on that first song, every time
I sing that line, it helps me. So forget about yourself and
concentrate on him and worship him. Every time I sing that,
I think, oh yeah, may the Lord help us to do that. Turn with me now, if you would,
to Ezra chapter three. Ezra chapter 3. So far in this glorious book,
this is a glorious book. I have so enjoyed reading this
book. So far we have seen God's people
taken into captivity because of their sin. They sinned against
God. They forgot their God. But we saw in chapter one how
God declared deliverance for them. Our God is so good. He is so kind and he's so merciful. God declared a restoring for
them. They just completely sinned against
him and forgot about him and did everything that he told them
not to do. but he declared a restoring for
them. He declared a rebuilding for
them through God's appointed and anointed king, a man named
Cyrus, who represents the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ, our king,
the king of kings. Through him, all things and all
of God's people were delivered back to Zion. Last Sunday night,
saw in chapter two, who the particular people were that God chose to
bring out, bring out of that captivity. If you look at chapter
two, verse one, it says, now, these are the children of the
province that went up out of the captivity of those which
had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon had carried
away unto Babylon. and came again unto Jerusalem
and Judah, every one unto his city. Judah was a big region
and it had cities like Jerusalem and Bethlehem and places like
that inside Judah. We closed the message last Sunday
night after the message was over. We closed the service with the
song, Marching to Zion. That's the last song that we
sang. While we were singing that song, I was standing right here
leading that song. And while we were singing it,
I couldn't help but think about all of those people marching
out of Babylon after 70 years of captivity. Can you imagine the elation of
those people? We're marching to Zion. I can
see them singing some form of this song. Marching to Zion,
beautiful, beautiful Zion. Marching upward to Zion, the
beautiful city of God. Come we that love the Lord and
let our joys be known. Join in a song with sweet accord
and thus surround the throne. Then let our songs abound and
every tear be dry. We're marching through Emmanuel's
ground. Before we were in the land of sin, the land of captivity,
the land of bondage. We're marching through Emmanuel's
ground, the Pharaoh world's on high. Well, we pick up right
here in chapter three and it tells us that when they got back,
this is the first thing they did. Chapter three, verse one,
it says, and when the seventh month was come and the children
of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered themselves
together as one man to Jerusalem. Then stood up Jeshua the son
of Josedach, and his brethren the priest, and Zerubbabel the
son of Shealtiel, and his brethren, and built the altar of the God
of Israel, to offer burnt offerings thereon, as it is written in
the law of Moses, the man of God." The first thing they did
is they built an altar. The very first thing they did,
they all gathered around this altar. They built an altar unto
the Lord. The first thing they did is they
worshipped God as soon as they came back. They worshipped God
in the way God commanded them to worship Him. They gathered
themselves as one man, it says, with one heart, one mind, one
spirit, one desire. And that one heart and mind and
spirit and desire was to worship the true and living God through
a sacrifice. That is still how we worship
God to this day. That's what we're doing right
now. Right now, we come before him through the altar of his
sacrifice. That altar is Christ. We have
an altar in this building. His name is Jesus Christ. We
have a sacrifice in this building. His name is Jesus Christ. We
come before God through the altar of sacrifice. We gather together
in here as one man. That's what God's people do.
We come together as one man to worship him. We have come into
this house and gathered in His name to worship Him. That's the
reason we're here. And when everybody comes together
from the cities all over like they did, it's called a Sovereign
Grace Bible Conference. That's what you call it when
all of the people of God come together from city after city
into one place. It's called a Sovereign Grace
Bible Conference. They all gather together as one
man in one man, united by one man, and they held a sovereign
grace Bible conference. Now let me show you a little
bit more about that in detail. If you look at Ezra chapter 2,
verse 1 says, Now these are the children of
the province that went up out of captivity, of those which
had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried
away unto Babylon, and came again unto Jerusalem, and Judah every
one unto his city, which came with Zerubbabel. Jeshua, Nehemiah,
Saraiah, Realiah, Mordecai, Bilshin, Mizpah, Bigvei, Rehum, Bayanah,
the number of the men of the people of Israel. Verse 3 says,
the children of Parash, 2,172. Now turn over just a few pages
to Nehemiah chapter 7. The next book over. Nehemiah chapter 7 verse 6 it
says, These are the children of the province that went up
out of the captivity of those that had been carried away, whom
Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away, and came again
to Jerusalem and to Judah, every one unto his city, who came with
Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Rehemiah, Nehemiah,
Mordecai, Bilshin, Mizpirith, Bigbai, Nahum, Bayanah, the number
I say of the men of the people of Israel was this, the children
of Parash, 2,172. So this is the same account,
okay? This is the exact same account,
same moment. This is that Bible conference
in more detail. If you look at Nehemiah 7, verse
73, So the priests, and the Levites,
and the porters, and the singers, and some of the people, and the
Nethanims, and all Israel dwelt in their cities. And when the
seventh month came, the children of Israel were in their cities."
