I please the Lord to bless us
together this evening as we meditate in his word. Let's turn to the
book of Ezra and the third chapter and we'll read the 11th verse. The third chapter in the book
of Ezra and verse 11. And they sang together by course
in praising and giving thanks unto the Lord. Because he is
good, for his mercy endureth forever toward Israel. And all the people shouted with
a great shout when they praised the Lord, because the foundation
of the house of the Lord was laid. The accounts in the Old Testament
are very instructive to us in our lives today. And we should
not think that those accounts are just an historical record
of things which occurred many years ago. They were, of course,
but more relevant is the fact that they have a bearing on how
we live our lives today. And we should therefore be thankful
that we have the Word of God in its entirety instructing us
so well. Now, we read here in this book
of Ezra what happened when Israel or Judah were commanded to return
to Jerusalem. And it really is quite amazing. how God's promises and prophecies
come to pass. And here were Israel in Babylon,
far off from Jerusalem. It's a long way. If you look
on a map, it's a long way. In actual fact, you can work
it out because it took Ezra and Nehemiah a good number of weeks
to come from Babylon to Jerusalem. And yet here in this place we
read the beginning of Ezra a most remarkable occurrence in the
first year of Cyrus king of Persia that the word of the Lord by
the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled God's promise being
fulfilled the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia
that he made a proclamation throughout all the kingdom and he put it
also in writing saying thus saith Cyrus king of Persia the Lord
God of heaven given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he
has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem which is in Judah."
Well how amazing really to think that a heathen king should be
moved by the Spirit of God to instruct that there be the rebuilding
of the temple and indeed rebuilding of Jerusalem, a most amazing
consideration. We read in that chapter in Jeremiah,
that 25th chapter, the warnings which Jeremiah gave by the Spirit
of God to Israel to turn away from their sinful way and to
obey the commands of God. And they were told that did they
not do that they would go down into Babylon for 70 years and
of course we know that they disbelieved it and therefore Nebuchadnezzar
came and took Jerusalem and carried the Israelites down to Babylon
and there they were for 70 years and it was a sad time a very
sad time. They didn't have a temple, they
didn't have the sacrifices, they weren't able to worship God as
they should have been in accordance with the law of Moses. So there
was a great suffering because of their disobedience. And that
is so directed to us today. We have before us the whole counsel
of God in the Word of God and it directs us how to live our
lives what to do and what to say and therefore we cannot excuse
ourselves and say well I didn't think that was really relevant
to me I didn't really think that that particular verse had any
bearing on my life and often you see we come to that conclusion
because we don't want to acknowledge that Almighty God has has a is
a king and he is the Lord and we should obey him. That means
we should obey his word in whatever that may mean in your life and
my life and it may have different meanings but nonetheless we should
not turn away from the gracious words of God because be sure
of this what God has said will be for our good. It will never
be for our worse, it will be for our good. So may we earnestly
be concerned that we are those who walk in accordance with the
Word of God. And so that's the background
really to this occasion recorded here in this third chapter of
Ezra. And we see that the first thing
really they commenced to do was to build an altar so that they
might sacrifice. What a good start that was. What a good beginning because
we read then stood up Jeshua the son of Josedek and his brethren
the priest and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtier and his brethren
and build in the altar of the God of Israel and it was for
a reason to offer burnt offerings thereon, as it is written in
the law of Moses, the man of God. So there was this concern,
therefore, to, as it were, start again and to begin the true worship
of God. Now, what a blessing in our lives
when perhaps we need almost to begin again. And the Lord comes
very graciously and directs us to the central theme, the essential
part, which is, of course, to walk that way like the Israelites
did when they rebuilt the altar and offered sacrifices, because
what occurred was the blood of the animal was shed, and there
was an offering made to God of a sweet-smelling savour. Now
we have the situation in our day and age. It's not a physical
scene of actually building an altar of stone or wood or brass
and offering up animals. But there is a position where
we are today to return and to build an altar unto our God.
