Okay, back to Ezra chapter 4. We study and preach from the
Old Testament quite a bit. And if someone were to ask me
why, I would answer them in the same way as when they
ask the Lord, why do you speak in parables? You remember that, when they
asked him, why do you preach in parables? And he said this,
let me read to you from Matthew 13. He said, because, and he's
speaking to his disciples, he said, because it is given unto
you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. To them,
it's not given. He said, I speak to them in parables
because seeing, they seeing, see not. Hearing, they hear not.
Neither do they understand. And you may remember that verse
over in Revelation 2 that we looked at last Wednesday, I believe
it was, not Wednesday before last, Sunday night, where it
said that I'll give to my people hidden manna. Well, this is hidden manna, what
we're studying here. It's not given to everyone, but
it's given to believers. All right, many people see the
Old Testament as history, and reading these books like this would see it
as only history. You have been given eyes to see
His story in death. To you it is given. To you it
is given. While the world is getting further
and further and further from the Scriptures, we're getting
deeper and deeper into them. And while the world is going
after signs and wonders, that's what our Lord said, an evil and
adulterous generation speaks after signs and wonder. And they
go after everything that comes along. God's people are beholding
wondrous things of the Word. Because the Word is what grounds
and settles us. The Word is what grounds and
settles us, more specifically. The more we see of Christ, the
more we learn of Him, the more our faith is increased in Him,
the more grounded and settled we become. It's like driving
a nail home every time, a nail in a sure place. It takes some digging, so I hope
you have your Bibles ready, OK? Gold. David said, Thy word, thy
precepts are like gold. Yea, they're better to me than
fine gold. And gold, it's not on the surface,
is it, Brother Henry? You've got to dig deep. All right.
Dig with me tonight. Let me review a little bit, in
case you weren't here. I try to make this as simple
as I can. We looked at last time how the
Jews were taken captive into Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar. The temple was torn down. The vessels had been defiled. All the vessels in the temple
had been taken and defiled. We saw that's a picture of man. kept it to the God of this world,
a fallen, defiled vessel. He was originally created for
God, for God's glory, but he's been defiled. But the king made
a decree. King Cyrus, in our story here,
made a decree. He purposed to rebuild the temple,
rebuild the temple and restore those vessels. Restore the vessels
to their former use and former glory. And he chose a man named
Zerubbabel or Shishmazar, same person. He chose this Zerubbabel
to rebuild that temple. And he numbered the people and
counted the cost of the price. and gave it all to Zerubbabel
to go do this work. Do you remember that now? Are
you with me? And this is a picture of salvation,
having God's purpose to save a people, God's purpose to build
his church, to restore some of mankind for his glory. And he gave them to Christ in
covenant. He gave the number of them. God
numbered them. God chose them. God elected them. Gave them to our Zerubbabel,
Jesus Christ. The price of their redemption,
which was his own precious blood. And Christ came to this earth
to do the work of saving God's elect, of building God's church. And Christ was not only the builder
of it, he's the foundation of it. And he's the one, like we'll
see, he's irrevocable, who laid the top stone, the head stone,
finished the work. He was the beginner and the finisher,
the author and the finisher. All right? All right. And here's that story. This is
that story. All right, let's look at it again. Ezra 4. Let's read the first three verses again.
Now, when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that
the children of the captivity builded the temple unto the Lord
God of Israel, then they came to Zerubbabel and to the chief
of the fathers and said unto them, Let us build with you.
For we seek your God as you do, and we do sacrifice unto him
since the days of Esarhaddon, king of Esar, which brought us
up hither. But Zerubbabel and Joshua and the rest of the chief
of the fathers of Israel, all of them together, said unto them,
You have nothing to do with us to build a house unto our God.
So we ourselves together will build under the Lord God of Israel
as King Cyrus, the king of Persia, hath commanded us. There are some men who wanted
to join these Jews and help out, so they said. They wanted Yet
Zerubbabel and his men spoke—it sounded like they spoke too rough,
didn't it? They weren't being too charitable,
were they? They said, you have nothing to do with us. You can't
have any part in this. Why? Why do they speak like that
to these people? What was wrong with them joining
in on building the building? Huh? Building the same building,
they wanted to build the same building, didn't they? They said
they worshipped their God, didn't they? Huh? They said they did.