Chapter 8 says, "...and all the people gathered themselves together
as one man into the street that was before the water gate." And
they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law
of Moses, which the Lord had commanded to Israel. They said, bring us God's word. Bring us God's word. Preach God's word to us. Don't bring what this man has
to say about God's word. Don't bring this man's opinion
on God's Word. Bring God's Word. Read God's
Word to us. Verse 2 says, And Ezra the priest
brought the law before the congregation, both of men and women, and all
that could hear with understanding, upon the first day of the seventh
month. And he read therein before the
street that was before the water gate, from the morning until
midday, from six o'clock in the morning until noon, for six hours.
before the men and the women and those that could understand,
and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book
of the law. And Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood,
which they had made for the purpose. And beside him stood Mattathiah,
and Shema, and Ananiah, and Uriah, and Hilkiah, and Maasiah on his
right hand, and on his left hand, Paddaiah, and Mishael, and Malchiah,
and Hashem, and Hashbanana, Zechariah, and Meshulam." And all those
names, we've looked at them before, they all declare the gospel of
Christ. These men preached God's Word,
they preached the truth, they preached the gospel. Verse 5
says, And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people,
for he was above all the people. And when he opened it, all the
people stood up. They all reverenced this Word
again. And Ezra blessed the Lord, the
great God. And all the people answered,
Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads
and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. Also, Jeshua,
and Bani, and Sherebiah, Jaman, Acob, Shabbatai, Hodiah, Maasaiah,
Kalaitah, Azariah, Josabath, Hanan, Peliah, and the Levites,
caused the people to understand the law and the people stood
in their place. And that's what happens when
God reveals the truth of the law to a man or a woman. That's
what happens when God puts the truth of the Word in a preacher
and he declares it. And it tells the truth of this
holy God and a sinner hears it for the first time in his life.
Never heard it before. been to place after place on
all these silly things that don't matter. And all of a sudden they
come to the Word of God and God's holiness is set forth. And man's
sinfulness is set forth. And what is coming to man because
of his sin is set forth and it slays him. For the first time,
this is not just a good social event. He is fearful before God. Verse 8 says, so they read in
the book of the law of God distinctly and gave the sense and caused
them to understand the reading. And Nehemiah, which is the Tershithah,
that means the governor, and Ezra, the priest, the scribe,
and the Levites that taught the people said unto all the people,
this day is holy unto the Lord your God. Mourn not. They brought the gospel, they
brought the law, and they brought the gospel. Mourn not, nor weep,
for all the people wept when they heard the words of the law.
Can you imagine that? All the people from all those
cities just standing there weeping because they heard the words
of the law. Verse 10, Then He said unto them,
Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions
unto them for whom nothing is prepared. For this day is holy
unto our Lord, neither be ye sorry for the joy of the Lord
is your strength. So the Levites stilled all the
people saying, hold your peace for the day is holy, neither
be ye grieved. And all the people went their
way to eat and to drink and to send portions. and to make great
mirth because they had understood the words that were declared
unto them. And on the second day were gathered
together the chief of the fathers and all the people, the priests
and the Levites unto Ezra the scribe, even to understand the
words of the law. And they found written in the
law, which the Lord had commanded by Moses, that the children of
Israel should dwell in booths in the feast of the seventh month.
and they that should publish and proclaim in all their cities
and in Jerusalem saying go forth unto the mount and fetch olive
branches and pine branches and myrtle branches and palm branches
and branches of thick trees to make booths as it is written
So the people went forth and brought them and made themselves
booths every one upon the roof of his house and in their courts
and in the courts of the house of God and in the street of the
water gate and in the street of the gates of Ephraim and all
the congregation of them that were come again out of the captivity
made booths and sat under the booths For since the days of
Jeshua the son of Nun, until that day had not the children
of Israel done so, and there was very great gladness. Also
day by day, from the first day unto the last day, he read in
the book of the law of God, and they kept the feast seven days.
