1 Corinthians 3, we have been looking
at the book of Ezra. And that book is about the rebuilding
of God's temple. The rebuilding, Jerusalem was
destroyed and the temple, God's temple was destroyed. And we
are going to look tonight at chapter five in the book of Ezra. But before we do, I want us to
understand this. And I want us to see Ezra chapter
five in light of this. This was a true blessing to my
heart. Right here in first Corinthians
chapter three, verse 16 says, know ye not that ye are the temple
of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth
in you. If any man defile the temple
of God, him shall God destroy, for the temple of God is holy
which temple you are. He said, the temple of God. This
is all about the rebuilding of the temple. If any man defiles
the temple, it's going to be destroyed. And it was, but God
said, I'm going to rebuild it because he said the temple of
God is holy, which temple you are. You are look at second Corinthians
chapter six. 2 Corinthians 6 verse 16, in what
agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the
temple of the living God. As God hath said, I will dwell
in them and walk in them and I will be their God and they
shall be my people. One more, turn over to Colossians
chapter one. Colossians 1, verse 27, to whom
God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this
mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of
glory. You think about for all those
years, the temple is where God dwelled. He said, I'll be in
there. I'll meet you at the mercy seat. That's where I'll meet you. The
place where blood is shed, blood is sprinkled. If you want to
meet with me, then you need to have a high priest come into
this place, not without blood, and I'll meet with you inside
there. Well now, he says to us, I'll meet with you inside you. I'll come inside you. You are
the temple of the living God. That is amazing. Now with that
in mind, go with me to Ezra chapter five. Everything we see tonight in
the rebuilding of the temple, let's see it in light of God's
work, rebuilding the temple of each one of his people. their individual salvation, our
individual destruction, and our individual reinstatement, rebuilding,
revival. You are the temple of the living
God. Now to recap the story so far,
chapter 1 told us that Israel sinned against God. And because
of that sin, they were taken into captivity and bondage. But God delivered them through
his appointed King. And spiritually speaking, we
were all taken into bondage because of our sin, but we were delivered
through Christ our King. Chapter two told us that a particular
number of souls were delivered. An exact number, particular people
to a particular place. Chapter three told us that after
those particular people were set free from their bondage,
they worshiped God. They worshiped the true and living
God. And it says they laid the foundation
of God's work. They laid that foundation, God's
work. Other foundation could no man
lay. Chapter four told us that after
that firm foundation was laid, works tried to creep in with
grace. The servants of man's idols,
the servants of free will, the servants of man's works, they
tried to come to the people of God and they tried to say, let's
all come together in a compromise. Let's just all compromise this
thing. We'll all just work together on this. But the servants of
the true God said, there is no compromise. Man's works will never build
this temple. And is that not so true? Man's
works will never build this temple. Never. It's grace alone. I pray the Lord might reveal
that to men and women, how peaceful it is, how restful it is. When
men get ahold of the fact that it's grace alone, man's works
will not build this temple. It's faith alone. It's the scriptures
alone. It's Christ alone. It's the glory
of God alone. Well, opposition came because
of that. In every form that opposition
could come. But in spite of all the opposition,
God's work continued on. And let's keep in mind that we
just read, you are the temple of the living God. Everything
we say about this, let's realize this is us individually, God's
precious rebuilding of our temple. All right, God's work in spite
of all this opposition. God's work continued on tonight
in chapter five. This is what's going to happen
in the bill building of it. The law is going to examine it. It's going to examine the work. All right. God's people were
centers. Redeemed centers, particularly redeemed centers. who cry not
by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to
his mercy, he saved us. He satisfied justice. He paid
our debt. He set us free. He washed us
and he made us clean in his own blood. All right, now the law
comes and the law says, I'll be the judge of that. That's
what we're crying. The law comes and says, I'm gonna
be the judge of that. All right, let's read through
chapter five and we'll see the story and see the spiritual significance
along with it. Verse one, then the prophets
of Haggai, then the prophets, Haggai the prophet and Zechariah,
the son of Edo, prophesied unto the Jews that were in Judah in
Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, even unto them,
Then rose up Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and 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." And that line just struck me. I enjoyed
that line so much. All through the scripture, God's
prophets, His preachers, they're not sissies. They're not sissies. They're men. Men today, they
want to be priests and they want to be preachers and they want
to wear their robes and they want to wear their soft raiment
and they're sissies. Our Lord said about John the
Baptist, he said, what did you expect to see? A man in soft
raiment? That man wears camel's hair.