What would have been wrong with that? Huh? Well, let's expose
these fellows that said they did. All right? Back in 2 Kings
chapter 17, 2 Kings chapter 17, these fellows, you'll find out
who these fellows were. Second Kings 17, and while you're
turning, let me say this. From the beginning, from the
first man and woman in the garden, God and his people have had adversaries. And they have come in like Satan
did, the serpent, in a pleasant form, smooth speaking. They appear
to be friends. They want to help. The serpent wanted to help, didn't
it? Yet they're wolves in sheep's
clothing. Let's look at these fellows, all right? 2 Kings 17. Look at the beginning of verse
24. Now, this is who these people were. The king of Assyria. brought men, brought men from
Babylon, and from Cuthub, and from Aba, and from Hamath, and
from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria, in
the stead of the children of Israel." Now, this was when the
Jews were taken captive to Babylon, okay? Are you with me? Nebuchadnezzar had taken the
Jews out of Jerusalem. to Babylon. And this Assyrian
king put some people in their place to keep the city going.
Okay? To keep it from getting run down
and all that. He put these fake Jews in their blood. That's who they
were. All right? That sounds familiar.
Read on. And they possessed Samaria and
dwelt in the cities thereof. Verse 25. And so it was at the
beginning of their dwelling there, they feared not the Lord. Therefore
the Lord sent lions among them. which slew some of them. Wherefore,
they spake to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations which thou
hast removed and placed in the cities of Samaria know not the
manner of the God of the land. Therefore he hath sent lions
among them, and behold, they slay them, because they know
not the manner of the God of the land. Then the king of Assyria
commanded, saying, Well, carry thither one of the priests."
Get us a priest down there. whom he brought from thence,
let him go and dwell there, and teach them the manner of the
God of the land." So one of the priests whom they'd carried away,
one of these Jewish rabbis from Samaria, came and dwelt in Bethel
and taught them how they should fear the Lord. In other words,
they all got religion. They all became religious. Why? They were getting eaten by lions. for fear. Bad things were happening,
so they got religion. Make us religious. All right,
read on. Verse 29, Howbeit every nation
make gods of their own. Look down at verse 32. So they feared the Lord, and
made unto themselves of the lowest of them priests. of the high
places, which sacrificed for them in the house of the highest
places. They feared the Lord and served their own gods. after
the manner of the nations where they were carried away from.
And to this day, they do after the former manners. Here the
Lord is speaking. They fear not the Lord. Neither
do they after their statutes or after their ordinances or
after the law of commandments which the Lord commanded the
children of Jacob, whom he named Israel, in verse 41. So these nations feared the Lord
and served their graven enemies. Are these true people of God? Now, back to the text now.
All right? So what happened there? You see
it? This wicked king placed these persons in Israel. Now, they
weren't Jews by birth. They were Babylonians. They were
born in Babylon, and they were still Babylonians by practice,
all right? And their fear toward God was
based on outward circumstances, outward calamities, death. Somebody died, so they got religious. Had something bad happen, they
got religious. They started going to church.
That's exactly what happened, Joe. Yet they had their own images
of God. They piddled around with the
God of Israel, but yet they had their own images of God. And
the preachers, or the priests, were the lowest fellows in the
land, the most despicable fellows. They made the lowest. Did you
read that? They made the lowest sort, their priests. Not the
best, but the worst. Fellas that couldn't do anything
else, they made them priests. That's out the way. And their
manners, it says, was not according to the Word. They didn't do according
to the Word. Their ways, their manners, their
religion wasn't according to the Word. And so Zerubbabel,
when the people said, you don't have any part in this. We're
not going to join together. You can't join with us, we're
not going to join with you. You have no part in this matter. Is that too hard? And that's so today. Did you
read back that verse? Even so, it is today. It hasn't
changed. Satan has his ministered angels
of light, preachers of righteousness, and his people. whom he has inserted, doesn't
it? Pairs. Pairs among the weak. There are
many who claim to worship the God of the Bible, don't they?
