Alright, turn with me now if
you would to the book of Ezra. Ezra chapter 7. It's a few books before the Psalms. Job is before it, Nehemiah is
before that. Ezra. Ezra chapter 7. Like every other book in the
Bible, just like every other 66 books, just like 65 other
ones. Ezra, the whole book of Ezra
is the story of deliverance. The story of deliverance. It's
the story of the salvation of God's people. Salvation is not
sweet to anyone until they're lost, until they're in trouble,
until they're going down, until it's me. Once it becomes me,
salvation is the most beautiful thing a person has ever experienced,
ever known. And this is the story of our
salvation. Now, each time with each chapter,
we recap what we have seen in this book so far, and I'm gonna
do that. And as we recap this physical
building, this book is about the rebuilding of the temple
in Jerusalem. Israel was carried away into
Babylon for 70 years in captivity, and the Lord delivered them Jerusalem
was destroyed during that time. The temple was destroyed during
that time. And God gave commandment to bring
the people out and rebuild Jerusalem and specifically right here,
first thing, the temple. So As we recap this physical
building, let's see the spiritual application to God's people.
Let's relate these things spiritually, all right? The people were chosen. The people were chosen. He called
out, he named, we went through chapter two and it had all these
particular names from these particular families and these particular
places. They were named. It was a particular
people. The commandment was given. God's
house was decreed. It was not offered. It was not
an option. When y'all get back over to Jerusalem,
if you wouldn't mind building the temple, it was not an option.
It was decreed and commanded. Exact blueprints were given from
the king. He gave exact dimensions, how
it was to be done, what the outcome would be. We sing at Calvary,
it says, oh, the love that drew salvation's blueprint. Plan, meaning blueprint. God doesn't have a plan, God
has a purpose. Everything that was needed was
supplied. Everything. From the conception
of it, to the execution of it, to the completion of it. And
again, let's relate this to salvation. The king paid the price. The king himself, the one who
decreed it, is the one who paid it. He paid for it all. The foundation was laid. Everything
about it was by the book, according to the role. We read of they
had to go search the records and they found a role, the scripture. It was all according to the scripture. The work was examined. It was
inspected. And in that inspection, it was
determined that judgment was met and the law was satisfied. Everything right down the line.
Everybody said, yes, this is exactly okay with me. It's the
way it ought to be. God's temple was purposed, purchased,
and finished. Totally finished. That's what
chapter six told us. If you look at the middle of
verse 14, chapter six, verse 14, it says, they built it and
finished it. according to the commandment
of the God of Israel, and according to the commandment of Cyrus,
who represents Christ, and Darius, who represents Christ, and Artaxerxes,
who represents Christ, king of Persia. Physically, this temple
was built through the reign of three kings. God used all three of them to
represent Christ the King, all three of them. Now, there are
three main characters in chapter seven, all right? We're about
to look at chapter seven, and there's three main characters.
We have Ezra, we have King Artaxerxes, and we have Israel. Ezra represents
God's preacher. As we look at this, Nehemiah, the book of Nehemiah
is at the same time, the same men are in Nehemiah that's in
Ezra and it says in Nehemiah 8 that Ezra stood up, they called
him, they said would you bring the law of Moses to us and they
built a pulpit of wood and he stood on a pulpit of wood and
preached to all the people. is God's preacher. Artaxerxes
represents Christ the king, the king of kings. And Israel represents
all of the chosen people of God, out of every tribe, every nation,
every kindred, every tongue, and thank God, every generation,
every soul that the father chose to save, Israel. Now after the
work was declared to be finished, that's where we were chapter
six, it was finished. After it was declared to be finished
from the foundation all the way up to this man Zerubbabel laying
the final headstone. After the cry went out, it is
finished. It's over. It's complete. After that cry was cried, now
the king of kings calls a man and he says to him, I want you
to go preach it. The work was finished. It was
ordered, it was chosen, ordered, started, finished, done. And now he calls a man and he
says, I want you to go preach it. I want you to go tell my
people what I have done. D-O-N-E, done. Not what I am
going to do, not what I'm trying to do. You go tell what I've
done. And if we want to know what true
gospel preaching is, it's this. We are telling people what Christ
has done. And then we close the book and
walk out of the door. That's it, that's it. We just
declare what Christ has done. All right, so Ezra 7 verse 1,
it says, now after these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes, king
of Persia, Ezra, the son of Sariah, the son of Azariah, the son of
Hilkiah, the son of Shalom, the son of Zadok, the son of Ahathub,
the son of Amariah, the son of Azariah, the son of Meraoth,
the son of Zarahiah, the son of Uzziah, the son of Bukhi,
the son of Abishua, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar,
the son of Aaron, the chief priest. This was a particularly called
man. And he gave exactly who this
man is. If you want to know, well, which
Ezra is he talking about? He's talking about that Ezra. God specifically calls his preachers. They are not random men who just
decide one day that they want to be a preacher. I'm thinking
about a career change. I think I'll just be a preacher.
