Go with me, if you would, now
to the book of Ezra. Ezra chapter 8. In the book of Ezra, the physical rebuilding of the
ruined temple represents, it illustrates, that's what this
book is mainly about, the rebuilding of the temple. And it illustrates
the spiritual rebuilding of God's people, who He calls His spiritual temple. God's particular people became
ruined. Ruined. They didn't veer off
the path. They became ruined. Flattened. Empty. Desolate. Completely ruined. In and by sin. They became bound
to captivity. In that sin. But God declared
deliverance and He provided deliverance through Christ the King. He brought
His people out. He accomplished all the work
for them from the foundation all the way to the headstone.
He finished every bit of it. And then He called His preachers
to go out and notify His people of what He did. The last time
we were here, we looked at chapter 7, and it was on Him calling
Ezra to go tell the people, this is what I've done. If you look
at chapter 7, verse 25, He said, And thou, Ezra, after the wisdom
of thy God that is in thy hand, and that's what we hold right
here, we hold the wisdom of God in our hand. He said, After the
wisdom of thy God that is in thy hand, set magistrates and
judges, which may judge all the people that are beyond the river,
all such as know the laws of thy God, and teach ye them that
know them not." Teach them. Go out and teach them. In the
middle of verse 28, Ezra said, I was strengthened as the hand
of the Lord my God was upon me, and I gathered together out of
Israel chief men to go up with me." He said, men, let's go preach
this. Let's go declare what God has
told us to declare. Let's notify God's people. That's
what the gospel is. It is a notification. It's a
notification of everything God has to say to them and everything
God's done for them. Now chapter 8 describes to us
the life of a child of God after the notification. There comes
a point in every elect sinner's life when God quickens them and
notifies them of who he is and what he's done. And this is the
life of a child of God after that notification. This chapter
is about faith. It's about faith in God, not
faith in self. Faith in God in hard decisions
at hard times. Faith, faith in God during these
hard times of need. Chapter 8 verse 21 is a verse
we're going to come back to in a moment, and we're going to
look at some things revolving around this verse. But it says,
Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahava, that we
might afflict ourselves before our God, to seek of Him a right
way for us and for our little ones, and for all our substance. This is about faith and seeking
God in hard decisions. Seeking God for the right way
for us and for our little ones and for all our substance. Now
let's read and understand what is being said here in the physical
story. And in this, let's see the spiritual application of
it. And then we're gonna look at something that I believe will
be very comforting to every person here. Very comforting to every
person who needs it. Ezra called these men to go up
with him and then in chapter 8 verse 1 it says, These are
now the children of their fathers and this is the genealogy of
them that went up with me from Babylon in the reign of Artaxerxes
the king. Of the sons of Phinehas, Gershom,
of the sons of Ithamar, Daniel, of the sons of David, Haddish,
of the sons of Shechaniah, of the sons of Pharesh, Zechariah,
and with him were reckoned by genealogy of the males 150. Of
the sons of Pahathmoab, Elihoyne, the son of Zariah, and with him
200 males, of the sons of Shechaniah, the son of Jehaziel, and with
him 300 males, of the sons also of Aden, Ebed, the son of Jonathan,
and with him 50 males, and of the sons of Elam, Jeshiah, and
the son of Athaliah, and with him 70 males, and of the sons
of Shephetiah, Zebediah, the son of Michael, and with him
fourscore males, of the sons of Joab, Obadiah, the son of
Jehiel, and with him 218 males, and of the sons of Shalometh,
the son of Josephiah, and with him 103 score males, and of the
sons of Bebei, Zechariah, the son of Bebei, and with him 20
and 8 males, And of the sons of Asgad, Johanan, the son of
Hakatan, and with him an hundred and ten males. And of the last
sons of Aconicum, whose names are these, Elephelet, Jeiel,
and Shimeah, and with them threescore males. Of the sons also of Bigvei,
Uthai, and Zabod, and with them seventy males. And I gathered
them together to the river that runneth to Ahava, and there abode
we in tents three days. And I viewed the people and the
priest, and found there none of the sons of Levi's." He said,
I gathered all of these sons together, 1,500 men, along with
the heads of the family that he named. I gathered all these
sons with me from all these tribes. And he said, for three days,
I viewed them. I viewed everyone who was gathered
together. I noticed who was there and I
