And we're in chapter 10, Ezra
chapter 10. And I would like to read this
morning the first six verses of Ezra chapter 10. There has
been a great issue brought before Ezra. His attention has been
captivated with this issue. And that was, there have been
those that have been in the land They've come back from Babylon
and they said in their heart at least, maybe not out loud,
what these folks have here in this land, their religion is
just as good as that religion we heard about over there in
Babylon from the prophets of God. Well, we know from what
the Lord does to his people, the religion we're born with
cannot hold a candle to what God gives us in the new birth.
There is life in the regenerative power of the Holy Spirit. We're
able to see the Lord, as Peter recounts it, Thou art the Christ,
the son of, and I like that word that's put there, the living
God. Thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. And that's
what we find in the scripture. There is a living God. And this
God is eternal. And he has infinite power, infinite
wisdom. So here in the book of Ezra,
Ezra has prayed in chapter 9, and in chapter 10, we find some
of the results of that. Now when Ezra had prayed, Ezra
chapter 10 verse 1, when he had confessed weeping and casting
himself down before the house of God, there assembled unto
him out of Israel a very great congregation of men and women
and children, for the people wept very sore. Those by and
large were those where the seed fell on good ground. That's the
folks that gathered around. And Shechaniah, the son of Jehel,
one of the sons of Ilium, answered and said unto Ezra. So Shechaniah
is speaking directly to Ezra, and that's going to be important
when we get down to the verse we want to look at today. We
have trespassed against our God, and have taken strange wives
of the people of the land. Yet now there is hope. in Israel
concerning this thing. Now therefore, let us make a
covenant with our God to put away all the wives, such as are
born to them according to the counsel of my Lord, and of those
that tremble at the commandment of our God, and let it be done
according to the law. Now hold your finger right there.
Brother Mike read this in the Bible class, but I want to go
back to the book of 1 Thessalonians for just a moment. Because the
Apostle Paul, as he was preaching the gospel, was dealing with
the same issues that we find that Ezra was dealing with over
there at this time. That is the true sign, the true
blessing of regeneration is culminated here when God's people say, what
we have in God is so much better than what we had naturally. Turn
here with the book of 1 Thessalonians, and there in the book of 1 Thessalonians
beginning with verse 4, knowing brethren, beloved, your election
of God. I was asked the other day, do
you actually believe that you're chosen of God, that God chose
you to salvation? And I said, yes, I do. How is
that possible? How can you believe that? Well,
number one, I know that God saves sinners, and he has given me
the information, the true belief that this is his word. This is the word of God. God's
word is a blessing to God's people. Now, it goes on to tell us here,
for our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in
power, and in the Holy Ghost, and much assurance, as ye know
what manner of men we were among you for your sake. We were simply
men among you, but we had something very precious to share with you,
and that was the word of God, the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. They echoed the word of God to
these folks. And ye became followers of us,
and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction,
and with joy of the Holy Ghost, so that ye were examples to all
that believe in Macedonia and Achaia. Now there's going to
be a group of folks over here in the time of Ezra that are
going to be an example of what God does for his people. They
are an example of the grace of God. They're an example to other
people what happens when God's people are brought to God in
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. For from you sounded
out the word of the Lord out of not only of Macedonia and
Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God were to spread
abroad. What did they share? They shared
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, the resurrecting power
of God, raising people from the dead to newness of life, able
to comprehend a little bit about the grace of God, And here in
verse 9 says, for they themselves show us of what manner of entering
in we had unto you, and how you turn to God from idols to serve
the living and true God. And as we mentioned in the past,
that is a definition, that is a verse of scripture that declares
true repentance. I have been turned, and that
word repentance means a change of mind, a change of heart. It
isn't repenting of our sins. We don't have time to do that.
Now God may bring to us a particular thing that was particularly offensive
to us, someone else, or to God, and we may come before him and
say, oh God, forgive me. But we only do that knowing full
well that he's already forgiven us at the cross. We don't come
pleading that maybe he'll change his mind about this sin, but
it's been taken care of at the cross. We have faith to believe
God when he said, I have put away sin by the sacrifice of
my son. That's the only way we can come
before him and ask for forgiveness. If we're coming hoping he'll
do it, then we have already muddled the water. It says there, he
turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God. Now
that's a reflection of what we have over here in the book of
Ezra. We have a whole bunch of people that went and joined themselves
to people, and it wasn't so much who they married, it was what
they adopted. They adopted the religion of
those people, and that was an abomination to God. Well, as
we look on here, back in the book of Ezra chapter 10, We find
that Shekinah does something here as he directs his attention. He directs his attention to Ezra. Ezra has been the one that has
appeared to be the mediator. We have a great Ezra. His name
is Jesus. And we find these types and shadows
and pictures in the Old Testament even found in men. Moses, Joshua,
David, Solomon. They are reflections only of
what God is to his people. Here we have Ezra. Ezra was a
mediator for his people. He was concerned about his people.
He prayed for his people, just as we find the Lord prayed in
his great high priestly prayer. I'm not praying for everybody
else. I'm praying for my people. I'm praying for those who are
saved, will be saved, and those who will be saved in the future.
