Brother Scott just made the statement, he said, I just scratched the
surface. Well, no, I think you reached
down and got the heart of it. Turn with me to the book of Ezra,
chapter 5, and then I'd ask him to read that passage of Scripture.
in Haggai. I want you to also turn to Haggai
like we did a couple of weeks ago, and right behind Haggai
is the book of Zechariah. And the reason that I want you
to look and hold your place there is because those two prophets
were the prophets that God sent during the time of the rebuilding
of the temple, references made to them, and we'll continue to
look as we're looking at, as we chapter 5, we'll flip-flop
back and forth, so just having you placed there will help us
to look at what the Lord has to say to us. as we read a passage of Scripture. What we are looking for in that
Scripture is the glory of Almighty God as that glory is revealed
in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the subject of
every passage and that is without debate because from His words
He said to the two on the road to Emmaus beginning with Moses
and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures
the things concerning Himself. So today We are assembled here
for the purpose to behold Him afresh as the Spirit of God reveals
Him to be. We look now in Ezra, the fifth
chapter. Now, as we begin to look in the
fifth chapter, one thing that I'd like to do is I'd like for
us to Look back at the 23rd and 24th verse of Ezra 4, and that
will bring us into the passage this morning. It says, Now when
the copy of King Artaxerxes' letter was read before Rehum
and Shemshi the scribe and their companions, they went up in haste
to Jerusalem unto the Jews and made them to cease by force and
power. Then ceased the work of the house
of God which is at Jerusalem, so it ceased under the second
year of the reign of Darius, king of Persia." Now, opposition
had come up to the Jews from the people of this land, and
the Scripture says that the people ceased the work. They were discouraged
in the work of the Lord. Now, the first thing that I would
like for us to look at, and this is getting into the fifth chapter,
but I want us to look at what happened in that fourth chapter. As I said, every Scripture is
concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Scripture says in that
24th verse, "...genth cease the work of the house of God which
is at Jerusalem." So it ceased under the second year of the
reign of Darius, king of Persia. Somebody says, how is Christ
in that? How does that 24th verse set
forth the person of the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, I'll tell
you this. Here's my first point. The misery. of forgetting Him, the work ceased. How is Christ in that? They forgot. That's how it is. He's there.
We behold Him in that last verse of the fourth chapter as forgetting
the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn with me. Hold your fingers. Stick a piece of paper or something
in. Turn with me to Deuteronomy 6.10. Chapter 6, verse 10. The Scripture says, And it shall
be, when the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land
which He sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob,
to give thee great and goodly cities which thou buildest not,
and houses full of all good things which thou fillest not, and wells
digged which thou diggest not, and vineyards and olive trees
which thou plantest not, then thou shalt have eaten and be
full. Then beware lest thou forget
the Lord which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt from
the house of bondage. Thou shalt fear the Lord thy
God, and serve Him, and shalt swear by His name. Ye shall not
go after other gods of the gods of the people, which are round
about you. For the Lord thy God is a jealous
God among you, lest the anger of the Lord thy God be kindled
against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth."
Now, the Scripture sets forth that God had warned the people.