And on the eighth day was a solemn assembly according unto the manner. So they all gathered together
as one man, And all of those men, all of the Levites, preached
the word to them, and all of the people were convicted of
their sin. They were slain over their sin.
Then God's men preached the gospel to them, and they cried, weep
not. Behold, the lion of the tribe
of Judah has prevailed. You know, when the truth comes,
It slays a man and a woman because there's no hope and no way out. This is what you've done. This
is what God's law says. This is what's going to come
to you. Period. Close the book. Destruction,
death, misery. But God has provided a way of
escape. One way of escape. God has provided
a lamb slain. to satisfy His wrath against
all your sin. He has delivered you. That's what they told them. Here
they were, they were in Babylon 70 years. Now they're in Jerusalem,
sitting there crying and weeping. And they said, men and brethren,
God has delivered you. Here you stand, God has delivered
you, though by sin oppressed, go to him for rest because our
God has already delivered you. Then they were glad and they
worshiped God through the sacrifices that he had given to them, which
point us to Christ. The sacrifice that God has given
to us. All right, now go with me back
to Ezra chapter three. Ezra 3, verse 3 says, And they set the altar upon His
bases, for fear was upon them because of the people of those
countries. And they offered burnt offerings thereon unto the Lord,
even burnt offerings morning and evening. They kept also the
Feast of Tabernacles, as it is written, and offered the daily
burnt offerings by number, according to the custom, as the duty of
every day required, and afterward offered the continual burnt offering
both of the new moons and of all the set feasts of the Lord
that were consecrated, and of every one that willingly offered
a freewill offering unto the Lord, from the first day of the
seventh month began they to offer burnt offerings unto the Lord,
but the foundation of the temple of the Lord was not yet laid. First things first, they realized
God must be satisfied. God's law must be satisfied. The whole reason they fell into
captivity and bondage in the first place is because they broke
God's law. Then they saw in God's holy law
that the only hope they had was to have a lamb without blemish,
without spot. And that is the only hope you
and I have. That is the only hope you and
I have. We have to have a lamb. If God
is going to be appeased, this is real. We are going to go meet
God. We are going to go stand before
God. And if God is going to be appeased, then we must have a
lamb without spot or without blemish as a blood offering to
Him. And that's what they did. They
started sacrificing lambs. The fear of the Lord came back
to them. And the gospel is, God has provided
us one, Christ His Son. Well, first things first, they
worshipped God, they offered sacrifices to God, and then they
set out to do the work that He had called them to do. Verse
7, it says, They gave money also unto the masons, and to the carpenters,
and meat, and drink, and oil unto them of Zidon, and to them
of Tyre, to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea of Joppa,
according to the grant that they had of Cyrus, king of Persia."
Now here's the word I want us to take note of in that verse.
Grant. You know what a grant is? Sometimes
people go off to college and they get one of those, or organizations
will get one to do some kind of community service. is a gift
for a specific purpose with no demand of repayment. Another good word for that is
grace. Grace. Everything they needed
was provided for them, freely provided for them by grace. Everything they started paying
They started paying money to the masons. They started paying
money to the carpenters according to the grant that was freely
given to them. Everything that we need is provided
for us by grace. This word says, by grace are
you saved. This word says, we are what we
are by the grace of God. This word says, what do we have
that we have not freely received? Everything they needed to accomplish
the work that God had given them to do was freely provided by
grace. That is the God of Israel. That's
who the God of Israel is. He is the God of all grace. You know how comforting it would
be if we could ever truly get a hold of that. He is the God
of all grace. Verse 8 says, Now in the second
year of their coming unto the house of God at Jerusalem in
the second month. They started the process in the
seventh month of the first year. This is now the second month
of the second year. So it took them about seven months
to officially get started. They had to go down to the codes
department. They had to get the architects to sign off on some
things. They had to get everything in line for their grant money
to come in. It took about seven months for them to start working.
