May it please Almighty God to
bless us together this morning as we meditate in His Word. Let
us turn to the book of Ezra, chapter 8, and we'll read verse
31. Ezra, chapter 8, and reading
verse 31. Then we departed from the river
of Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month to go unto Jerusalem. And the hand of our God was upon
us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy, and of
such as lay in wait by the way. It is really very wonderful to
be able to read of God's grace and mercy and favor to the children
of Israel. And especially as we consider
how they were very stubborn and stiff-necked and they would not
listen to the words of the prophets that came to them. And they continued
in their evil way. And the Lord has spoken through
the prophets that they would be taken captive and they would
go down into Babylon and they would be there for 70 years. But it would seem that the words
of the prophets just seemed to them as idle tales and they ignored
them. And really, we live in a day
when things have not changed. We don't of course live in the
East but we're conscious that we as a nation and we as individuals
depart from the Word of God and we don't get any better. We get
worse and we get worse. And yet we find that God is still
very gracious. We still find that God does not
deal with us as our sins deserve. We have not been cut off. The
Bible has a word for it as cumbers of the ground, things of no value,
just want to be got rid of. But the Lord is very gracious
and surely he's very gracious to us as individuals. You know,
as we look at our lives, I wonder if we look carefully
to see whether our lives bring forth honour and glory to our
God or whether we spend our time just trying to satisfy ourselves
and please ourselves rather than realise we have a great God who
is to be honoured. and to be glorified. Well, Israel
or Judah, and more especially, turned their back upon God. They
would not listen. And so it came to pass, God's
judgments. You see, God is a holy God. And God is a just God. And God doesn't speak and then
ignore what he said. And he does bring to pass those
judgments that he set before us individually and as the Church
of God. Well, the Lord was able and did
great things for Israel. And may that encourage us today
to know that we still have a God who can do great things. And
it's really amazing, I think, to read, as we can in the first
chapter of Ezra, how that there was this King of Babylon Cyrus. Cyrus, who tells us that God
spoke to him and told him that the Israelites should return
to Jerusalem and should rebuild the temple. And he was all for
it, and in actual fact supported it, in actual fact supplied materials
for it, and also gave all the items which have been taken away
from the temple and from Jerusalem those 70 years ago, an amazing
truth to read. And it should encourage us to
realise that with God all things are possible. We tend to limit
God. We tend to think the Lord will
not hear our prayers. We tend to think that we will
not see better days. Well, God was very gracious to
Israel and never deserved it. And yet, you see, He was and
He is faithful. And we should remember that and
praise Him for it. And so we know that Israel were
blessed, they did come back to Jerusalem. And this account that
we read here in Ezra was not the original time when they returned,
but the second time when there was a group of them brought back.
And we should just think that when Ezra prayed to God, it wasn't
just a little journey around the corner. In actual fact, it
was four months they had to journey from Babylon to come back to
Jerusalem. We can understand, I hope then,
why he prayed to God like this, that the hand of their God would
be upon us. And they would be delivered from
the hand of the enemy and as such as lay in wait by the way. And when we think of all the
wealth that they took with them, all the silver and all the gold,
there was a need to be watched over. But Ezra was blessed with
faith to believe. that God would hear and answer
his prayer. And it's good to read in the
32nd verse. And we came to Jerusalem. The Lord was faithful. My friends,
God is still faithful today. Now, I believe we can take this
deliverance in two ways, really. First of all, there is the the
physical deliverance in our natural lives, and then there is the
spiritual deliverance in our spiritual lives. And both are,
of course, important. Sometimes we tend to seem to
give more value to the things in our natural life deliverance
from natural difficulties and natural problems than we are
with regard to our spiritual lives but the reality is of course