He says, now beware, lest you come into the place that you
didn't establish, you didn't maintain. I gave it to you. I put you there. I brought you
there. Now, be careful lest you forget
the Lord. Now, I got thinking about that. Forget the Lord. He told them,
be careful. What is it to forget the Lord? Now, I know what I think. When
I think forget, I just, just nothing there. It's just not
there. What does God say it is to forget
the Lord? Turn with me to Isaiah 51. Isaiah chapter 51. I'm going
to show you what God says it is to forget Him. Be careful. Beware. The people, the Scripture
says in Ezra 4, had stopped. They ceased. They quit. Backed off. And the Lord told
him in Deuteronomy, be careful. You come into the land that I
gave you. God has put them in this place. Be careful that you
forget the Lord. Isaiah 51, verse 12 and 13, it
says, I, even I, am He that comforteth you. Who art thou that thou shouldest
be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which
shall be made of grass, and forgetest the Lord thy Maker, that hath
stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the
earth, and hath feared continually every day because of the fury
of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy." And where
is the fury of the oppressor? Now, the last part of verse 12
and the first part of verse 13 gives a description of what it
means to forget God. He says in that twelfth chapter,
He says, I am He that comforteth you, who art thou that thou shouldest
be afraid of a man that shall die, son of man which shall be
made of grass, and forgettest the Lord thy Maker. This is what
it is to forget God. God reveals forgetfulness to
be when we question His power. His ability to rule and to overrule
all things for His glory and our good. Forgetfulness is to
be afraid and to doubt His Word. That's what He says forgetfulness
is. We have an inheritance. Almighty God has promised that
we have an inheritance, and the inheritance of the saints. The
present inheritance that we have right here, the future inheritance,
is not the fruit of our own labor, but is the fruit of the labor
of Almighty God in His infinite mercy and grace in the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The work back in Ezra had ceased. The reason it ceased, God explained
it to be forgetfulness. And forgetfulness is when we
set our sight on the stuff around us and we doubt that Almighty
God is going to supply us. He says, Beware lest you forget. Sadly, what is usually the way
that we detect forgetfulness? How do we detect it? Well, often
it is prosperity. when we begin to set our heart
upon that which is around us." When we begin to look at those
things, back in Deuteronomy, he says, "...when thou shalt
have eaten and be full, then beware, lest you forget the Lord."
That Almighty God is the One that provides for you. Beware,
lest you forget. Proverbs, look at this, Proverbs
30. Proverbs 30, verses 8 and 9. The writer, Proverbs 30, verses
8 and 9, says, Remove far from me vanity and lies. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with food convenient
for me, lest I be fooled and deny thee, that means deny His
providence, not deny Him eternally. Lest I be full and I forget,
forget, and say, Who is the Lord? Or lest I be poor and steel and
take the name of my God in vain. Blessings easily gained are often
not valued And we are most sensible of those things that cost us
dearly, those things that are ours by pain. You are thankful
for those. In forgetting the Lord, that
word means the lack of attention or not obvious of. The sense is that when we are
beginning to look upon those things that are around us. We
are prone to forget the mercy and grace of Almighty God that
keeps us horribly. We must admit that there is in
all of us a forgetfulness of the providence of Almighty God.
Now, there's not a one of us in here that's not guilty. We're
all like that. Every one of us. Psalm 106. Psalm 106, verse 1 says, Praise ye the Lord,
O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good. For His mercy
endureth forever. Who can utter the mighty acts
of the Lord? And who can show forth all of
His praise? Blessed are they that keep judgment,
and He that doeth righteousness at all times. Remember Me, O
Lord, with the favor that Thou bearest unto Thy people. Visit
me with Thy salvation, that I may see the good of Thy chosen, that
I may rejoice in the gladness of Thy nation, that I may glory
with Thine inheritance." We have sinned with our fathers. We have
committed iniquity. We've done wickedly. Our fathers
understood not Thy wonders in Egypt. They remembered not the
multitude of Thy mercies, but provoked Him at the sea, even
at the Red Sea. Nevertheless, He saved them for
His name's sake, that He might make His power to be known. Had the Lord God raised up the
fathers of Judah back in Ezra? Had He raised them up out of
Babylon, Benjamin and the priests and the Levites and the others
to go up to build the house of the Lord? Had God Almighty, the
Scripture says back in Ezra, had God raised them up? He said
He did. What happened? Well, adversity
had come, people had come, Questioned them what they were doing. Adversity
had caused them to stop, to cease. Now listen, this is the nature
that is within every one of us. When things are going well, we
have that within us to forget the providence of Almighty God. Left to ourselves, we'll quit. and the cares of this world would
be our God if God did not keep them. We just read back in Psalms. He said, I brought you out. You questioned. You forgot. Nevertheless,
I kept you. I saved you. I brought you through.
