiritual. And they gave after their ability
unto the treasure of the work three score and 1,000 drams of
gold and 5,000 pounds of silver and 100 priest garments. Most of that had been supplied
by the king of Babylon. He was supplying the needs of
these folks as they went back to rebuild the temple and to
rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. So the priests, and the Levites,
and some of the people, and the singers, and the porters, and
the Nethyems dwelt in their cities, and all Israel in their cities. It appears that they left Babylon
the first month of the year and arrived here on the fifth month
of the year. It took about four months for
them to travel those many miles on foot. We're traveling with
children and elderly and the approximate 900 miles took them
four months to travel. Chapter three, verse one, and
when the seventh month was come and the children of Israel were
in the cities, The people gathered themselves together as one man
to Jerusalem. So we have two months later,
after they've arrived, they gather themselves as one person. There's a great assembly of those
that had traveled that far. And then stood up Jeshua, the
son of Josedek, and his brethren, the priests, and Zerubbabel,
the son of Shealtiel, and his brethren, and builded the altar
of God of Israel to offer burnt offerings thereon, as it is written
in the Law of Moses, the man of God. And they set the altar
upon his bases, for fear was upon them because of the people
of those countries. And they offered burnt offerings
thereon unto the Lord, even burnt offerings morning and evening.
They kept also the Feast of Tabernacles, as it is written and offered
the daily burnt offerings by number according to the custom
as the duty of every day required. Now I realize there's a semicolon
there, but we're going to stop there and we'll pick that up
at a later time. As we mentioned, there's been
about a two month interim between the time that they arrived from
Babylon to Jerusalem to the time that this feast of tabernacles
is going to take place. There is something that must
take place before they can celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles, and
that is mentioned there in verse 2, when they built the altar. It says there that these, Josedec,
Jeshua the son of Josedec and his brethren, the priest, he
seems to have been the head of the Levitical house that returned
from Babylon captivity. Remember there were a few of
the Levites that were taken and a few of those Levites returned,
but by and large the group that went into Babylonian captivity
was the tribe of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin, but they have
those priests with them. Some of the folks that came back
thought they were priests, but they found out they could not
prove it, but we have this one. Now this word, Joshua, is another
form of the word Joshua, or the name Joshua. And it says, and
builded the altar of the God of Israel. Now I would ask you
to give me instructions on to build that altar from that verse
of scripture. And we find we can't do it. We
do find that the altar that Solomon instructed to have built was
20 cubits by 20 cubits and 10 cubits high. Whether it was that
size or not, we cannot tell from the scriptures, but we do know
this. They built it an altar. Zerub, Joshua, and, and Joshadech and the group of
them built this altar and they brought it to the place. The
first we find these folks that return from Babylon is to declare
their need of a substitute. Why build an altar if they did
not realize that they have a desperate need of a substitute? That is
what Abel did. He shows us that he has a desperate
need of a substitute and that substitute was pictured by a
lamb without blemish and without spot. We move all the way through
the scriptures and up to the book of Leviticus and how many
times in the book of Leviticus and the book of Numbers it shares
with us that those offerings were to be without blemish and
without spot and we come over to the New Testament and the
Lord Jesus Christ is identified as a lamb without blemish and
without spot. They are showing us in this picture
form that they have a need of a substitute. My friends, everybody
has the need of a substitute when it comes to dealing with
sin. We're unable to do it on our
own. We can't take care of it. It won't be long, a month and
a little more, and there'll be people making their New Year's
resolutions, and it's been proven that they don't last long. We
can't even take care of that. So we need a substitute. And
as it was written in the book of the Law of Moses, the man
of God. Now, all of these sacrifices
declare that someone that is innocent taking the punishment
of the guilty. All of these sacrifices were
preaching before the coming of Jesus Christ. that are coming,
that he was without blemish and without spot, and he promised
to lay down his life a ransom for many. All verses of the Bible
are interesting, but I find from time to time that a passage of
scripture jumps out from the page, and that is found in verse
3. Verse 3 tells us that they set
the altar upon his bases. They set the altar upon his bases. They built a new altar and set
it upon the foundation of the old one, making it exactly conform
to the base that was there. This was done to indicate that
what they were now must conform with what they had when they
left Jerusalem. They left all of this formality
that was going on, but when those that were brought back, and those
that were brought back were the ones who wanted to come, God
had moved in them to have an interest to go back to Jerusalem
and there rebuild the temple and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
Not everybody left. Many were interested in just
staying because they were in a productive job, they had things
going their way, and it wasn't in their interest to go, but
those who went back had this interest to fulfill this. Now
when they come back, I cannot imagine the heaps. that were
there of the destruction of the temple and the destruction of
the walls of Jerusalem. It had been besieged for a long,
long time by the king of Babylon, and it finally gave up. They
gave up. They were out of food. They were
out of water. They finally gave up. Many of them were not taken
because they were not worth anything. But those were taken off. They
stayed there 70 years. at the fulfillment of those 70
years they're brought back to Jerusalem and they're paid to
travel back as we found here. The first thing that we find
them doing is locating something that had been only a memory to
some and new news to others. And that was the altar that had
been used for the sacrifices before the temple had bases,
and those bases must be uncovered, and the new altar must set on
those. All that we find here, they must
set on the exact same bases of the original altar that the first
temple that was built under Solomon's direction upon the old site discovered
in all those ruins. As they went through, there probably
was some that remember, well, it was on this side of the temple.