And that means to come and to bow down and to worship the Lord
Jesus Christ as the satisfied sacrifice of the Father. There's no need to offer up any
animal sacrifices, but there is a need to come and to worship
the Lord Jesus Christ and to bow down before him and to be
very thankful that he did fulfill all that the law required and
in so doing he sacrificed himself as that satisfactory sacrifice
to the Father. And so they commenced in this
way and it would be good for us if we're always concerned
to commence in the right way and that is to offer up sacrifices
to the Lord Jesus Christ, to pray to him to come acknowledging
our sin, desiring to turn from it, and to receive that forgiveness
of all our sins. And of course was the great need
of Israel of old, and the sacrifices were offered up, was to take
away sin. And that's the same thing today,
as the Holy Spirit comes and directs us to look into our heart,
And what will we find there? Sin. We cannot escape it. We wish we could. We cannot escape
it. It clings to us. It comes to
us. And therefore we have to continually
pray for forgiveness, continually desire to be made clean, continually
desire to be washed in the blood of the Lamb. So this is what
makes true religion, centred on the Lord Jesus Christ, very
precious and very real. Because there is forgiveness
with the Lord Jesus Christ. There is. And what a blessing
that is so. Now then, the Israelites now,
they came and they commenced the building of the house of
God. They built the building, they
said, and when the builders lay the foundation of the temple
of the Lord, they set the priests in their apparel with trumpets
and the Levites and sons of Asaph with symbols to praise the Lord
after the ordinance of David, king of Israel. It was a very
important occasion. It was a very precious time. They'd been without this wonderful
facility of the temple for these 70 years, and now they desired
to commence this rebuilding. And they did it in a way with
praise and adoration to Almighty God. It wasn't done in a corner,
it was done openly, and it was clearly done in such a way that
people would know. Because here it was, there were
the priests and the Levites with trumpets and cymbals to praise
the Lord after the ordinance of David, King of Israel. And
there is always need and occasions to come and to praise the Lord. We should never come and forget
to praise God for what He's done. Here the Israelites were able
to praise God for the beginning of the rebuilding of the temple. It must have been a most moving
time. And as we read to the end of
this chapter, there were those, the old men, who'd seen the original
temple, and of course they would have been old they were probably
80 or 90 years of age and they wept because they remembered
what the old temple was like and of course the new temple
was never so glorious as the old temple and then there were
those the younger ones who were so thankful and they cried aloud
they shouted for joy and so there was the On the one hand, joy,
and on the other hand, weeping. And again, that really is a true
picture of the Church of God. Because there are those times
when we do weep, when we remember, perhaps those occasions which
we turned aside from and wasted because these people who now
come back, no doubt they had much to mourn over. mourn over
all their sins, because it was through those sins that they
had to spend 70 years in captivity. But now a time of restoration
had come, and again in the most amazing way. And we have to prove
that God's ways are higher than our ways. Who would have thought
king of Babylon would have instructed the people to return and rebuild
the temple. And yet you see we have a God
of mercy, a God of wonderful goodness, and that's really what
we have here in this 11th verse. We read, and they sang together
by course, that means they They sang, one group sang and another
group sang. So there was really a continual
singing. They sang together by course
in praising and giving thanks unto the Lord. The Lord is worthy
of praise and thanksgiving. And we do need to remember that.
It's very easy to forget to praise God. So often you see we can
look around and look down and complain and moan about this
and that. What a blessing if we're able to look up and see
the many blessings and the many favours we do have and the cause
there is to come and to praise God and to give thanks unto Him.
And they came, they stand together by course in praising and giving
thanks unto the Lord because, and this is the grand reason,
because He is good. for its mercy endureth forever
toward Israel." Well, it was true on this day. It always has
been true. My friends, it's still true today.
And it would be a great blessing if you and I can come here tonight
and, as it were, sing together. giving thanks and praise because
he is good, for his mercy endureth forever. Now that is a great
truth. And what an encouraging truth
that is to the people of God down through the ages. And what
an important thing it is for us today to remember such a wonderful
word as this, the Psalmist In Psalm 115, he refers to this,
really, in a very full way when he comes and tells us, not unto
us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name, give glory for
his mercy and for his truth's sake. And then also, further
on, in the 136th Psalm, we read where it continues, verse after
verse, O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, for his
mercy endureth forever. O give thanks unto the Lord,
unto the God of gods, for his mercy endureth forever. And you
may think, well, isn't that just vain repetition? Well, it's not.
It's necessary repetition because we need to be reminded of. And we need to come in this way
and recognise the goodness of God and to give thanks unto the
God of Gods for His mercy endures forever. If it wasn't for His
mercy, we wouldn't be here tonight. We wouldn't be here tonight.
Just think of that. Because if it wasn't for His
mercy, we could find ourselves in a heathen land We could find
ourselves in a situation where the Gospel had never been preached.
We could find ourselves in a place where there were no Bibles. We
could find ourselves in a place where there was no one to converse
with, with regards to the things of God. And so, tonight, surely
we have reason to come and give thanks because He is good, for
His mercy endureth forever." It's very humbling that, isn't
it? To think in our lives that toward us, each of us, His mercy
has endured. Yes, we don't deserve the mercy
of God, do we? Look back in your lives. Ponder
how you've turned your back upon God, just like the Israelites.