I delivered you through the Red Sea. The Lord our God is a faithful
God, but God who will not leave us to ourselves to forsake Him
did for these people what they could not and would not do for
themselves. So the first point of my message
today in chapter 5 is going back to chapter 4 and saying this,
beware lest we forget. How is it that we forget? We forget by setting our sights
upon those things that are fading, temporal. That's what we do.
But the Lord in chapter 5 and verse 4, I said, did for them
what they couldn't do and wouldn't do for themselves. It says, after
the work had ceased in the house of God, then, verse 1, the prophets,
Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied unto
the Jews that were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the
God of Israel even unto them." Now, let me tell you what we
are often tempted to do. This is what we're all tempted
to do. Whenever we detect... Now, the first thing that I'm
going to establish is that there's not one person, especially starting
in this pulpit right here, there's not one person that is without
guilt in forgetting the Lord. We forget Him because He said
what you do is you look at those that can't do anything to you.
And you're fearful of them and you doubt Me. That's what you're
doing. That's forgetting the Lord, forgetting
His providence, His power, His glory. We always say, oh, I'll
never doubt the Lord. Yes, we do. Yes, we do. Every time we doubt that Almighty
God is going to keep us, we forget Him. That's exactly what we're
doing. And we're not without guilt.
We're guilty. But let me tell you what we're prone to do. Whenever
we're tempted to try to straighten out somebody, what we often do
is we're going to revert back to the laws to threaten them. Now, this is common practice. I hear it, and you hear it. This
is all of us. What we want to do is threaten
those that we think need straightening up, those that, in our opinion,
have wandered. Now listen, I'm going to tell
you this. We're guilty. Don't get me wrong. We're guilty. There's no doubt
about that. No one has ever, ever come to
that point to where they're without guilt, but truly, we need encouragement
to be brought back. How does God encourage us? Now, I know this. To be brought
back to faithfulness in Christ is not by the threats of the
law. Let me just read this to you. 2 Corinthians. I know I'm
having you turn a lot. Let me just read this to you.
2 Corinthians chapter Let's see, I'm sorry, I failed
to quote it to you. I didn't write down the chapter.
Here's what I was about to read. The letter killeth, but the Spirit
giveth life. The letter of the law killeth. You don't straighten up people.
God's sheep are not driven. They're led. They're directed
by the Spirit of God. You don't drive God's sheep.
by the law. We're guilty. We're guilty of
forgetfulness of our God. We forget. But the Lord was merciful
to do that which He did in chapter 5 and verse 1. The Lord was merciful
to a forgetful people to send His Word to them. He sent two
prophets to them. The Jews were made graciously
to see the evidence of their folly." Now, I'd asked Brother
Scott to read Haggai, so I won't go back and read Haggai chapter
1, verses 1 to 11. But that which he read set forth
exactly what the people had done. The Word of the Lord came to
the people. He said, you say, it's not time
to build. that the work of the Lord is
not as important as my stuff is. And I said a while ago, he
said he just scratched the surface. No, he didn't. That was the very
heart of what the Lord was saying here. He said, you build your
own homes. I do the same thing. Everything
that is important to me, that's first. That's the first thing. He said, you build your own places,
and he says, My place to waste." He says, you've sown much, you
bring in little. Why? Because I didn't bless it.
He said, you eat, but you don't ever have enough. You drink,
but you're not filled. You clothe, but there's none.