Some could remember, well, it was over here. And some would
probably say that still remained over in Babylon, what does it
matter if you're sincere? where it sits. Well, it makes
a great bit of difference where it is. All air religious begins
with it doesn't matter what is written as long as you're sincere
and most is based on the wrong view of the substitute, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Would you turn with me to the
book of Matthew chapter six? Matthew chapter 6 and verse 33,
we find a wonderful passage of scripture in that great sermon
on the mount that the Lord Jesus gave to his disciples and we
are privy to it. We are as if we're on the mount
with him when we read these words. He's instructing us. The disciples
of the Lord Jesus. He's instructing us in our day
and by faith we can be there in his great congregation. And
in Matthew 6 and verse 33, the scriptures tell us this, but
seek ye first. Now let's think about these people
going around the temple. Does it really matter where we
put this altar? In fact, does it really matter
what we use on the altar? Does it really matter whether
we have an altar at all? Well, in the scriptures, God
said there must be an altar, and there must be a sacrifice,
and it must demonstrate a substitute. So it does matter where this
altar goes. It must go right back where the
old one was. And what does that mean to us?
If we've ever lost track of the beauties of Jesus, the only way
to start over is to go back right where we left. We cannot start
somewhere else. We've got to go back to the place
where we left it. And that's what God does for
us when he gives us the Lord Jesus Christ in the new birth.
He takes us right back to where we left him. in Adam. He brings us to the very basis,
the very basics, the very place where we lost him in Adam and
where we would run from him at a voice. I don't want to hear
that. I'm very pleased with what I'm doing in religion and I'm
making progress. And here we find they sought
it out, they uncluttered it, they cleaned it up, and they
found the basis to that old altar. the very basis of where things
started, where the best was, and that is where the substitute
was brought before the people, and they went back there. Here
we find in the book of Matthew chapter 6, but seek ye first
the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Now we can say, well, what's
that mean? There's only one that is God's righteousness, and his
name is the Lord, our righteousness, identified as the Lord Jesus
Christ. So seek ye first. Find that place. Don't look for it in religion.
Don't look for it in self works. Don't look for it in any place.
But go right back to the very basics. Right back to where it
began. Right back to where we heard
mentioned in that prayer and what Jonah mentioned. Salvation
is of the Lord. Go back to there. He's the substitute. But seek ye first the kingdom
of God, and his righteousness, and all these other things will
be added unto you. We cannot count. There is no
end to the number of things that the Lord blesses us with in salvation. He said, all spiritual blessings
are held in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. His righteousness
is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn with me, if you
would, go to the book of 1 Timothy chapter 2. First Timothy chapter
two. This has become one of those
touchstone verses of scripture that I love to go to because
it just sets it in order. There was one place for this
altar, and even though it was going to take some time to unclutter
it, to move the stones, the debris that had gathered, it took some
time maybe to find it. But here we find in this passage
of scripture the book of 1st Timothy chapter 2 and verse 5
for there is one God and one mediator there is one place for
this altar and that is in the Lord Jesus Christ there is one
God and one mediator there's not multiple places to put this
altar There's not multiple substitutes. There's not multiple priests.