noticed who wasn't there. He said, I noticed that not one
person was there from the tribe of Levi. After I'd gathered all
these sons. That's what the end of verse
15 says. I found there none of the sons of Levi. Now, spiritually
speaking, what does that tell us? They did not have a high
priest before God. That's what it tells us. They had all these men there
thinking they were about to head out on God's business. And they did not have one to
offer blood on their behalf. They didn't have one who could
make an atonement to God for their sin. That's the state of
all men and women who are outside of Christ. All men and women. Ezra realized before we do anything,
before we take another step, this must be settled first. And all of God's people realize
this. Ezra saw this and all of God's people see this. If we
don't have a high priest who can appease God for us, appease
His wrath and settle our debt and put away our sin, if we don't
have that, we don't have anything. We don't have anything. I know
a dear man who I love very much who claims to believe some of
the truths in the scripture and he attends a place, it's in another
state, he attends a place that he knows they preach none of
it there. Why do you go? Well, you know,
they got programs for the kids and they got, it's formal, you
know, there is some, no, you have nothing. If you don't have
Christ the high priest, and His work alone, and His blood alone,
you have nothing. You have absolutely nothing. Ezra and these men, they were
about to head out in the name of God, and they realized we
don't have a Levite. What mercy it is when God reveals
that to a sinner. It takes the power of God. A
man cannot do it. His ability cannot do it. It
takes the Word of God, it takes God's Spirit at His time to reveal
to a sinner, I don't have Christ. I don't have Christ. What mercy it is when God shows
a man or a woman, you don't have an atonement for your soul. You
have all of these fleshly works. all of these deeds and things
that you're trying to accomplish yourself and you will never be
able to accomplish them. You need one who can accomplish
it for you. Man thinks that he can run around
doing these works and God will be happy with him. God will be
pleased with him. Not realizing that everything he does is tainted
with sin. I love and respect and agree
with what that man said years and years ago. He said, I can't
preach, but I sin. I can't pray, but I sin. I can't do anything without sin
infecting it. If I'm a part of it, sin is a
part of it. Everything we do is mixed with
sin. And if we don't have someone
who can make intercession for our sin, we're going to die in
that sin. No matter what works we do on
this earth, we'll die. In Matthew 7, our Lord said,
In that day many are going to come to Me saying, Lord, Lord,
we preached in Your name. We were preachers. We cast out devils in your name. We cast devils out of people.
We were healers. We did wonderful works, all kinds
of good works, in your names. He said, Then will I say to them,
I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work
iniquity. It was all sin. It was all sin. And He says you're going to be
cast out because you did not have one who made atonement for
your soul. All of these I, I did this and
I did this. And you didn't have the one thing
needful. That one thing needful, Christ. God will only in love
and acceptance know a man. If He says I never knew you,
He will only know a man. in the person and in the work
of Christ. Not ours, only His. Not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us. We must have Him. We must have
Him. Ezra knew that. All of God's
preachers know that. They all say, we're not taking
one step into the work of the ministry. We're not taking one
step into the message Now think about that. We're going
to talk in just a moment about faith and trials and seeking
God's will. We're not even going to go there
until we set forth a high priest. We must have a high priest. We
must have intercession for our sin. And all of God's preachers
know that. We must have Christ Jesus the
Lord. We need a sin offering and a
sacrifice. Ezra realized their need. So in verse 16, he said, Then
sent I for Eleazar, and for Ariel, and for Shimea, and for Elnathan,
and for Jared, and for Elnathan, and for Nathan, And for Zechariah,
and for Meshulam, chief men, also for Joiarab, and for Elnathan,
men of understanding. Those are all different men. He said, I sent for Elnathan,
Elnathan, Nathan, and Elnathan. Elnathan means God has given. He said, we need a high priest.
And this is who I sent for. This is our only hope. God has
given. God has given. Nathan means the
giver. God has given. God has given.
God has. That's our message. That's our
hope. That's the gospel. That's everything
God has given. We have a great need before God. Here's the glory of the gospel.