You earn wages, but you earn wages to put it into a bag with
holes. Almighty God is the one that blesses. This place in which
we are assembled is by the work the grace, the mercy of Almighty
God. This is it. As we come together,
as we assemble together, it's a blessing to be able to come
here and prayerfully praying for, considering, supporting
the work that Almighty God has raised up. The Lord said, consider
your ways. We're guilty. We're guilty. Don't say we're not guilty because
we are. Don't say we're not. But how
does God encourage His people? God's got a people. How does
He encourage them? It's not by the threats of the
law either. You do this or this is going
to happen. It's not by the threats that
God's in people. How does the Lord encourage His
people? How does He teach them? How are
we brought to be encouraged? Well, here's how it is. Back
in Ezra, the Lord Jesus Christ is remembered. The first point
is we've forgotten Him. We've looked to our stuff. That's
what we've done. We look to our stuff. We look
to our stuff first. But how is He encouraged? He
causes us to remember Him. The joy of the Lord Jesus Christ
is remembered. It's not the new heart filled
with praise toward Him when we behold His mercy. It's not through
the remembrance of our unfaithfulness that stirs our heart toward Him. Remembering my unfaithfulness
drives me down. I'm guilty. I'm guilty. I'm guilty. Marvin, you're guilty. I'm guilty. Marvin, you're things
first. I agree. I'm wrong. I'm wrong. I'm wrong. I'm wrong. I'm wrong. I'm wrong. But what will stir my heart toward
Him? The bringing me down is absolutely
necessary. Showing me what I am. But it
is the remembrance of His faithfulness to me. That's what encourages
me. Mercifully. The Lord shows man
his folly. Anybody that says they're not
guilty is a liar. You're a liar. Yes, you are. A bald-faced liar, and I am too. He disappoints our expectations
from this fading world. Anybody that has had any kind
of investments, if you've retired in the last few years, And you
had any type of investment in your company, and it was put
into any kind of an IRA or whatever else you wanted. And whatever
has been dictated by the stock market or anything like this,
let me ask you something. How well are you doing right
now? Now, you think about it. Almighty God is going to show
us the things of this world are fading. But you listen to me. Your sustenance and your maintenance
And being able to pay your bills is not dictated by the stock
market. I'm telling you, Almighty God
will never leave you. He'll never forsake you. His
people are never begging bread. We think in our minds, this is
what I think it's going to take for me to make it. He said, you've
forgotten me. Do you think He's going to leave
you to yourself? He disappoints our expectations. And He does
this to correct us in our wayward thinking. You might as well stop
for a minute and think, is that the right way to think? To depend? I'm going to make my own way,
and I'm going to sustain my own way, and I'm going to keep my
own way. Now just let me ask you something. Is that right?
Now just be honest about it. You say, well, no. But let me
ask you this. Do we do it? Yes. We must see
ourselves as rebels against God Almighty and in need of a Savior. But that which inflames the heart
with love toward Him is a view of the glorious substitute for
sinners, Christ and Him crucified. Turn with me now. I told you
to turn to Haggai and Zechariah. Turn there. Turn to Zechariah
right past it. Chapter 6. I'm going to, this
little portion, two verses right here. Here is the very heart
of the book of Zechariah. The scripture says, back in Ezra,
the people had ceased. Then the prophets Haggai and
Zechariah, the son, prophesied unto the Jews that were in Judah
and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel even unto them.
This is what it said. God sent them. They were discouraged.
They had forgotten. They had ceased. They had stopped.
They were down. And what did God do? He said,
for my namesake, for my namesake, for my namesake, I won't leave
you. He sent them two preachers. This
is what He did to encourage them. And here is the heart of what
this preacher said, Zechariah. Haggai told them, he said, this
is what we've done. This is what we've done. We're
guilty. Zechariah told them, he said, this is the solution
right here. Zechariah chapter 6 verse 12, And speak unto him,
saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Behold the
man whose name is the branch, and he shall grow up out of his
place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord. Now you think
about this. Here's the thing. God's people
That's His temple. I'm not talking about that piece
of cherry right there and that glass right there. I'm talking
about the spiritual temple, the temple of the living God. He
says, He, verse 12, shall build the temple of the Lord. Verse
13, even He shall build the temple of the Lord, He shall bear the
glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne, and he shall
be a priest upon his throne, and the counsel of peace shall
be between them both." Here is that which encourages the people
of God. We're forgetful. We set our sights
on things. How God told them, He said, this
is the Word of the Lord. He said, you've placed the Lord's
temple The spiritual temple. The body of Christ. He who is
the head of the body. He said, you forgot Him. This
is what we are. Sin is present with us. We war within ourselves. And
left to ourselves, we forget and cease. We'll stop. And set
our sights on that which is fading. And He says, you've put your
affections on everything else other than that. And what does
He do? Mercifully, He sends His Word. And He says, remember, remember,
He said, I am the vine. You're the branches. He is, and
that word branches, when it says you're the branches, what it
means is the bud. You're the bud. I think about that and I
think of the trunk, you know, and then everything else that
came off the trunk was the branch. No, no. He is the vine. He is all that supports. When
He says, I am the vine, I am the support. I'm the supporter. You're the bud that hangs on. That's it. He's the branch. Behold
the branch is what Zechariah said. They ceased. And Zechariah
says, Behold the branch, the root out of dry ground that shall
grow up by His own energy, by His own strength. He's the master
builder, the only builder of the temple, the church, the body
of the Lord Jesus Christ. See, this temple, it's a spiritual
house. That's what 1 Peter 2.5 says. A holy temple. That's what Ephesians
2.21 says. It's here that Almighty God makes
the discovery of Himself known to His people in His temple.