Like these people. That there's no fear of God before
their eyes, really. People are religious. We've talked
to people who One couple in particular, their child almost drowned and
was miraculously saved. Evidently the child quit breathing
for a long time and just was revised. So what happened? They
got religion. That's not salvation. Not salvation. religion for fear of consequences,
religious because of some traumatic experience, and have their own opinion of
God, have their own opinion of God which is not according to
the Scripture, and who have preachers who are the lowest of men. and
whose religion is not in keeping with God's Word. Nothing at all
like scripture or worship was full of foolishness. And we say,
just like Zerubbabel and these fellows, no, you have no part
with us, and we have no part with you. We can't join together. You ever heard the word ecumenical?
Ecumenicalism? I know it's a big word, but that's
what's going on today. Ed, you know what it means. Ecumenicalism. And this is what that means.
That all the different denominations are joining hands together, trying
to find a common bond. Joining hands together in a show
of love and unity. And they actually say that though
we have many faiths, Let's join together because we
worship the same God. No! You have no part or lot with
us in this matter. We will not join with them. There
are not many saints. There is one Lord and one thing. One thing. They have nothing
to do with the God of the Bible and the building of this house.
How can you say that? How can you be so hard? How can
you be so bigoted? How can you be so narrow? How
can you be so exclusive? They sound sincere. They look
good. They say they believe the God
of the Bible. I'm going to expose them for
everything that they're worth. God said this. Listen. God said
this. Do you look on the outward countenance? Do you look on the outward countenance?
Look not on the outward countenance, nor the height of their stature
or the sound of their religious voice. Christ said, Beware the leaven
of the Pharisees. He said, a little leaven. Turn
back there to 2 Kings. I meant for you to stay there
again. 2 Kings 17. Christ said, a little
leaven leaveneth the whole lump. A little leaven. Scott Richardson,
years ago, made this statement, and it stuck
with everybody that heard it. He said rat food, rat food is
98% good food. Other rats wouldn't eat it. It's that 2% poison. A little poison, a little flesh in this religion. A little legalism. run the whole thing. A fly in
the ointment will cause it to stink. A man's little finger
in the work of salvation ruins it. A little word, now I want
you to look here, one little word can change the whole gospel. One little word. Look at, did
you spot it? In verse, look at verse 33. They feared the Lord
and, verse 34, unto this day do they,
after the former manner, they fear, wait a minute, verse 41,
that's it. These nations feared the Lord
and served their God. False religion
is best defined by this little word, and. Are you listening to me? False
religion is best defined by this little word, and. They don't always deny the truth. Preachers aren't out and out
denying it. Well, at times they do. But some of them are saying
the same things that we're saying. There's even a movement afoot
today to talk about sovereignty. They don't always deny the truth,
but they subtly add to it. I believe salvation is by grace and keeping the law. I believe
God is sovereign and man has a free will. I believe Christ's blood saves. We must make it effectual by
our faith. I believe the Holy Spirit is
sovereign, but we must cooperate. I believe preaching is important,
but there's nothing wrong with adding a few things here and
there. A little leaven. It's leavened
up the whole lump. A little leaven of flesh. Well,
there's something about, did you see, there's something missing
in these fellows too, all the way through. Did you see, there's
something that is naked to the eye. about these men,
something which would prove that they were Jews, but you couldn't
see it that way. What was the mark? What was the
mark of a Jew? Something unseen. You couldn't
see it. It was not the dress. It was
not outward appearance and all that. It was something that was
hidden. What was it? Circumcision. These people weren't
circumcised. They weren't circumcised. Though
outwardly moral and religious, they were uncircumcised. Why?
How do I know that? All the flesh in their religion. That's what circumcision does.
It gets rid of the old flesh. Useless flesh. That's what circumcision
does. It gets rid of useless flesh.
True Jews, listen to me, true Jews, true worshippers, as Paul
said, true worshippers worship God in the Spirit, rejoicing
Christ Jesus and putting no confidence in the flesh. The flesh has been
circumcised. Dead works, gone. True believers
believe salvations of the Lord, period. Right? No ifs, ands, or buts about it.
Salvation is by grace, period. No ifs, ands, or buts with it.