God has supplied it. God has given. We need mercy. God has given. God is the giver. We need an atonement for our
sin. We need a covering of blood all
over our sin. God has given. God is the giver. We need a sacrifice. We need
a substitute to die in our place. Think about this. It is appointed
unto man once to die in the sense that we're gonna lay this body
down in death. What if you could have a substitute
for this physical death? We could enter into it a little
bit more than the spiritual death. We cannot see the spirit, the
things of the spirit, but we see the flesh. What if you had
someone who could lay down in the flesh for you? Well, maybe
that'll cause us to enter into the fact that we had someone
lay down in death for us, so we won't have to. That spiritual
death. Someone died in our place and
God is the one who gave him. God was the giver. That's called
grace. Grace. God is the giver. Those other names in that verse,
they're names all through this, and they all, you could have
a message out of each verse, but Eliezer means God is our
help. Ariel means God is our lion,
the lion of the tribe of Judah. Shemaiah means Jehovah has heard. Jerob and Joyerib, they both
mean he will contend. The battle is his. Zechariah
means Jehovah has remembered. He said in Lamentation 3, I remember
the wormwood, I remember the gall. Every time one of my sinful
people stands before me, I remember what it took to put away their
sin. I see the blood, and every time
I see that blood, I pass over. Meshulam means friend. Greater
love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his
friend. Ezra said, I sent for these men. We must have these
men and what they represent. Verse 17, And I sent them with
commandment unto Edo the chief at the place Cassaphia, and I
told them what they should say unto Edo, and to his brethren,
the Nethanims, at the place Cassaphia, that they should bring unto us
ministers for the house of our God. And by the good hand of
our God upon us, they brought us a man of understanding, of
the sons of Malchi, the son of Levi, the son of Israel, and
Sherebiah, with his sons and his brethren, eighteen. and Hashabiah,
and with him, Jeshea, of the sons of Merari, his brethren,
and their sons twenty, also of the Nethanims, who David and
the prince had appointed for the service of the Levites, two
hundred and twenty Nethanims, all of them were expressed by
name. Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahava,
that we might afflict ourselves before our God to seek of him
a right way for us, and for our little ones, and for all our
substance." Now, Ezra and these men, they are about to carry
all of this gold and silver from Babylon to Jerusalem. And he
said, before we went, I proclaimed a fast that we might afflict
ourselves to seek His will on how He would have us to do this.
And this is why Ezra did that. Verse 22, he said, For I was
ashamed to require of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen
to help us against the enemy in the way, because we had spoken
unto the king, saying, The hand of our God is upon all them for
good that seek him, but his power and his wrath is against all
them that forsake him. I had declared such confidence
in our God to lead us. I was glorifying our God and
preaching our God. And I had declared in such confidence
that He would have His hand on us and guide us only into good
for every soul that seeks Him. Ezra
said, because I declared Him and His glory and His honor and
His strength and His majesty and His ability and His sovereignty
and His authority over everything concerning His people. I said
everything is in His hands. His people are in His hands. Nothing can happen outside of
His control. And he said, because I declared
all that, I could not lean on the arm of the flesh. Not for
one minute, not in any way, shape or form. No true gospel preacher
can. No true declarer of Christ the
King can. Ezra said, we cannot and we will
not mix man's works with God's grace. Salvation is of the Lord. Deliverance is of the Lord. And
he said, if we safely make it from this land of sin to that
land of promise, it will only be by the hand of our God. With
that being said, he knew that it was a dangerous journey. It
was a fearful journey. A lot of enemies, a lot of thieves,
So in verse 23, He said, We fasted and besought our God for this,
and He was entreated of us. Every sinner that comes to God
through His high praise, Christ the Lord. Every sinner
who seeks mercy and seeks help and seeks salvation by His way,
by His will, every soul that's caused to seek will find. Every soul that God causes to
entreat will be entreated of Him. Verse 24, Then I separated
twelve of the chief of the priests, Cherubiah, Hashebiah, and ten
of their brethren with them, and weighed unto them the silver
and the gold, and the vessels, even the offering of the house
of our God, which the king and his counselors, and his lords,
and all Israel there present had offered. I even weighed unto
their hands six hundred and fifty talents of silver, and silver
vessels, and hundred talents, and of gold a hundred talents,
also twenty basins of gold of a thousand drams, and two vessels
of fine copper, precious as gold. And I said unto them, You are