that what we need is God to deliver us from all the power of Satan
the evil one who goes about indeed seeking whom he may devour the
apostle Peter in his epistle he tells us about this and it's
just good to remind ourselves and in the first epistle of Peter
and the fifth chapter he tells us well let me just start at
verse 6 because it's good instruction humble yourselves therefore under
the mighty hand of God that's a good word of instruction to
humble ourselves, every one of us under the mighty hand of God
to realise that God is a mighty God and therefore to realise
He controls all things and it says humble yourselves therefore
under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due
time. The Lord knows what he will do
with you and me. We're just, as it were, insignificant
creatures on this earth. But what a blessing, my friends,
if the Lord will exalt us, not for our glory, but for the glory
of God himself. And then he tells us, casting
all your care upon him, Not one or two things, but casting all
our care upon Him. Again, that's for everything
in our natural life and everything in our spiritual life. Casting
all your care upon Him, believing this great and glorious truth,
for He careth for you. Just ponder that and think, this
Almighty God cares for unworthy sinners, cares for those who
don't deserve any mercy, don't deserve any favour. Perhaps we've
turned our back upon God days without number. Perhaps we've
gone our own way, pleased ourselves days without number. Well how
wonderful it is if God cares for us. Very humbling, isn't
it? Be sober. Be vigilant because
your adversary, the devil, our adversary, the devil, he is our
adversary. He is our enemy. Don't think it's of no consequence. The devil is an adversary. And he goes about as a roaring
lion, walking about, seeking whom he may devour. My friends, the devil's aim is
to devour us. The devil's aim is to separate
us from the things of God. The devil's aim is to cause us
not to desire to bow down and humble ourselves before Almighty
God. The devil's desire is to try
and make us feel that we're important and that we should expect God
to therefore do those things which we want him to do, rather
than to submit ourselves to the will of God. And so the apostle
then gives us this gracious advice. whom resist, steadfast in the
faith. And we need, my friends, continual
grace and faith to be able to resist the devil. Because remember,
he is against the things of God. My friends, he's against you
and me. He's there all the time, at our elbow, trying to convince
us. that we're right and everybody
else is wrong. Whom resists steadfast in the
faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished
in your brethren that are in the world. But the God of all
grace, isn't that lovely? The God of all grace, who hath
called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye
have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen,
settle you. Well, that's a gracious word,
and may you and I walk in it, and may you and I prove the reality
of it, that we may indeed be made by God, You and I won't
make ourselves this. It's impossible. But what a blessing
if the Lord makes us perfect, establishes us and strengthens
us and settles us in the truth and the things of God. Now, if
that is granted, if that comes to pass, what would it be? I'll
tell you what it'll be. It'll be deliverance. and that's what you and I need
deliverance from the power of God, power of Satan remember
then, he goes about as a roaring lion you see we can be taken
in by him very often sometimes we can think we're doing and
saying, perhaps even praying for things which we think are
right, but in actual fact we're not submitting to God we've got
a plan We want God to work to that plan. No. God's got a plan. And He will have us walk to His
plan. Not our plan. What a good thing
it is then to realise that we have a God who does and can deliver
us. So we have this statement, this
desire of Ezra that the hand of God was upon them He was able
to trace it out and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy. We don't of course know the specific
details in that journey but there may be times when they've seen
the enemy and the enemy wasn't able to pursue, the enemy wasn't
able to do what perhaps they desired to do and so Israel were
granted deliverance. What a mercy that is to have
deliverance from Almighty God. I think David in his life was
wonderfully blessed. And he was able to speak of God's
deliverance. And what a good thing it is when
we are able to speak of God's deliverance. You may remember
there was that occasion, the well-known occasion of Goliath.