Verse eight says, now in the second year of their coming unto
the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, began Zerubbabel,
the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua, the son of Josedach, and the
remnant of their brethren, the priests and the Levites, and
all they that were come out of the captivity unto Jerusalem,
and appointed the Levites from 20 years old and upward to set
forward the work of the house of the Lord." As we saw Sunday
night, those names, spiritually tell us of the work of Christ
in the building of his temple. Zerubbabel means sewn in sin. He made himself to be sin for
us. Christ made himself to be sewn
in sin for us. Shealtiel means I have asked
of God. This is what God the Father said
to Christ his son. He said, if you ask of me, I
will give you the heathen for your inheritance. Christ asked
and God gave us to Him. Yeshua means He shall save. Josedach means Jehovah is righteous. Righteous and holy in all His
judgments. Verse 9 says, Then Yeshua, with
His sons and His brethren, Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of Judah,
together to set forward the workmen in the house of God, the sons
of Hinnadad with their sons and their brethren, the Levites.
And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the
Lord, they set the priest in their apparel, with trumpets,
and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise
the Lord after the ordinance of David, king of Israel." Whatever
our hand finds to do, let's do it with all our might. Whatever
our hand finds to do. The masons and the carpenters
said, send the word out, we're about to pour the footers. And
the priests, as soon as they heard that, they put on their
priestly garments. And all the Levites lined up
in rows. And they held trumpets and cymbals
in their hands, ready to praise the Lord God of heaven. When it comes to the service
and the work of the Lord, we need to give the best we have.
We need to give the best we have. We need to give the greatest
effort the Lord will give us to give. All to Him I owe. I thought about those men. Here
they are standing out there in the dirt. And they've dug some
trenches in the ground. And they've poured some gravel
in there. And they've got something like rebar and something like
concrete. And all these priests come out
in their linen robes. All these Levites line up. Those
priests represent the Lord Jesus Christ. Those beautiful garments
represent the robe of His perfect righteousness. Those trumpets
and those cymbals, they are the sound of the gospel. The beautiful
sound of mercy through the blood. Verse 11 says, 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. Other foundation can no
man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. How firm a foundation, you saints
of the Lord. David said, he set me on a rock. On Christ, the solid rock I stand,
all other ground is sinking sand. Verse 11 says, 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. But many of the priests
and Levites and chief of the fathers, who were ancient men,
that had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house
was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice. And many shouted
aloud for joy, so that the people could not discern the noise of
the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people.
For the people shouted with a loud shout, and the noise was heard
afar off." They'd been in captivity for 70 years. And it says that
the workers were 20 years old and up. So many of them had never
even seen the first temple. Here they are laying this rebuilding,
laying this foundation. Many of them had never seen the
first one at all, but it says the ones who had. It says the
ancient men that had seen the first house, when they saw the
foundations laid, and sit there entering in to
the sin and the ruin of the first house, the sin that ruined the
first house, that first tabernacle, the sin that separated them.
All these memories are coming back, what they had, what they
lost, the sin that separated them from God. And as they thought
on the glory and the beauty of that first house, that had to
be destroyed because of them. As they sat there wondering if
the glory and the beauty of this house would compare to the glory
and beauty of that first house. All they could do was weep. And
that represents a child of God. He weeps over what destroyed
Him. He weeps over His sin. And at
the same time, He rejoices over what has restored Him. He's weeping
over what ruined Him and rejoicing over what restored Him, His Savior,
His King, His Deliverer, His Foundation, His Builder, His
Maker. Verse 13 says, At the exact same
moment in time, the people could not discern the noise of the
shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people, for
the people shouted with a loud shout, and the noise was heard
afar off. How far off was it heard? All
the way up into the ears of the one who was sitting on the throne.
Our Lord said, When they cry, I'll hear, and when they call,
I'll answer. They are going to know that they
are my people and I am their God. And for those that wept,
who saw the first house and wondered if the glory of God was going
to come back to this second house. God gave a word of peace, a word
of promise, a word of comfort to all those men. We read about
it just a moment ago in Haggai 2. This is what that last verse
said. It said, The glory God said to
them, I'm coming back to this house, fear not, Go to work. I'm with you. All the gold is
mine. All the silver is mine. And he said, The glory of this
latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the
Lord of Hosts. And in this place I will give
peace, saith the Lord of Hosts. God still has a people. And they will cry. Praise the
Lord for full salvation. God still reigns upon the throne. And I know the blood still reaches
deeper than the stain is gone. He said, I'm still with you.
There's still mercy. There's still grace. There is
still glory. Everything is restored. Everything's
renewed. That's wonderful. All right,
let's all stand together.