It's a spiritual, it's a mystical body. And the glory of God, is
a burden that is too great for anyone other than the branch. I don't have the ability, Carl,
to maintain the glory of Almighty God. You behold the branch. Look at the branch. You ceased.
You backed up. You forgot. This is what you
are. But mercy that won't leave you
to yourself. I'm going to have compassion
on you. I'm going to keep you. In spite of, and how are the
people of God encouraged as they behold the branch? All of the
blessings that hang upon the branch for our present and future
state from our Eternal Father. Here's the message that encourages
the believer, the one who sadly forgets. The Lord ceases. Back in Zechariah, I'll just
quote it for you, if you're there back in the In the twelfth verse
of Zechariah 6, he said he shall grow up out of his place, born
in a manger, rejected by men, crucified, buried, he grew up,
rose from the grave. Who is the one by whom we are
encouraged? It is the resurrected Lord. Who
is He? Here He is, exalted to the right
hand of the majesty on high. He shall, verse 12 and 13 say
in Zechariah 6, build the temple of the Lord. He shall build it.
The Lord is going to build His temple. He shall bear the glory. He shall sit and rule upon His
throne. He shall be a priest unto His
throne. Upon His throne. An enthroned
priest. King. And then that last part
of that 13 says the counsel of peace shall be between them both,"
back in Zechariah 6, verse 13. That is to say, as our High Priest,
He is between the immeasurably holy God and the redeemed sinner. He's the High Priest. Here's
the encouragement. Remember, He will not forsake
you. You that believe, He will not
leave you to yourself. The work ceases when we forget. We are prone to have that forgetfulness
and we question and doubt. He encourages by sending His
Word. Christ as the sinner's substitute. Christ as the sheep's representative. as the great high priest in eternal
surety. That's the sinner's hope of glory
and encouragement. And then the evidence of an encouraged
soul. What is it? Well, back in Ezra
chapter 5 verse 2, you remember that last part of the fourth
verse, Verse 1 of chapter 5 says God sent a preacher, two preachers.
And then in that second verse of chapter 5, it says, Then rose
up Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel in Jeshua, the son of Josedach,
and began to build the house of God which is at Jerusalem.
And with them were the prophets of God helping them. Truly, the
sheep hear His voice. And they follow Him. They're
encouraged by His Word. They're encouraged, not by threats
of the law and the whip of the law. The letter killeth. How
do you encourage? How do you encourage your children? How do you encourage them? I
understand. Whenever they're wrong, we discipline
them. I understand that. But listen, after you've disciplined
them, told them, we're disciplined. in the sense that God reminds
us of what we are. He tells us, He said, you ceased,
you forgot, you set your affections on these things that are perishing.