And David had seen Goliath and he offers to fight with Goliath. And he come before King Saul
to speak to him and to tell him about the situation. And David said to Saul, which
is in chapter 17 in the first book of Samuel and verse 33,
or sorry, 34. Thy servant kept his father's
sheep and there came a lion and a bear and took a lamb out of
the flock. And I went out after him, and
smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth. And when he arose
against me, I caught him by the beard, and smote him, and slew
him. Thy servant slew both the lion
and the bear. And this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing
he hath defied the armies of the living God. So he comes now
and says, this is a great statement, my friends, and just remember
it. David said, moreover, the Lord
that delivered me out of the paw of the lion And out of the
paw of the bear he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go,
and the Lord be with thee. We see there humble confidence
that David had in his God. He had the evidence that God
was with him. And now he was faced with this
great issue. But his hope, his confidence
was in his God. And so my friends, Ezra's confidence
was also in his God. And he proved the faithfulness
of God to deliver him. And may we today perhaps be able
to look back in our lives, look back in our experience, to realise
times when God heard our prayers, And God did deliver us from difficult
situations. May have been at school, may
have been at university, may have been at work. But we're
thankful we have a God who does deliver. That's good, isn't it? David was able to say, the Lord
who does deliver and he will deliver. It's always wonderful
to look back and have the evidence in our life that we have a God
who hears and answers prayer that He may give us confidence
to believe that He will still deliver us both in natural things
and also in spiritual things what a mercy it is to have perhaps
times when we look back and remember what the Lord has done in delivering
us Well, you know, this is Remembrance Sunday. I hope we have things
in our lives that we can testify that God has delivered us. Perhaps he's made a way where
there seemed no way. things which are impossible with
men are possible with God and what a great blessing that is
and what a wonderful thing it is well David of course as we
read was able to give us that wonderful testimony before King
Saul but also we have David's testimony in the Psalms and again
it's good to know that what he says is true and in the 34th
psalm we're told and it's a well let me do I think I just start
at the beginning because it's so beautiful psalm 34 I will bless
the Lord at all times his praise shall continually be in my mouth
That's a good testimony, isn't it? He wasn't complaining. He wasn't complaining. He had
much to thank God for. So do we. I will bless the Lord at all
times. His praise shall continually
be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast
in the Lord. See, that's another wonderful
blessing, isn't it? to boast in what God has done
for us. What does that do? My friends,
it brings honour and glory to God. My soul shall make a boast
in the Lord. The humble shall hear their offer
and be glad. O magnify the Lord in me and
let us exalt his name together. He desired the Church of God
would come together to praise God, to bless God, They weren't
complaining. No, they desired to bless God.
And then he says, I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered
me from all my fears. Well, this morning, in our spiritual
life, can we echo these words? Let
me read them again. I sought the Lord. Is that true? Have you sought God? God knows. Only you and God knows
that. I sought the Lord and the result. And he heard me and delivered
me from all my fears. Deliverance. Great blessing,
wasn't it? Great blessing. So it is for
you and me, my friends. We might feel fearful spiritually,
but the Lord will never hear our prayers. We may think we've
sinned against light and knowledge. We've sinned too much against
God. He will never turn and have mercy upon us. Well, there is
mercy with God. He may indeed be feared. Let
us never give up seeking the Lord. I sought the Lord and he
heard me and delivered me from all my fears. You may be fearful.
Press on. Don't give up. realize we have
the same God today that David had. The Word of God tells us,
I am the Lord, I change not. No, the Lord is still the same
yesterday and today and forever. And so, says David, they looked
unto him and were lightened. And their faces were not ashamed. And then he just describes himself. And it's good actually to understand
how King David described himself like this. This himself, this
poor man cried and the Lord heard him and saved him, we might say,
and delivered him out of all his fears. the angel of the Lord
encampeth round about them that fear him and delivereth them. That's a grand truth, isn't it?
To think the angel of the Lord encampeth round about us. To think God's angel is with
us. Round about us that fear him and delivereth them. And then he says, oh, taste and
see. The Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth
in him. Well, how gloriously true that
is. And it's good, isn't it? If we're
able to taste and see, what that means is to have experienced
in our soul the deliverance by Almighty God that he's come to
us He's heard our prayers, just the same as David again speaks
of when he penned the 40th Psalm. Again, grand truths. He tells
us, and again, it's a good lesson for us. He said, I waited patiently. We get impatient, don't we? We
want God to appear now. No, I waited patiently for the
Lord. And he inclined unto me and heard
my cry. He didn't turn away from me.
The Lord had his time to bless. The Lord had his time to answer
the prayers of David. My friend, God has the time to
answer our prayers. May we know the great blessing
of patience. And then again David describes
himself. We've already read about saying
he was a poor man and now he says, he brought me up also out
of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon
a rock and established my goings. There was deliverance for David. David didn't deliver himself.