Salvation is in Christ alone, period, exclamation mark. No
ifs, ands, or buts with it. Salvation is what Christ did. Salvation is in His blood. Salvation
is in His righteousness. It has no ands, ifs, or buts
about it. And look back at Ezra now. Look back there. It said, look
at chapter 3. Chapter 3 of Ezra. Look there. Look at
verse 2. You got it? Chapter 3, verse
2. You see, when Zerubbabel and
Joshua the priest came back to Jerusalem, this is what they
did. They stood up, Joshua the son of Josedek and his brethren,
the priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and his brethren,
and built the altar of God of Israel to offer burnt offerings
thereon, as it is written in the Law of Moses. And they set the altar upon his
bases, for fear was upon them because of the people of those
countries. They offered burnt offerings thereunto unto the
Lord, burnt offerings morning and evening. They kept also the
Feast of Tabernacles as it is written, just like God said do
it. The daily burnt offerings according
to the custom. According to the Word, just like
it is written, just like God said, do it. That's how they
did it. They worshiped, and not without blood. Rivers of blood. It went on to say how many thousands
of beasts they slew. You see, worship, this thing
of worshiping God, must be according to God's Word. And God said the
preaching of the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. And nothing needs to be added
to that. Right? The preaching of the gospel alone
is the power of God unto salvation. Doesn't need any help. Doesn't
need any addition. Just the preaching of the word.
No flesh in it. Don't need any flesh in it. No
gimmicks. No tricks. No shows. No entertainment. No
crosses, statues, pictures, robes. All that is flesh. Wood, hay, and stubble. Doesn't
need it. Look over at our text. In verse
3 it says, Zerubbabel and the fellows said, You have nothing
to do with us to build a house unto our God, the house of our
God. Remember when Christ first came
to the temple? Do you remember what he did?
What did he do? He sure didn't speak nice to
anybody, did he? Why do all these people who are
sincere come here to worship God? What did he do? He took
a whip and cleaned the house. He said, my house should be called
a house of prayer. You've made it a den of thieves. You've made it a circus, a sideshow,
clowns for Jesus. Entertainment. The house of God
is a house of prayer, a house of worship, a house of preaching. Period. Not plays, preaching. Not entertainment, preaching
the Word of God. Not Christmas pageants, preaching
the Word of God. As the king commanded, didn't
he? You remember old Ezekiel, when
God told Ezekiel to preach to those dry bones? Seemed like
a foolish thing to do, didn't it? But it was the only thing
that was going to make those bones live, wasn't it? He didn't
tell Ezekiel, now, dance a jig, did he? He didn't say, bring
in a quartet. He said, preach. As foolish and
ridiculous as it may have seemed to the average person, it brought
those bones to life, preaching. And God is chosen by the foolishness
of preaching. Nothing added to it. Well, the
people got mad. These fellas here in the store
got mad. And they began to accuse the
rubble on the Jews of being unloving. I know they said that. They're
so uncharitable, unloving, negative. They're exclusive, they're narrow,
they're bigoted. They think they're right and
everybody else is wrong. It's exactly what they were saying.
And look what they set about to do. Verse 4. Then the people
of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah and troubled
them. They began to give them a hard
time, Henry. Began to give a hard time from
there on. Verse 5. So they hired them,
not preachers, counselors. Hirelings is what they were.
They hired them. some fellas who were, like these
preachers today, not preachers but counselors. And what'd they
do? They wrote papers. and letters
and articles against them, and so forth. Look down at verse
9. Then wrote, this is what this
one fellow wrote, wrote Reham, a chancellor, and Shemshi, the
scribe, and the rest of their companions. The margin says societies. They had their committees and
societies and counselors. That sound familiar? And it says the Dinahites. Now that's a bunch of women,
who that is. That's a bunch of women. Deborah,
they said, you know they won't allow women to be priests. These Eons and Ikes got together
to try to thwart the building of the building. A bunch of Eons
and Ikes. And verse 10, And the rest of
the nations whom the great and noblest Ashnafar brought over
and set in the cities of Samaria, the whole world was against these
people, this little band of Jews building this building. The whole world, it seemed, was
against them building this temple. And that's just the way it is. And I know many of you have experienced
the same thing, trouble. Where you work, person, you can
be a Methodist, you can be an Episcopalian, you can be a Catholic,
you can even be a Baptist, you can be a Mormon, you can be this
and that and the other, and you can join hands. in a show of
unity and love, and claim to believe the same God. But they'll all join hands against
you, because you claim to believe the sovereign God, the true God. You say there's just one God.