They are specifically called men who are given a specific
message. Hold your place right here and
look with me at Romans chapter 10. Romans 10 verse 13 says, whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then
shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how
shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And
how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent? God specifically calls whom he
will to speak his message on his behalf. Now there's no, here
I am a preacher saying this, I understand that. There is no
room for boasting in this. He called a donkey one time to
do this. He can call anyone or anything
he wants to call. The Apostle Paul said, concerning himself, he said,
my great fear is after I preach to you, I find myself to be a
castaway. So there's no room for arrogance. God selects his pawns, and that's
what I am, a puppet on a string, pawn. He selects them as he sees
fit, but I will tell you, it is a great honor to be one. It's
a great honor to be one. So back in Ezra 7, verse 6, It says, this Ezra went up from
Babylon, and he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which the
Lord God of Israel had given, and the king granted him all
his requests according to the hand of the Lord his God was
upon him. And there went up some of the
children of Israel, and of the priest and the Levites and the
singers and the porters and the Nethanims unto Jerusalem in the
seventh year of Artaxerxes the king. And he came to Jerusalem
in the fifth month, which was the seventh year of the king.
For upon the first day of the first month began he to go up
from Babylon. And on the first day of the fifth
month came he to Jerusalem according to the good hand of his God upon
him. For Ezra had prepared his heart
to seek the law of the Lord and to do it and to teach in Israel
statutes and judgments. It says, Ezra prepared his heart. It is true, the lot is cast into
the lap. When God calls a man, he has
an inner conviction. It says, Ezra prepared his heart,
and Ezra did prepare his heart. The lot was cast into the lap,
but here's the reality. The whole disposing was of the
Lord. Now what that means is God prepared
his heart. The only reason Ezra prepared
his heart is because God prepared his heart. And that's how it
is with all of God's people. Preacher or hearer, it doesn't
matter. When God moves on a sinner, he
prepares his heart. He prepares his heart to receive
his word. He prepares the ear, He prepares
the knee to bend. And when God goes to work, He
finishes the work every time. If He prepares a heart, then
the heart is going to receive whatever He prepared it for.
And I'm so thankful to know that. It's not left up to the preacher. This is in the hands of the Lord.
The preacher is commanded to declare the word and God will
take the word and slay men with it. And it's a glorious thing
to see. He slayed every one of us, didn't
he? Well, David said in Psalm 27,
he said, when you said, seek ye my face, my heart said unto
thee, thy face, Lord, will I see. What that meant is David had
no interest. David was concerned about his
sheep, counting his herd, counting his money. And then all of a
sudden God moved on him. And God said, seek my face. And David said, Thy face, Lord,
will I seek. David's heart said, I will seek
Thee. I want to seek Thee, but only
after the Lord said, seek me. So God's preacher, Ezra, is called,
and now the preacher is going to receive a message from the
king. Verse 11. It says, now this is
the copy of the letter that the king, Artaxerxes, gave unto Ezra
the priest, the scribe, even a scribe of the words of the
commandments of the Lord and of his statutes to Israel. He
was called to deliver the words of the commandments of the Lord
and of his statutes to Israel. He was called to preach the word. That is the surefire way that
you can know whether or not a preacher is lying to you. We need to always remember this.
God's true preachers preach the Word and only the Word. I need to always remember this.