He couldn't get himself out of the pit. but God brought him
up. He brought me up. Don't forget
that. And my friends, God is still
able to do great things today. What a blessing then for us if
we can testify of God's mercy and of God's goodness and of
God's wonderful favor to us. Because not only did he bring
him up, out of this desperate condition which he was in and
he couldn't free himself from it. You may wonder where the
scene will end. You perhaps think you can't get
out of this pit, this condition. Perhaps you might have an evil
heart of unbelief. And that's like a terrible pit
and a Maori clay. The evil heart of unbelief. What
a blessing it is, my friends, when God comes and brings us
out of that situation. And when he does, do you know
what the reaction is? The same as David's. And he hath
put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God. Many shall
see it and fear and shall trust in the Lord. Blessed is that
man that maketh the Lord his trust. and respect is not the
prowl, nor such as turn aside to lies. Well, my friends, this
morning, is the Lord our trust? Our trust, the Lord will come
and the Lord would indeed deliver us. Wonderful, isn't it? Wonderful
to think that Almighty God is the one that does deliver. Man cannot deliver you. Friends
cannot deliver you. Parents cannot deliver us. My
friends, God can. And God does in his time and
in his way. And may we come to God in prayer. And again, we're graciously instructed,
in faith, nothing wavering. believing that our God will hear
an answer in his time and in his way. And when that occurs,
you and I will be able and maybe be really willing and really
desire us to praise and to honour and to glorify his name. As we read, let us exhort his
name together at good times when the Church of God comes together
and His name is exalted because of the wonderful deliverances
that He's blessed us with. Yes, when we've perhaps been
far off, perhaps when we felt there's no hope for me. Well,
there is hope. There is hope. God is a God who
hears and answers prayer. And we should then be able to
look forward to that time when there will
be a final deliverance. A deliverance from this body
of sin and death. When the Lord will come and bring us safely home to glory. You see, natural man thinks these
things are morbid. I think I may have told you once,
when I was abroad I was speaking to someone whose birthday it
was and they said they hated birthdays. Why did they hate
birthday? Because it evidenced to them
their life was passing. Their life. He didn't have a
life to look forward to. He didn't have a good hope of
eternal life with the Saviour. Natural man doesn't like to think
of that eternal life. What a blessing, my friends,
for us today, if we can look forward to that time of final
deliverance, when we shall be delivered from this body of sin and this
body of death, when we shall be found forever with the Lord,
an eternal state of bliss, no more sin and no more sorrow,
but glory forever and ever, a final deliverance. Well, what a mercy
it is when you and I can, by God's grace, anticipate that
time of final deliverance. Yes, and you see, the devil would
not be able to stop that day coming when those words of the
Saviour come to pass. I go to repair a place for you.
And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and
receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also. See, that's the blessing and
favour of the true Church of God. And it's a wonderful evidence
that we are born again in the Spirit of God, if we have a desire
after heavenly realities, and that we may be brought to that
place. It doesn't come naturally, but the Apostle Paul was brought
there, and it's good when you and I are brought there by the
grace of God. The Apostle Paul tells us, for me to live is Christ,
and to die is gain. Eternal place of eternal happiness. What a wonderful thought that
should be. And perhaps we may think, well,
I've got my life to live. I don't want to think about those
things. My friend, you and I don't know
how long our life is to live. Just because you're young doesn't
mean to say you have a long life. just because you're old doesn't
mean to say you have a short life our times are in God's hand God
knows how long each of us has to live on this world but what
a good thing it is if we have a true desire to be prepared
so that we may look forward to the day of our death as being
the best day of our life. Many people think it's the worst
day of their life. But may you and I, by God's grace,
realise it is a glorious deliverance from this body of sin and death. So to think then there will be
a final deliverance. But yet, as we're still on this
earth, to realize that we need deliverance is still day by day.
And Ezra was able to look back and to remind the Israelites
as he penned these words, after obviously they were in Israel,
in Jerusalem rather, and able to speak to them in these terms. And to clearly say, and the hand
of our God was upon us. Well, we can put that in a singular
term, and the hand of my God was upon me. And he delivered
me from the hand of the enemy and of such as lay in wait by
the way. And he goes on to say, and we
came. And may we be able to say, and
by God's grace, I hope to come one day to that heavenly Jerusalem
the place of glory, the place where the Saviour dwells, and
to be found with Him in the whole Church of God eternally. That will be a glorious and a
wonderful deliverance. So may we, my friends, this morning,
ponder these things, deliverance. It's a lovely word, really, isn't
it? And to think of what it means
in our lives, what it has meant, and what it will mean. And may
God have all the honour and all the glory. Amen.