That's bigoted. That's narrow. They say everybody's going different
roads. We're all going to get there. You say there's one way,
and they'll hate you for it. Right? All these Ians, Arminians,
and Ites. Russell Ites. Ians and Ites. Well, in closing, turn to Acts
chapter 4. It's always been this way, people.
From Zerubbabel, much before him, but to these Jews who were brought
back from captivity and then to the early church. Here's what
happened to the early church. In Acts chapter 4, the church was persecuted at
Jerusalem in the early days. Look at it. Acts chapter 4. You
remember when Peter and John had been whipped and threatened
not to preach in this name, and they came back to the church.
Verse 23, being let go, they went to their own company and
reported all that the chief priests and elders said unto them. And
here's what they prayed to God. This is good. Acts chapter 4,
verse 24. This is what they prayed. When
they heard that, how that they were beaten for preaching the
truth and how that they were threatened not to do it and how
everybody ganged up on them. When they heard that, they lifted
up their voice to God with one accord and said, Lord, thou art
God. which hath made heaven and earth
and the sea and all that in them is. And then they quoted Scripture. Who by the mouth of thy servant
David hath said, Lord, it's happened just like David, just like the
Scripture said it would. Psalm 2. Why did the heathen
rage and the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth
stood up and the rulers were gathered together against the
Lord and against His Christ. For of a truth against thy holy
child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate
with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together,
but they're just doing what your hand and your counsel determined
for to be done. Now, Lord, behold their threatenings,
and grant unto thy servants that with all boldness they'll speak
it even plainer." They'll speak your word and not
back down and ask, no, you can't have any part with us and we'll
not have any part with you either. We don't worship the same God. We don't worship the same God.
I don't care what they say. Verse 29, it said, Lord, grant
your servants all boldness. And he did. And he did. Verse 31 says that they prayed
and the place was shaken, and where they were assembled, and
they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. What's the Holy Ghost
filling do? No? People are filled with the Holy
Ghost, what's He do? Fills them full of Christ. things of Christ,
and they spake the Word of God with boldness. Boldness. Plainness. Well, for
Sunday night, I want you to jot this down. I want you to read
something in preparation for Sunday night. I want you to go
over and read the book of Haggai. I want you to read the whole
book, okay? Shouldn't be a problem on two
chapters. Haggai. And then also I want
you to read the next book, Zachariah. Read about the first four chapters
of Zachariah. So read in preparation for for
Sunday night, Haggai, and read a few chapters of Zechariah,
because we're going to look at that in relation to Ezra chapter
5, Sunday night. All right, I hope it was some
profit to you. Let's stand together. We believe that thou art God,
and beside thee there is none else. And the gods of the people
are idols, and they that make them are like unto them. No hands
and no feet, no eyes and no ears. But our God is in the heavens,
and he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. And all flesh is
in his hands, not vice versa. Our God is God. Our rock is not
like their puny little God. And we believe just like the
prophets of old and the people of old and the way they call
heresy, so we believe and so we worship the God of our fathers,
believing all things that are written in the prophets. But Lord, this flesh and blood
did not reveal this unto us and we know who makes us to differ.
And we are not proud of ourselves nor our knowledge, but we say
in sincerity and truth, let God be true and every man a liar. And if any man preach any other
gospel, let him go to hell. If anyone worship any other God,
let them go with him. Our God is to be worshipped.
And he's to have all the glory and not to share it with another,
with no flesh. He calls us to beware of the
leaven of the Pharisees, this little leaven, the leaven of
the whole lump. Let us take no part in this modern, God-forsaken religion with Ichabod over the
door. Let us boldly say with a rubble
of oak, no, we'll not go with you. We'll not join together. Cause us to speak the word with
boldness and not back down one inch, dear Lord. In the face
of a generation that's getting further and further from the
truth and from the gospel, even from the Bible itself, Root our minds in Your Word. Order our steps according to
Thy Word. Let everything we do in our worship
service be according to the way God has written it. For Your
glory, and that no flesh should gloat, that for Your glory and worship you in spirit and
in truth, in the name of, for the glory of your Son, we pray
and ask these things. Amen. Thanks.