holy unto the Lord. The vessels are holy also, and
the silver and the gold are a freewill offering unto the Lord God of
your fathers. Watch ye and keep them until
you weigh them before the chief of the priests and the Levites,
the chief of the fathers of Israel at Jerusalem in the chambers
of the house of the Lord, so the priests and the Levites,
the weight of the silver and the gold and the vessels, to
bring them to Jerusalem unto the house of our God. Then we
departed from the river 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 such
as lay in wait by the way." They had a safe journey. No one attacked
them. No one touched them. They had
a safe journey all the way, and we came to Jerusalem and bode
there three days. Now on the fourth day was the
silver and the gold and the vessels weighed in the house of our God
by the hand of Merimoth, the son of Uriah the priest, and
with him was Eleazar the son of Phinehas, and with them was
Josabath the son of Yeshua, and Noah, the son of Ben-Uri, Levites,
by number and by weight of every one, and all the weight was written
at that time. Also the children of those that
had been carried away, which were come out of the captivity,
offered burnt offerings unto the God of Israel, twelve bullocks
for all Israel, ninety and six rams, seventy and seven lambs,
twelve he goats for a sin offering, all this was a burnt offering
unto the Lord. And they delivered the king's
commissions unto the king's lieutenants and to the governors on this
side of the river, and they furthered the people in the house of God. With a great deliverance, with
sacrifices of joy, sacrifices of redemption, all of God's treasure
made it safely home. All of it. Now, I want us to
see something that I believe every person here needs to see. We all collectively need this
as a congregation concerning this ministry, everything that's
going on with this ministry, concerning each person individually. We are all going through things
individually that we need God's leadership on. All of us. We need His direction. We need His will. This journey
from Babylon to Jerusalem, carrying this treasure, it represents
the life that this quickened, converted child of God has to
live out on this earth. It's tough. It's tough. We are marching to Zion. That's what they did. They loaded
up all this treasure. And he said, I just couldn't
ask the king for horses and soldiers. I told him our God was God. I
told him He was with us and He purposed for all of this treasure
to make it safely. And so we had a fast. We proclaimed a fast. And they
made it. They made it. This carrying of
this treasure This journey full of trials, this journey full
of enemies represents the life we walk on this earth. And although
we have this treasure, Ezra told the people, he said, the treasure
is holy. He said, you are holy. God has called all of His people
His peculiar treasure. That's what He calls His people.
You're a peculiar treasure unto the Lord. The treasure is Christ. The unsearchable riches are the
riches of Christ Himself. Christ in His people causes them
to carry the treasure. The treasure of glory, hope,
salvation. If we belong to Christ, we have
this treasure. But here's the thing, we have
it in earthen vessels. We have this treasure, but we
have it in earthen vessels. Vessels that are weak. Vessels that shatter easily. They break so easily. We have this treasure in vessels
that are fearful. And you know what I'm talking
about. There are times when you're afraid. There are times when
I'm afraid. And we say, well, we preach God
is sovereign. We're preaching God is in control
of this. But there are times that we're afraid, fearful. Ezra was fearful of the journey,
that's why he proclaimed to fast. But here's the strength of every
child of God, and this is the strength. This is the strength. Every child of God who is carrying
this treasure through this life, this is what the Apostle Paul
said. Here is the strength. The Apostle Paul told the Corinthians,
when I am weak, I mean, when I'm weak, I'm truly
weak, truly weak in self, truly weak in our vessels. When we
are weak, then in Christ, in Him. in His vessel, in His body,
in His ability, are we strong. We're strong. In our moments
of weakness, if we will do what Ezra did, and I want to learn
this, if we will do what Ezra did, we will be strong. What
did Ezra do? Chapter 8, verse 21. He said, then I proclaimed a
fast there. Fasting is denying yourself. That's what fasting is. Denying
yourself. He said, I denied my will. I
denied my way. I denied my ability. I completely
denied my own ability. I denied the arm of the flesh
in every way, shape, and form. And I cried out to my God in
all my helplessness. I cried out to my God. Verse
21, He said, Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of
Ahava, that we might afflict ourselves, lower ourselves, humble
ourselves, bow before our God to seek of Him a right way for
us and for our little ones and for all our substance. Ezra said, I denied everything
in me, of me, by me, and I cried, Lord, show me Your will. Show
me your way. Show me the right way. What is
the right way? Christ. Show us Christ. Show us Christ. In that moment of weakness, show
us Christ. Show us what He's done for us.