God's true preachers preach the Word and only the Word. They say, they very plainly say,
this is what God says and then they show you that God did indeed
say that. They don't just say well now
you know the Bible says and then say what they want to say. They
say this is what God says and then they prove it. They show
you in the word. When I first started preaching
A man, a very dear man, told me over and over and over again,
he said, tell them and then show them. Tell them and show them. Tell them and show them. If you
would like clout, what's the word I'm looking
for? Show them. Show them. When we see it with
our own two eyes, there's no denying it. There it is. Tell
them and show them. God's true preachers, their message
is according to the scripture. Everything that they have to
say about Christ is according to the scripture. They don't declare Him to be
whatever they want Him to be. They declare Him to be what He
is. Everything that they have to
say about man is according to the scripture. They don't declare
man in a non-offensive way, in an appeasing way. They declare
man the way the scripture declares man, and it's not good. This
word has nothing good to say about me outside of Christ. The only thing good that this
word has to say about me is in the Lord Jesus Christ. God's true preacher, everything
that he has to say about salvation is according to the scripture.
It's according to how God says it is. There's a lot of tradition
out there. There's so much tradition. Men
pass things down, it becomes ingrained in doctrines, denominations,
and men and women get it in their minds. And I understand, there's
some things I had in my mind that you believe, well, that's
according to the word. Come to find out it's not. There's
a lot of tradition, there's a lot of opinion. A God-called preacher
will throw all that out and he will only preach God's Word,
whatever it says. Verse 11, now this is the copy
of the letter that the king, Artaxerxes, gave unto Ezra the
priest, the scribe, even a scribe of the words of the commandments
of the Lord and of his statutes to Israel. All right, he wrote
a letter, and this is what it said. Artaxerxes, king of kings. Now, in Artaxerxes on flesh,
that's a very arrogant thing to say. That's a very pride-filled,
self-righteous thing to say. We could take the time to expose
this man's sin, but we all know he's a sinner. As a picture of
Christ, he has written what he has written. Just like when Pilate
wrote above the Lord's cross, this is the King of the Jews. And the Pharisees wanted Pilate
to change it, and he said, no, what I've written, I've written.
As a picture of Christ, what he wrote, he wrote. Verse 12,
Artaxerxes, king of kings, unto Ezra the priest, a scribe of
the law of the God of heaven. This is what he has to say. Perfect
peace. Perfect peace. That is his greeting
from the king of kings. That's his greeting. Perfect
peace. It's finished. Grace be to you
and peace. Peace with God. This is his greeting. No more judgment. No more condemnation. Stayed upon Jehovah. Hearts are
fully blessed, finding, as he promised, perfect peace and rest. Verse 12 says, Artaxerxes, king
of kings, unto Ezra the priest, a scribe of the law of the God
of heaven, perfect peace. And at such a time, I make a
decree that all they of the people of Israel, a particular people. This message is for a particular
people. He said in verse 13, I make a
decree that all they of the people of Israel, And of his priests
and Levites in my realm, which are minded of their own free
will to go up to Jerusalem, go with thee. All right, wait a
minute. He said of their own free will. Does that mean God's people really
are saved of their own free will? No. Their deliverance was by
the decree and the payment of the king. He just made them willing
in the day of his power. Not one sinner that Christ has
redeemed has ever left the bondage of captivity kicking and screaming. Not one. Not one. You know, a lot of people, and
this is such a silly thing, and I think when I was young, I thought
this myself, but some people think, well, I don't know if
I want to be saved. I kind of want to go have my
fun and do my this and whatever. Not one child of God that has
ever been saved from destruction and bondage and captivity has
ever come kicking and screaming. Not one. By Him making them free,
by Him making them willing, they come running freely and willingly,
so willingly, of their own free will. Christ made freedom and
newly given will. He gives them a brand new will.