And you know, a believer says, that hurts. That hurts. Why? Because I'm guilty. Every
time I ever had to spank one of my kids, I'll guarantee you
ask any of them. And not one of them that said
they didn't deserve it. Yeah. I deserve that. What did I spank
them for? Disobedience. Only disobedience. Only disobedience. Mistake? No. Not a mistake. I made a mistake.
Spilled some milk or something like that. I mean, that's a mistake.
But disobedience. They knew. This is it. But after
I spanked them, I told you this before, I'd sit them on my knee,
hold them, love them, tell them, I'd say, I love you. I love you.
And I'm serious. I don't like to have to do that.
I don't like to do that. But the reason I do it is because
I love you. I love you. You're my child. I don't want
you to be disrespectful. I don't want people to have to
just shun when you come around them and stuff like that. I want
you to learn. You must learn. But you encourage them by telling
them of your love to them, and you love and affection for them.
But what's the evidence of when they got the message? I'm telling
you, I can remember. I don't think I ever had such
obedient children after I spanked them. Man, they just couldn't
do enough for me. What is it? Listen to David in
Psalm 40 verse 2. He said, He brought me up out
of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay and set my feet upon
a rock, and he established my goings." It's good. You've dealt well with them.
It's good, David said, that I've been afflicted. Verse 3 and 4
of Ezra 5 shows that the Jews continued to have opposition.
It says, at the same time came to them Katnai, governor of this
side of the river, and she tharbed Bosnai and their companions and
said unto them, Who hath commanded you to build this house and to
make up this wall? And then said we, that is, those
that just question them in verse 3. It's kind of hard to understand
right now, but later you'll understand it was those questioning the
Jews. It says, we said unto them after this manner, what are the
names of the men that make up this building? You see, God ordains,
allowing us to continue with opposition to prove His faithfulness. You're not going to go through
this world and not have opposition anymore. Just if you think that
there's nothing else that's going to come your way and going to
cause problems to come up, well, just forget that. It's not going
to happen. But what was the encouragement
of the Jews? Here's what was verse 5. It says,
"...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." You see, God Almighty was the
first cause. They were encouraged in the work. The Spirit of God encourages
God's people. He speaks to them life. How does
He do that? Through the remembrance of who
Christ is, the branch. Set forth Him. And God's people
are encouraged. That's how you encourage the
people. You preach to them. And tell them of the mercy and
grace of all... Not by whipping them. They're
wrong. There's no doubt about it. They're
wrong. But you encourage them by speaking concerning the branch. This is who He is. The Lord God
Almighty was the first cause of this work. And He had sent
these prophets to preach the Word that was sharper than any
two-edged sword. A Word that's quick and powerful. That Word that shall not return
unto Him void, but shall accomplish the purpose for which it was
sent. And then, verses 6, through 17,
really, when a copy of that letter was sent, the Jews revealed their
desire to follow after Him. And when asked in verses 9 and
10, who's in charge here? That's what it said. Verse 9
says, Then ask we those elders. See, what had happened is starting
in verse 6, they sent a letter, you know, to this king, and they
told the king. We went and questioned them.
The copy of the letter, verse 6, that Tatnai, governor of this
side of the river, and Shetharboznai and his companions, the Aphorthethites,
which were on this side of the river, sent unto Darius the king.
They sent a letter unto him wherein was written thus, Unto Darius
the king, all peace, be it known unto the king that we went into
this province of Judea to the house of the great God, which
is builded with great stones and timber is laid, and the walls
of this work goeth up fast, and prospereth in their hands. Then
ask we those elders, and say unto them, Thus, who commanded
you to build this house, and to make up these walls? And we
ask your names also to certify thee, or to report to you, that
we might write the names of the men that were the chief of them. When they ask, Who is in charge
here? It says, in thus, verse 11, they
returned us answers saying, We are the servants of the God of
heaven and earth, and build the house that was built these many
years ago, which a great king of Israel built, or built, and
set up. When we asked them, King, we
sent a letter to you. We went over and asked them,
Who is in charge here? What are you all doing? What's
going on here? Why are these walls? They said,
we're the servants of the God of heaven and earth. This is
not a human enterprise, but this is divine commission. We're not
here, as people disrespectfully speak, of just doing church. Well, we need to get in church.