He eats locusts. Our Lord himself was a carpenter. I got to think about that line
of work. He was a carpenter. He baked
in the sun all day and he hauled lumber. He was a man. He was
a man. But men today are trying to make
him a sissy. Only a man could withstand the
beating and the torture that he endured on his way to the
cross. Do you know that it says most people didn't make it to
the cross from the beating before? He was a man. Our Lord is a man. That woman at the well said,
come see a man. When we see him, we're going
to see a man. Well, this physical work was
announced and God's prophets Haggai and Zechariah rolled their
sleeves up and they got right in there with them. They said,
let's get this done. Verse two, then rose up Zerubbabel, the
son of Shealtiel and Jeshua, the son of Josedek and began
to build the house of God, which is at Jerusalem. And with them
were the prophets of God helping them. At the same time came to
them Tatnai, governor on this side of the river, and Sheethar
Bosnai, and their companions, and said thus unto them, who
hath commanded you to build this house and to make up this wall? Then said we unto them after
this manner, what are the names of the men that make this building? This man, Tatni the governor,
and Shethar Bosni and their companions, they represent the law. And they've come to God's people
inspecting and inquiring. They want to know who gave commandment
to do this and who's doing the work. And that's exactly what
the law does to God's people, knowing that by nature we're
sinners. The law comes to each one of God's people and it must
inspect who started this and who is finishing this. Everything
that is done must be done according to the law, because if the law
is not satisfied, it is all gonna come down. If the law is not
satisfied, it's all coming down. And that's how it is with a sinner
before God. God does not just hide his sin under a rug. God does not just sweep the sin
away. He won't do any good. The law
would find it. The law will always find it.
The law leaves no stone unturned. All of the books will be open.
That's what the scripture says. Everything that is recorded,
it's all going to be open. And if one discrepancy is found,
it's all coming down. One discrepancy. The law does
not demand this on its own. It's not the only one demanding
this perfection. God cannot sweep the sins of
His people under the rug because He will not sweep the sins of
His people under a rug. He will by no means. The law
is His law. It's the record of His character.
The law is holy because He, the lawgiver, is holy. He is holy. So verse three says, at the same
time came to them, Tat and I, governor on this side of the
river, and Shethar, Bosnia, and their companions, and said thus
unto them, who hath commanded you to build this house and to
make up this wall? Then said we unto them after
this manner, what are the names of the men that make this building?
But 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. The work never stopped. It never
stopped. God's eye was on his law, and
God's eye was on his people, and it was all according to the
working of his mighty power. But the governor, the law, he
did a diligent search. A letter was written in verse
six says, the copy of the letter that Tatni, governor on this
side of the river, and Shethar Bosni and his companions, the
Apharsakites, which were on this side of the river, sent unto
Darius the king. They sent a letter unto him wherein
was written thus. This is what the letter said.
Unto Darius, the king, all peace. Be it known unto the king that
we went into the province of Judea to the house of the great
God, which is builded with great stones and timber is laid in
the walls and this work goeth fast on and prospereth in their
hands. They said, this work is moving. This house is being built. God's
work is prospering. They went through a phase where
they caused it to cease. And we read just a moment ago
in Haggai that all the people said, it's not time to build
the Lord's house. They stopped us. We got opposition
and they stopped us. It must not be time to build
the Lord's house. And the Lord said, are you gonna go home to
your house and leave my house undone? Through Haggai, he said,
it is time and I'm with you. Then all the people rose up and
said, it's time, let's go to work. So they came and said,
this work is moving, this is being built. God's work is prospering. He is not failing. All the building
fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord. That's what is taking place right
now. All the building, Fitly framed
together, that's Ephesians 2, groweth unto a holy temple in
the Lord. Peter said, as lively stones,
a spiritual house is being built up to offer spiritual sacrifices
acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. That's what's happening. The
work is moving on and it's prospering in his hands. Verse eight says,
be it known unto the king that we went into the province of
Judea to the house of the great God, which is builded with great
stones and timber is laid in the walls. And this work go with
fast on and prosperous in prosperous in their hands. Then asked we
those elders and said unto them thus, who commanded you to build
this house and to make up these walls? We asked their names also
to certify thee that we might write the names of the men that
were the chief of them. And thus they returned us answer
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 it and set up. They said they wouldn't
even tell us their names. We asked them for their names
and they would not tell us. We asked them, what right do
you have to be here? They said, we're not here on
our right. We're here on the right of another. We said, what's your name? They
said, we're just a voice crying in the wilderness. He must increase. We must decrease. Our names are
not important. Our names are not important. There's only one name given among
men whereby we must be safe. Who's doing this? What is your
name? What difference does that make? We're going to put lights
on it. What difference does that make?