There's not multiple this or multiple of that. There is only
one place, and that is in the person Christ Jesus. There is
one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. He is identified as the only
place that we can go and have someone as a substitute for all
that we are in desperately need of. For there is one mediator. One, there is one place, one
place for the altar, and that is on the original basis that
was there as Solomon had it built. Wonderful picture of the Lord
Jesus Christ Solomon is in that place. He built the temple, and
this is where the substitute would be born. This is where
the altar would be and this is where all the burnt offerings
would take place. In the book of Colossians, backing
up just a little bit to the book of Colossians chapter 1 verse
18, we have this wonderful statement made with regard to the Lord
Jesus that in all things He might have the preeminence. That just
takes us back. There's one place where this
altar can go. It must be at a prominent place. It must have the preeminence
here. And it is a picture of the substitutionary death of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And it has all preeminence. There is not one bit of room
for one thread of our works in this God's great act of mediatorial
work, substitutionary work, and that's in his son. Here in Colossians
chapter 1 and verse 18, and he is the head of the body of the
church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
that in all things he might have the most important spot ever,
that he might be looked at by the church as in a high and lifted
up position, that he is the Lord God Almighty, that in all things
he might have the preeminence, the significance of locating
the original bases for the altar. We must always begin at that
point. We must always come back to that
point. If we've ever found ourselves off in some error, we have to
come back to that point. We can't drop our anchor there.
We need to come back to the point where the bases are, where the
Lord instructed these priests and these servants of the Most
High God, when they built that altar and began to offer sacrifices,
that it was not in just some place, it was in the right place. We must come, we can only pray
at the right place. We can only serve at the right
place. And so the significance, we must
always come to this point. We must keep this base as the
main thing. We must always keep the issue,
the issue. Where is your sacrifice? Where is your mediator? Where is your only atonement. We need to go back right to the
Lord Jesus Christ on every one of these issues. We cannot, we
cannot even have one foot of that altar off one of the bases.
It must all be there. We must always keep the issue
of the issue, even if it, it must, we must remove some of
our own issues, some of our own debris. No, one of the, most
serious times of my life was to find out that my religion
was worth absolutely nothing before God. It put me in the
greatest depression I've ever been in. What came next? Someone coming with the best
news you could ever hear, that all my sin was paid double. Great news. Desperate situation
I was trying to worship at another base I was satisfied with the
works my works of righteousness But this one the Lord Jesus pointed
me to none other than the Lord Jesus Would you turn with me
over to the book of Psalms? 11 Psalm 11 Look at this verse
of scripture with me Psalm 11 it is most important that the
that instead of inventing, that the old bases are found. We need
to go back. What do we do when we bring the
gospel somewhere? We start with the God of the
Bible. We start with the good news that
Jesus Christ is the Savior. We start with these things. We
don't start off in some left field place. We don't even try
to get a decision. We don't try to get them baptized.
We don't try to get them to sign a card. We don't try them to
get to come forward. We don't do any of that because
none of that works. We need to go to the base. We
need to go to the sacrifice. We need to go to the altar. We
need to go to the one who is able to save us to the uttermost. So all these things that have
been brought in, And we think, well, they've been brought in
for the last 200 years. No, they've been brought in for
at least 6,000. When that guy brought watermelons, that guy brought the fruit of
his hands. Whatever that was, he grew a garden. He's attempting
to move the base from where it belongs. A sacrifice, I need a mediator,
and I need a substitute. That's what his brother brought.
He says, I don't need that. I can move the base over here.
Well, we find here in the book of Psalms 11, Psalm 11, there
in verse 3. Just think about this. Now, it's
not going to happen, but just think about it. Psalm 11 and
verse 3. It says, if the foundations be
destroyed. Now, I like that word if. If the foundations be destroyed,
what's the next line? What can the righteous do? If this is not on the right place,
if this altar was not put on the correct basis, if the type
and the shadow and the picture are incorrect, or moved from
its original intent, if the foundations be destroyed, if everything that
the gospel stands for, if Jesus Christ the Savior is removed,
if His sovereignty is dealt with and moved away, if God having
a people before the foundation of the world is put aside, What
can the righteous do? There is nothing that we can
do, that we have no hope whatsoever if this altar is not on the base
that was set in the council halls of eternity before the foundation
of the world. That Jesus Christ would be the
mediator of his people, and he would be the substitute for his
people, and he would be the sacrifice for his people, and he'd be the
lamb for his people, and he'd be the altar for his people if
we move any of that off. What are we going to do? If God
should regard iniquity, what are we going to do? And so, he
has taken care of it. Over in the book of Proverbs,
Proverbs chapter 22, there is a verse here that has to do with
property rights. When they divided up, Canaan
among the people, there was distinct marks put out for property rights. It might have been between this
point and that point, but they knew where their property rights
were. I used to take a lot of kids from the high school down
to a, well, let's see, I called it a safety award meeting. It was down to the donut shop.