What they mean is, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter where
we go as long as we get the kids in church. Want to have something
for the kids, you know? We need to get back and do church. Our personal names, they said,
has no relevance to this matter. When dealing with contentions
among the brethren at Corinth, Paul said unto them, he says,
For why one saith that I am of Paul, and another, I am of Apollos? Are ye not carnal? Who is Paul?
And who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed even as the
Lord gave to every man. I have planted a polished water,
but God gave the increase. I understand this. I enjoy listening
to different men preach. There's different ones. And just
because I enjoy it, there's some that just seems like the way
that they set it forth or the way that they... I don't know. But it's not to the exclusion
of this one that preaches the gospel also. Who are these men? Who are these men? Some men that
I so highly respect. It's God's right up there. But when it comes right down
to it, Paul says, who are we? Ministers of God. These men asked, they said, who's
in charge here? And they said, we're the servants.
A heart that is made sensible to Christ. seeks His glory, not
trying to build a name for Himself. Those that are made to remember
the Lord by His mercy and grace are those that God Almighty has
eternally loved. You see, they said, after our
fathers had provoked the God of heaven under wrath, He gave
them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. When they
asked them, they said, Who's in charge here? They said, We're
the servants of the Most High God. That's who we are. We're
the servants of God Himself. Our fathers provoked. What they
were saying is this, Our God is sovereign. Our God is omnipotent. He's a just God. Our fathers
provoked Him and sent Him into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the
king. He's a just God in all things. and he shall be exalted." Then
in verses 13 through 16, we behold a picture of salvation in type. I want you to look at this. They said in verse 12, after
our fathers had provoked the God of heaven unto wrath, He
gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, the Chaldean,
who destroyed this house and carried the people away into
Babylon. There's a picture. of man falling
in sin. That's what happened. Rebellion.
Rebellion. But it says, But in the first
year of Cyrus, the king of Babylon, the same king Cyrus made a decree
to build this house of God. Now, I'm going to tell you something.
Cyrus was not a believing king. Was not. But the wrath of man
is going to praise him. The scripture sets forth, in
the first year of Cyrus the king of Babylon, the same king Cyrus
made a decree to build this house of God. All authority is of God
and speaks of him who is the king. They said, our forefathers
fell because of rebellion and you and I have to. A king made
a decree that this house was going to be built and the mighty
king has to, God Almighty. God Himself decreed His temple,
eternal counsel from the foundation of the world, His decree, His
electing providential grace predestinated His decree. That's what they
say. This king made a decree. Our kings made a decree. It says
in verse 14, "...the vessels also of gold and silver of the
house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took out of the temple that was
in Jerusalem, brought them into the temple of Babylon. Those
did Cyrus the king take out of the temple of Babylon. They were
delivered unto one whose name was Shesh-bazar, whom he had
made governor." God Himself has decreed His people to be saved. And those two verses I just read
says that the temple's building was assisted by King Cyrus. Our king, the Lord Jesus Christ,
the great Joshua, the branch of God, needs no assistance in
the building of his spiritual temple. Zechariah 6.12 says he
shall grow up out of his place and shall build the temple of
the Lord. And then in verse 14 and 16 says that the work was
carried on by the officer that was appointed by King Cyrus. Verse 14, the part we just read,
it says, those, the middle part, did Cyrus the king take out the
temple of Babylon, and they were delivered unto one whose name
was Shesh-bazar, whom he had made governor. Look at verse
16, Then came the same Shesh-bazar, and laid the foundation of the
house of God which is in Jerusalem, And since that time, even until
now, has it been in building, and yet it is not finished. The
King had put into the hands of another the responsibility of
building this temple right here. Our God has too. He has put into
the hands of our mighty surety the representative of all the
sheep, the Lord Jesus Christ, the branch. He gave Him the responsibility. of redeeming the sheep, of living
for them before the law of Almighty God, dying for them, hanging
upon the cross, made to be sin for them, their substitute, sin
imputed to Him, made a curse for them. All things were laid
upon His hands. God the Father sent His only
begotten Son into this world to redeem His sheep. and to glorify
Him. And John 17 verse 4 says, the
Lord speaking, I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished
the work which thou gavest me to do. And then in conclusion,
we remember, we are but dust, creatures that are easily discouraged
and we fret. But secondly, the strength to
be maintained As Paul says, to finish the course, that's what
he said, I finished the course, not by his own power. To run
the race, not by his own power. To fight the good fight is not
found within ourselves. We must be kept, or we can't
keep ourselves. It is Christ in you, the hope
of glory. Without Him, we can do nothing.