There's only one name given among men whereby we must be safe. Verse 10, we asked their names
also to certify thee that we might write the names of the
men that were the chief of them. And thus they returned us answer
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 and set up before the foundation
of the world. Verse 12, but after that our
fathers had provoked the God of heaven under 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. But in the first year of Cyrus,
who does Cyrus represent? Galatians 4 says, but when the
fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his son made of
a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were under the
law that we might receive the adoption of sons. Didn't our
God make man in his image? And he said, that's very good,
but man ruined it. Man destroyed it. Man fell into
bondage because of it. And man stayed right there until
Cyrus came, until Christ came. Cyrus represents our Lord Jesus
Christ. Verse 13, but in the first year
of Cyrus, the king of Babylon, the same king, Cyrus made a decree
to build this house of God. Cyrus made the decree. Cyrus
started this work. That's what they finally answered.
He decreed the start of it. He decreed the end of it. Cyrus
gets all the glory for it. You don't need to know our names.
This is the only name you need to know. Cyrus. Christ. You don't need to know our names.
This is the only name you need to know. The Lord Jesus Christ. He gets all the glory for this. Verse 14, And the vessels also
of gold and silver of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar
took out of the temple that was in Jerusalem, and brought them
into the temple of Babylon, those did Cyrus the king take out of
the temple of Babylon, and they were delivered unto one whose
name was Shesh-bezar, whom he had made governor. All the glory
and all the riches and all the honor Cyrus took all of it and
he delivered it to this man Sheshbazar. And his name means worshiper
of fire. Worshipped of fire. Worshipped in the fire. Worshipped
because of the fire. That's what Christ did for his
people. He took all of the glory and all of the riches and all
of the honor of heaven which was himself. and He gave it to
the fire. The fire of God's wrath for the
sin of His people. And then once His glory was delivered
to the fire, and the fire had consumed all the dross of the
sin of His people, and refined all of the beauty and all of
the perfection of His salvation, verse 15 says, He said, take these vessels,
go carry them into the temple. Now, what is the temple? He said, we are. If we are his
chosen, redeemed, called people. that He's purposed to reside
in. Verse 15, He said unto him, Take
these vessels, go, carry them into the temple that is in Jerusalem,
and let the house of God be builded in his place. Then came the same
Shesh Bezar, this worshiped in the fire, worshiped because of
the fire, Christ crucified, and laid the foundation of the house
of God, which is in Jerusalem. And since that time, even until
now, hath it been in building, and yet it is not finished. Now therefore, 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. With Christ being crucified,
the law says to the King, let's do a search on these people.
And it does. It does. These people that have
been delivered. and have been made to bow to
the true and living God. These people who are built on
the firm foundation, let there be a search made to see if these
things be so. And I want to know if these things
are so. I want to know, what is my true
standing before God? The law says, are they truly
guiltless? Are they truly spotless? I mean,
truly spotless. We're going to look at chapter
six next time, but chapter six, verse one says, the King said,
make this urge. Chapter six, verse one says,
then Darius, the King made a decree and search was made in the house
of the roles where the treasures were laid up in Babylon. And
there was found at AC Mita. in the palace that is in the
province of the Medes, a roll, and therein was a record thus
written, in the first year of Cyrus the king, the same Cyrus
the king made a decree concerning the house of God at Jerusalem,
let the house be built. At the command of God the king,
the search was made, and this is what the law found. Not guilty. Perfect righteousness. Not one
transgression against the law. And that is exactly how it's
going to be for God's people. The same thing is going to happen
to every single child of God. And this will be the outcome
every single time. Turn with me to Jeremiah 50,
we're gonna close with this. Jeremiah 50 verse 20. In those days, and in that time,
saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for,
and there shall be none. And the sins of Judah, and they
shall not be found, for I will pardon them whom I reserve. Continue on, you're free to go."
That's what the law said, continue on. Came and said, who gave you
the right to do this? Who's building this? Deep search
was made back into the deep roles of the king, the writing of the
king. And the law after reading it said, continue on. Certificate
of occupancy. you're free to go. Except the
Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. But if
God builds the house, it's going to be built. All right, let's
all stand together.