They joyfully, happily cry. This is what they cry. This is
James 1 18. Of his own will begat he us with
the word of truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of
his creatures. They come crying. It's all of his will. Verse 14 says, for as much as
thou art sent of the king, that's Christ, and of his seven counselors,
that's the perfect wisdom and word of God, the inspiration
of the Holy Ghost, to inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem
according to the law of thy God, which is in thy hand, and to
carry silver and gold, that's the unsearchable riches of Christ,
Right here in our hand, we carry in our hand the unsearchable
glory, the unsearchable riches of Christ. This is the key to
salvation, the key to heaven, the key to glory, the key to
God. The riches, the gift, the unsearchable riches
of His, His body, His blood, His mercy, His sacrifice, everything
that was offered to God on our behalf. Verse 15, it says, To
carry the silver and gold which the king and his counselors have
freely offered unto the God of Israel, whose habitation is in
Jerusalem, and all the silver and gold that thou canst find
in all the province of Babylon, with the free will offering of
the people and of the priest offering willingly for the house
of their God, which is in Jerusalem. Christ, our high priest made
that offer willingly. He did it willingly. He did it
for the joy set before him. All right, now, this is the message
that was told to the preacher. This is what he was told to tell.
All of these riches that are provided, Everything that's freely
given, the king said in verse 17, you tell them that thou mayest
buy speedily with this money, bullocks, rams, lambs with their
meat offerings and their drink offerings and offer them upon
the altar of the house of your God, which is in Jerusalem. and whatsoever shall seem good
to thee and to thy brethren to do with the rest of the silver
and of the gold that do after the will of your God. He said,
you tell them that these freely bestowed riches, they're all you need to make
your sacrifice to God. What I am providing to you is
everything you need to make a sacrifice to God and these freely bestowed
riches are all you need for all you need. Everything you need. Jesus Christ, the unsearchable
riches is made to be all I need. All I need. One of these days,
we're going to go meet God. And we are going to find in that
day that Christ was made to be all we needed. All we need. He's all we need. Whoever has
Christ has everything. And whoever does not have Christ
doesn't have anything. Nothing. All the riches this
world has, all these big accounts and the land, and it means nothing. It's going to be gone. So he
said, I'm going to provide all you need. Verse 19, the vessels
also that are given thee for the service of the house of God,
those deliver thou before the God of Jerusalem. and whatsoever
more shall be needful for the house of thy God, which thou
shalt have occasion to bestow, bestow it out of the king's treasure
house. He said, all that I have is yours. What he said is I'm opening the
doors of the king's treasure house and whatever you need,
you come right on in and get it. The scripture says, he that spared
not his own son, but delivered him up for us all. How shall
he not with him also freely give us all things?" Whatever you
need. You may go freely and get it
right out of the king's storehouse. What is the king's storehouse? It's not a what, it's a who. All of the fullness of God, all
of the blessings of God, all the riches of God are in Christ. They are all in Christ. He said,
you tell the people, because it's finished, they now can come
boldly right up to the throne of grace, that they may obtain
mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Verse 21, and
even I, our desert sees the king, do make a decree to all the treasurers
which are beyond the river, that whatsoever Ezra the priest, the
scribe of the law of the God of heaven shall require of you,
it be done speedily. unto an hundred talents of silver,
and to an hundred measures of wheat, and to an hundred baths
of wine, and to an hundred baths of oil." He said, I make a decree
to supply all your need. And if Christ finished the work
for you, you have all you need. The scripture says you will never
be forsaken or begging bread. He will supply all your need
for our good. He said, I'm not going to give
you all of your want. I'm going to put a limit on everything
up to your need. He said in verse 22 unto and
hundred talents of silver up to a hundred measures of wheat. I'm going to put a limit up to
your need on all of my provisions for you, except for one thing. On this one thing, he said, you
can have all you want, all you can hold. Verse 22. He said,
unto a hundred talents of silver, and to a hundred measures of
wheat, and to a hundred baths of wine, and to a hundred baths
of oil, and salt without prescribing how much. He said, when it comes
to salt, you can have as much as you want, all you want, without
prescribing how much. Listen to what Charles Spurgeon
said about this verse. He said, salt was used in every
offering made by fire unto the Lord, every single offering.