Show us how He cares for us. Show us our provision in Him. Ezra said, I entreated Him, and
in verse 23, he said, we fasted and besought our God for this,
and He was entreated of us. If we need to see the right way
for us, for our little ones, and for our substance, the way
that will carry us home, the way that will get us there. If we need some comfort for the
journey, then let's right now forget every thought and every
rationalization and every reliance on the arm of the flesh. Let's
right now forget every thought That's the first thing this flesh
does. How can I fix it? How can I get us out of this?
Let's right now forget every thought, every rationalization,
every reliance on the arm of the flesh, and let's entreat
the Lord. Entreat the Lord's Word, and
let's see what He has to say to us. Look with me at Matthew
6. This is what the Lord has to
say to us. Verse 24, He said, No man can
serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love
the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life. Boy, that's hard to do, isn't
it? What you shall eat. Here's what
he said, Lord, what's the right way for us? What would you have
us to do? He said, don't even think about what you're going
to eat. That's the right way for you. What you shall drink. Nor yet for your body, what you
shall put on. He goes on down to say just look
at the birds, look at the flowers, look at the grass. Verse 33, Lord show us the right
way. What's the right way? What do
we need to do right now? Verse 33, seek ye first the kingdom
of God and His righteousness. And all these things shall be
added unto you. I just, I don't see how my way
is going to be a prosperous way. We're carrying all this gold
and silver. We've got this treasure and there's thieves and robbers.
And he said, you just seek the kingdom of heaven and his righteousness. That means keep your eyes on
Christ and he'll take care of everything. I just don't see
how I'm going to provide for myself and provide for my little
ones." He said, take no thought for it. But don't you think we ought
to have a backup plan just in case? He said, take no thought
for it. Look to Christ. You trust Christ. You keep your eyes on Christ.
Deny yourself. Deny your thoughts. Deny your
way. Deny your ability. Stand still
and see the salvation of the Lord. Keep your eyes on His righteousness
and everything you need will be provided for you. Everything.
Turn over to Proverbs 3. Lord, show us the right way for
us. What's the right way? Here it
is. Proverbs 3, verse 5. Trust in the Lord with all your
heart. Everything you got in there.
Don't put any trust, don't save any trust for anybody else or
anything else. Trust in the Lord with all thine
heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. I know you
think this other way would be better. Forget that. Don't take
thought for that. In all thy ways acknowledge Him
and He shall direct thy paths. Look at Psalm 37. Lord, which way should we go?
What should we do? Look at Psalm 37, verse 23. The steps of a good man are ordered
by the Lord. and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not
be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand. I have been young, and now am
old, Yet have I never seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed
begging bread. He is ever merciful, and lendeth,
and his seed is blessed. Blessed. What that means is,
though he fall, even that fall will work together for good.
to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to His purpose. In Christ, never will we be cast
down. Never will we be cast away. David
said, on the authority of the Word of God and on behalf of
every soul that has been made righteous in the person of Christ,
he said, you will not be forsaken and you will never be begging
bread. His ways are not our ways. What's the right way? Lord, what's
the right way? His ways are not our ways. We
cannot always understand the path that he leads us in, but
we know it's a path of righteousness. He is leading us, and it's a
path of righteousness. It's a path of deliverance. It's
a path of salvation, and it's a path of goodness. He only leads
in paths of goodness. Always. We'll close with this. Go to Psalm 27, where we read
a moment ago, this is the same prayer as reprayed. Same words,
different man. This is that fasting, this is
that self-affliction, seeking Him, His right way. Verse 11,
Teach me Thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path because
of mine enemies. Deliver me not over unto the
will of mine enemies, for false witnesses are risen up against
me, and such as breathe out cruelty. I had fainted unless I had believed
to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living." Wait
on the Lord. Be of good courage and He shall
strengthen thine heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord. Wait on the Lord. Seek the kingdom
of God and His righteousness. He'll take care of everything. Everything. He'll deliver you
safely. All the way home. All the way
there. Cast all your care on Him. He careth for you. Ezra heard that and he said,
time to go fellas. Let's go. Keep your eyes on Christ
and He'll direct you in His good and right way. Alright, let's
all stand together.