Now they thought they were getting a good deal. They had to even
buy their own doughnuts. But we'd go a certain amount
of time in the woodshop without an incident. We went for safety
awards. You know what the number one
thing I had to instruct those kids to do? Stay off of people's
yards. Use the sidewalk. Well, right here in the middle
of Proverbs chapter 22, Well, it's towards the end, excuse
me, verse 28. Remove not. Don't play with. Don't pull up
and move over. Don't give any inch. Don't let
anyone play with the old landmark. Now, what does that mean to us?
Give an inch on God's sovereignty. Don't give an inch on God's elective
grace. Don't give an inch that everything
that happened to Jesus Christ on that cross was purpose from
the foundation of the world. He was not caught in a mystery. He was absolutely designed to
do what happened and permitted himself and purposed himself
to do it. Why? So he could really answer
the meaning of his name. They shall call his name Jesus
for he shall save his people from their sins. Look at this
property, remove not the ancient landmark which thy fathers have
set." I was at a family reunion one
time and I came around to where some cooking was going on and
I had two sisters that had taken my oldest daughter aside and
said, what does your dad believe? What does your dad believe? I
stepped in the middle of it and I says, if you want to know what
I believe, you ask me. And they started talking about
me being a hard shell, a Calvinist. And I said, both of you know
a little bit about the history of America. All you have to do
is go back 150 years, and you'll find that the people who were
preaching the gospel were holding exactly the same things I'm talking
to you about. And they had to admit it's true.
They're the ones that have moved the altar, not God's people. They're the ones that have raised
up another altar. They've raised up another Jesus.
They've raised up another sacrifice. They've raised up something else.
But God's people have gone back to the altar. right there on
the basis that was set up before the foundation of the world.
Don't remove the ancient landmark. Leave it alone. Don't try to
pry it up. Don't move it over. Don't say,
well, I agree with most of what's said in the Bible. God says agree
with everything that's said in the Bible. I remember just recently
reading about a king and one of his Great scribes found a
scroll, and the scroll was the book of Jeremiah. And he brought
it in and read it before the king. And the king, it's the
only place in the Bible where you find the word pin knife.
The king would take that scroll of Jeremiah, and his scribe would
read part of it to him, and he'd take his pin knife and cut that
scroll, and guess what? There was a warming fire right
there. He threw it in the fire. That's what so many people want
to do with the Word of God. There's another king found in
the scripture. His scribe found the scroll of the Word of God,
and he brought it and read it to him. And you know what happened
to him? He wept and tore his clothes. He says, oh, God, be
merciful to us. We have been so out of kilter
with you. We don't have the altar in the
right place. We've moved it. Have mercy on
us. And then a few chapters later,
he's calling for everyone to come to Jerusalem and participate
in the Passover. Free food, free drinks, and nobody wanted to come. Nevertheless,
a few of Zebulun and Naphtali humbled themselves and came.
They were moved upon. If the foundation be destroyed,
what can the righteous do? Remove not the ancient landmarks.
In the Song of Solomon, it talks about the church that has a boundary
around it. It's a garden enclosed. It's probably as a picture of
somewhat was in England when the hedgerows were there. They
build them on the properties, you couldn't get a rabbit through
them. Well, the garden, a garden enclosed is my sister. We read
in the Song of Solomon chapter four. This is sharing with us
the relationship between Christ and his church. It's just like
my brother and sister, and then goes on to say my spouse. I'm
going to marry. A spring shut up. A fountain sealed, very protected
is the church. And the church has had an assault
against it since the very beginning to move these boundary points. Accept us just a little bit. Accept our beliefs just a little
bit. Accept our thoughts just a little
bit. The Lord said, I've got a boundary around that and it's
on the basis that I have established in Christ before the foundation
of the world and don't you dare move them. Don't give in to all
the cries of the world. You're not fair. How many times
have you told kids, life isn't fair? The assault was made in the scriptures.