But thirdly, by His grace and power, We do follow. These people
had ceased the work. They were discouraged. Without
him, they could do nothing. His mercy and grace encouraged
them, and so do we this morning. You know how we are encouraged?
From hearing of the branch. Well, I'll tell you this. Hopefully,
at this point, there's absolutely nothing that I've said, hopefully,
that gives you or me and ourselves any ounce of credit. Any ounce
of glory. I'm going to tell you something.
I'm telling you, we are desperately disrespectful toward Him. Desperately in ourselves. But the encouragement that we
have is that our great Joshua, the Lord Jesus Christ, the branch,
He's going to build His temple. He's going to bear the glory
of it. He's the one that sits on the throne. He is the intercessor. He's the great high priest between
Almighty God and the offending party. It's Him. It's Him. It's all of grace. It's all of
God's mercy that we kept. And in that day, that great day,
the Scripture says back in Revelation, we'll cast those crowns before
Him. I don't know what that is. Somebody
said, talk about crowns. I'll tell you this, Christ is
our crown. He is our crown. But in that
day, we'll say, Lord, you're worthy. You're worthy. Not me. Not me. But the evidence
that God's people have been encouraged, they maintain. They're kept by
the power of God. They do. They continue. They
don't stop. They endure to the end because
God has endured them, not themselves. Faithful is He that calleth you. who shall also do it." Not of
yourself. But you know I noticed something
in that last verse that I thought was very good, and I just want
to share it with you. It says, now, therefore, verse
17, if it seem good to the king, let there be search made in the
king's treasure house, which is there at Babylon, whether
it be so that a decree was made of Cyrus, the king to build this
house of God at Jerusalem, and let the King send His pleasure
to us concerning this matter." You know, when the Jews had some opposition, and the
Lord had distinctly set forth, and this is the way it is for
us today. We are all authority that is raised up. the mayor
of this city and the police officers, all authority is established
by Almighty God. And we are to obey the laws of
this land. It's not up to us whether or
not we... I mean, stop sign means stop sign to us, just like it
means to an unbeliever. We are to obey the laws of this
land. And these men right here, They
were not rebels. They weren't rebels against God.
And they know that submission to the authority that is raised
up is submission to God Himself. I can prove that. You know that.
That's Scripture that bears that out. They've been called into
question on this. They said, Who gave you the authority
to do this? And they told them just exactly
what happened. They said in that last verse, they said, Now, I'm
going to just tell you this. You go back and look. This is
what they said. You go back and look. And you
see if Cyrus didn't establish that we were to come and build
this temple. You look and see. We've had these
folks come here and they've had stuff to say and this, that and
the other. Now, you look it up and you'll see. And then you
tell us whatever your pleasure is. Now, let me tell you what
that is. That's meekness that bows to
Almighty God to turn the head of the king whether so ever he
will. That's what they were saying. You tell us what you think best.
That's what they said to the king. But in their heart, they
knew because of the message that had been sent to them by the
prophets Haggai and Zechariah. They were established in their
heart, our God is in heaven and he's going to do whatsoever he's
pleased to do. and whatsoever comes to pass,
that's what He determined was going to come to pass. And man
is not going to stop it. Now that's the confidence that
a believer has. They rest in Almighty God. They believe God.