Gone away from God. Many warnings, many directions,
and yet, you see, you've gone your own way. You've done what
you want to do, until, until. What a mercy there is, that there
are in the lives of the people of God, untils. The devil has
his sway until. And it's then when the Lord God
Omnipotent comes and reigns. And the great thing is that the
adversary of the devil is then turned away. He is a defeated
foe. He has always been, since the
Lord Jesus died upon Calvary's cross and finished the work his
father gave him to do. But nonetheless, he never gives
up and he worries the Church of God and endeavours to turn
them away. Well, what a mercy it is when
you and I understand this great blessing, that His mercy endureth
forever. And it's endured toward us. It endured toward us because
we're here tonight. Never fail to praise God for
His mercy. Go home tonight and praise God
for His mercy. And of course, the great truth
is that The wonder of His mercy to the Church of God is that
He reveals His Son, the Holy Spirit reveals the Lord Jesus
Christ to the people of God and reveals the Lord Jesus Christ
to them as the only one who can satisfy the law of God on their
behalf. Now that's reason to praise God. That's reason to acknowledge
because His mercy endures forever. He hasn't cast me off. He hasn't
passed me by. But He's looked upon me. When you didn't look upon Him,
He looked upon you. He saw me ruined in the fall,
yet loves me notwithstanding all. The love of Christ, my friends,
is rich and free, fixed on his own eternally. Oh yes, what a
blessing that is. We sometimes turn away. The law of Jesus is the same. yesterday and today and forever
his mercy toward us oh how great it is and so what was the result
here were these people gather together saying because he is
good for his mercy endured forever toward israel and and there was
an effect you see and all the people shouted with a great shout
they wanted to acknowledge how great the Lord was, what he'd
done, how it appeared for them, how his mercy had endured towards
them. And so they shouted with a great
shout when they praised the Lord because the foundation of the
house of the Lord was laid. Ah, the beginning of better days,
the beginning again of the return of those sacrifices, morning
and evening, and then on that great day of atonement. And there
was this building now being erected. There was a beginning. And what
a blessing it is when the Holy Spirit shines into our heart
and shows us the beginning. The beginning of His work. The
beginning of His work of grace. The beginning which comes into
our hearts, which we didn't put there. to all of His grace, to
all of His mercy, and it's because of His love. So the psalmist
says, let us extol His name together. The Church of God need to join
together to praise the Lord for His goodness and for His mercy
and for His wonderful favour. Now, Ezra goes on to just inform
us of the situation which developed. There were some enemies that
came and endeavored to stop them initially. They weren't very
successful and then they sent messengers back to Babylon to
make the king search out whether there was in fact in days past
the Israelites who'd risen up against the Chaldeans and of
course They searched in the rolls and they found it was so. And
therefore what happened was these men joyfully came and told the
Israelites to stop the building. And it seemed that it didn't
take very much to stop them building. It didn't seem to take very much
to stop them endeavouring to continue. See how easily we can
become sidetracked wonderful time of blessing and then suddenly
we find ourselves sidetracked. What a sad situation that is
and of course we know that the Lord raised up in those days
that the prophets, the prophets Zechariah and the prophet Haggai,
to go and to speak to them and to instruct them not to leave
off the building, but to be concerned that they might indeed be directed. And so we read when Darius was
king, Haggai, the prophet, came unto Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel,
governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Josedek, the high
priest, saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, This
people say, The time is not come, The time that the Lord's house
should be built. Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai the
prophet saying, Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your sealed
houses, and this house lie waste? He had to be very pointed and
tell them that they weren't doing things in the right order. They
were putting their own lives first, their own homes first,
instead of the house of God. Well, that's good instruction
for us today. It's very easy, you see, to put
the things of time first. And then, as it were, to bring
about the things of God afterward. No, said the Prophet, that wasn't
the way. And he says, Now therefore, saith
the Lord of hosts, consider your ways. And how good it is when
the Holy Spirit gives us grace to consider our ways as to whether
we are doing things in the right order whether we are giving right
attention to the things of God or whether we're giving more
attention to our own situation. Well, you see, Almighty God won't
be second. He won't take second place. He
will occupy the chief place. And that's really why Israel
had gone down to Babylon. because they put other things
first. And now you see, very quickly, we find that although
wonderfully favoured, they soon put other things first, their
own houses. Well, we can be thankful indeed
that God is merciful, God is full of compassion, and he brought
these messages from Haggai and Zechariah, and the people took
notice of those words, and they did. hear their words. And they did return to the building
and the building was completed. And what a mercy it is then for
us today to take heed of these things, to realise the importance
of them. Not just say, well I don't read
much in the Old Testament, I don't think it's too relevant. It's
often very relevant to our situation today. And so may we hear this
verse, thank God for it, But still, press on. Press on. Don't let the devil gain the
ground. He's very keen to. He's very
keen to gain the ground. And you and I need to be watchful. We need to be on our watch, day
by day, that we might be found constantly concerned for our
spiritual building, the building up of our spiritual life, and
also the building up of the Church of God. And they sang together,
by course, in praising and giving thanks unto the Lord. Oh, don't
forget that. Praising and giving thanks unto
the Lord, because he is good, for his mercy endureth forever. Amen.