God is not fair. Guess what? God is sovereign. He's not fair because we don't
agree with Him. That He would save one is beyond
measure. That He would save one, that
one person from that atonement, one person from that sacrifice,
one person from that substitutionary death, one person is saved. What
glory God will get from that? But there's a multitude out of
every kindred nation people in tongue that will be able to say,
I came to the very base. I came to the altar. It's not
up here. I remember, come up to the altar.
You look around and where is that? Christ is our altar. Christ is our invitation. Christ
is our substitute. Christ is our hope. Christ is
all in all. He is everything. And when we
begin to add, we've moved the altar off of the footing and
begin to make it a non-sacrifice. In the 2nd Timothy, this just
goes right along with that passage over in Proverbs, 2nd Timothy
chapter 2, we think about those basis All the trouble that had
happened those 70 years that they'd been gone. Is it a miracle
if someone hadn't come along and dug up those bases? I don't know how many places
I've heard about that were of real historic value and they
were torn down because they needed the brick for doing something
else. Here, in all this rubble, 70
years of rubble, 70 years of being in and out, all these folks
coming in and going out, picking up everything. Here, when it came time for them
to establish the altar again, by cleaning up some debris, they
found exactly where it was set and set it right there. In the book of 2 Timothy chapter
2, 2 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 19,
these should, nevertheless, all of
the assault, all of the trouble, everybody's saying, you know,
that is such old theology. We've progressed beyond that.
Nevertheless, Second Timothy chapter 2 and verse 19, nevertheless,
the foundation of God standeth sure. Having this seal, the Lord knoweth
them that are his. Let everyone that nameth the
name of Christ depart from iniquity. Did you notice back there? Maybe
we didn't even read it. Would you go back with me to
the book of Ezra chapter 3? Verse three, all of this is going
on. Ezra chapter three, verse three,
all of this is going on. The setting up of this altar,
they put it on its bases. I like it, it says on his bases.
That's what we have here. Verse three, and they set the
altar upon his bases, for fear was upon them because of the
people of those countries. You know, they did this in great
peril. They did this in troublous times. They did this when it
wasn't popular. They did this when other people
said, you know, you don't have to do that. We've got these altars
over here. It wasn't very long after the
separation of the two tribes from the 10 tribes that one of
the kings says, You know, if we let them go down to Jerusalem
to that altar, then they'll say, we want to join them. But if
we built an altar up here in Dan and one down in Beersheba,
and we say, this is where you go, and they put a cow, a golden
cow up there, guess what? Those people were happy with
it. How? And we say, how sad, how natural.
Unless the Lord touch our heart, we'll be just as happy worshiping
at a golden calf as we will at the real place. It was fear was
upon them because of the people of the countries. Yet it remains
that the bases remain the same. Eternal Godhead, eternal purpose,
eternal gospel never has changed. I went to a Sunday school class
in college, and that lady that was teaching the class said,
in the Old Testament, they were saved by those things, and in
the New Testament, they're saved by Jesus. I didn't know a thing,
but I never went back to that Sunday school class because that
was wrong. God didn't change his purpose. He hasn't changed
his plan. He doesn't have salvation in
the Old Testament and the New Testament different. Salvation
in the days of Jonah was salvation is of the Lord. Same today, eternal
salvation. God has an eternal salvation
based upon his eternal lamb, his eternal altar, his eternal
sacrifice, his eternal substitution, the Lord Jesus Christ. So how
long it took for them to clean up the mess up, and how long
it took for them to finally set that altar at the right place. And they're sharing with us.
Don't go anywhere else. Don't give in to all the pressure
the world has to offer. The salvation is of the Lord. That's where it is. Nowhere else. You'll not find peace anywhere
else. It may last for a second, a day, a month, a year, but eventually
it will wear off and we'll have to find somewhere else to go
to the circus. But this one, this Lord Jesus
Christ, this altar, this substitute, this sacrifice. He said he would
lay down his ransom for many. It is complete and total and
is a peace that passes all understanding. I get to go back to the base.