And from its preserving and purifying properties, it was the grateful
emblem of divine grace in the soul. When you see salt in the
scripture, it represents divine grace, the grace of God. It is
worthy of our attentive regard that when Artaxerxes gave salt
to Ezra the priest, he set no limit to the quantity. And we
may be quite certain that when the king of kings distributes
grace among his royal priesthood, the supply is not cut short by
him, never. He said, a man may have too much
money and a man may, a man may have too much money for his own
good. He said, a man may have too much honor, but he can't
have too much grace. I tell you, I don't know if she's
even up here. When Isabella was little, real little, she was old enough
to walk and talk and feed herself and that kind of stuff. But when
she was real little, she used to cram all of her food in her
mouth at one time. And we were constantly saying,
that's too much. No, that's too much. She'd reach
for something with two hands, you know, we'd offer her something.
We go, that's too much. That's too much. Well, one time
we were sitting at the dinner table, doling out food and she
held her plate up to something she liked and said, I want too
much. I want too much of that. Give
me a lot of that." Well, God said when it comes to grace,
if you need the grace of God, if you need the kindness and
favor and mercy and blood and gift of the Lord Jesus Christ,
He said you can have all you want. That's the one thing I
will not put a limit on. All you want. "'No amount is too much.' Spurgeon
went on to say, "'Believer, go to the throne "'for a large supply
of heavenly salt. "'It will season thine afflictions,
"'which are unsavory without salt. "'It will preserve thy
heart, "'which corrupts if salt be absent, "'and it will kill
thy sins, "'even as salt kills reptiles.'" Our adversary is
known as a reptile. He said, thou needest much, seek
much, and have much. If salt is grace, if that's what
it represents, then ultimately what is it? It's Christ. It's Christ. He is the grace. He is the gift. And he said,
you can have me without measure. Without measure. For your good
I'm going to put a limit on all of these things." But he said,
concerning me, come and dine. Open your mouth, he said, I'll
fill it. whatsoever is commanded by the
God of heaven, let it be diligently done for the house of the God
of heaven, for why should there be wrath against the realm of
the king and his sons? Also, we certify you that touching
any of the priests and Levites, singers, porters, nephenims,
or ministers of this house of God, it shall not be lawful to
impose toll, tribute, or custom upon them. The Lord asked his
disciples one time, he said, who do the kings of the earth
take custom or tribute from? Meaning tax. Their children or strangers?
Peter said, of strangers. The Lord said, then are the children
free? They're free. He said, do not
take one toll, one tribute or one custom from them. Why? They're mine. They're my own
and they're free. Verse 25, And thou, Ezra, after
the wisdom of thy God that is in thine 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. He said, Go unto all the world,
Ezra, and preach this message. Go preach this gospel, verse
26. And whosoever will not do the law of thy God and the law
of the king, let judgment be executed speedily upon him, whether
it be unto death or to banishment or to confiscation of goods or
to imprisonment. Preach this word to all men.
He that believeth not shall be damned. But he that believeth,
he that believes on Christ, and is immersed by the Holy Spirit
into his person, into his work, into his blood shall be saved. All right, now this is Ezra's
response to the message he's been given. And you're gonna
see in these last two verses, he's beside himself. And I am
too. And this is the reason why. I
don't have to stand up here and tell you that you got to do better. I don't have to stand up here
and whip you. I don't have to stand up here and do anything
other than say Christ paid all your debt. Christ has set you
free. Christ has satisfied God. Christ
has satisfied the law. Christ has satisfied everything
concerning you. Rest. Lay back and enjoy yourself. Just rest. That is, I'm so thankful
that's the message I get to tell. Verse 27, this is His response. He said, blessed be the Lord
God of our fathers, which hath put such a thing as this in the
king's heart to beautify the house of the Lord, which is in
Jerusalem, and hath extended mercy unto me before the king
and his counselors and before all the king's mighty princes. I know that feeling. I just thank
God he'd have mercy on me. I'm up here preaching mercy,
thanking God that he would have mercy on me. The Apostle Paul
described it perfectly. He said, unto me, who am less
than the least of all saints, is this grace given that I should
preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.
What a calling. What an honor. Well, he went
on to say, 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 gathered these men and he
said, come with me, let's go preach this gospel. We just got
word from the king, and look how wonderful it is. Let's all
go preach it. Called to a message. Let's go
preach it. Man, that's wonderful. All right,
let's all stand together. Turn with me if you would to
431.