I pray not for the world, but I pray for those that thou hast
given me. And here, Ezra, as a mediator, he is mediating for
the people of God, Just as the Lord Jesus Christ has been our
mediator and there's one mediator between God and men the man Christ
Jesus here in verse 10 this This man comes and points out Ezra
for us, and he says here now verse 4 notice this with me Arise
for this matter Belongeth unto thee We also will be with thee, be
of good courage and do it. Now Shekinah shares with us some
wonderful information about Shekinah and also anybody else that is
a believer in Christ Jesus. He says, there's some matters
that only belong to you, Ezra. Now we're going to be here in
agreement with them, but you're the only one that can carry them
out. For this matter belongeth unto thee. We also will be with
thee, be of good courage, and do it. All right. Now let's look here for just
a moment. I was thinking about this as Brother Mike was teaching
and trying to gather some thoughts. My grandfather gave me a pocket
watch. He bought those dollar pocket
watches and they'd work until they wore out and then he had
them in a box and he gave me one of those. You know the first
thing I did with that pocket watch? I tore it apart because
it wasn't working. Now in my foolishness, I think
I thought I could repair it. Now I was reading some instructions
the other day about taking something apart and When it came to reassembly,
he says, just back up what you've done. Just do the opposite of
what you've done. Well, here, when it came to that
pocket watch, I had a box full of parts. And there was all kinds
of gears and all kinds of screws that I'd taken apart. But there
was nothing in my capacity to put it together. You know, that
pile of junk ended up somewhere and probably was thrown away.
How often in our life, in my grown-up life, have I attempted
to do something that I had no ability to do and I should have
taken it to a professional. We have two thermostats in here
and when it came time to ask someone to set those thermostats
so they'd come on early Wednesday night and early Sunday morning.
I played and played and finally I said, I've got to go to someone
who knows something about this. One time I showed just a little
wisdom. I'm glad I didn't break or tear it apart before I asked
someone to take care of it. Well, what we have here is Shekinah
realizes that Ezra, as it tells us there in verse four, for this
matter belongeth to thee. We're here supporting you. We
love you. We're weeping with you. But when
it comes to dealing with this matter, it is out of our hands. What a statement is made by Shekinah. Wisdom must be given in order
for anyone to see spiritually that all must be done by the
true Ezra. You know that's what really messes
us up in religion is we think we can take care of the problem
by ourselves and then God gives us the words that Shekinah said
about Ezra. There's only one that can deal
with this. And we say, well, I've heard
that, but I still think I can deal with this problem. And before
you know it, if God is truly dealing with us, we get to the
point where the words of Shekinah about Ezra ring in our ears,
and God has brought us to the point that we realize in the
new birth, He's the only one that can take care of this problem.
The watch has been taken apart and there's parts have been strewn
around and we can't get it back together. There's problems that
we have we don't know how to deal with and that is sin and
that the reality of sin that was brought to us by Adam and
our own sin, how to deal with this mess. Have you ever got
a hold of some of this new soap that they're passing off that
looks like water to wash dishes with? It just does not take care
of the problem. You need Dawn. You need real
soap. And when it comes to sin, we
need a real cleansing and the only cleansing is by the blood
of Christ. That's the only cleansing. Jonah
summed this all up. He learned this lesson very well
while he was ruminating in the great fish's belly. And at the
conclusion of it, he summed up what Shekinah shares with us
about Ezra and every gospel preacher shares about the Lord Jesus Christ.
Salvation is of the Lord. That's what Shekinah is saying
about Israel. This issue belongs to you. Then
in verse 4 it says, For this matter belongeth unto thee. We
can't get there from here. You're in charge. You've been
anointed by the God of heaven. You have all knowledge about
this. Now, he truly didn't have all
knowledge, but as a picture, the Lord Jesus Christ has all
knowledge about all what is our problem. What is salvation to
the most people? A person is such a good person.
Do you know almost everybody that dies, I've heard about recently,
have gone to heaven? Their family tells me they've
gone to heaven. Well, I've known some of them
and I have questions about that. Not everybody goes to heaven.
Only those purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ go to heaven. And they know about it before
they get there. They don't wake up in heaven
and find, oh, I must be blood-bought. They are brought to newness of
life in Christ Jesus in this life, here in this time, in this
gospel period. In creation, the people say,
God's people say, this matter belongeth unto thee. We read
the book of Genesis chapters 1, 2, and 3, and we have to come
to the conclusion, this is a matter that belongs to God. We talk
about creating something, but we have to use something that's
already there. Somebody creates a building.
There has to be material before they can do anything. We don't
create anything. We use products that are here,
that God has already given to us, and we put them into some
sort of assembly, and we say, look at that. Nobody has ever
created anything but God. He is the one. In control of
creation, the people say, this matter belongs to you. I can't
even control a puppy. And God controls every mosquito. My grandmother told me when she
and my grandfather were raising bees that there was a problem
that the bees got. It was a beemite. A very small,
almost invisible critter that gave the bees a bad time. And
I'm convinced that the beemite had problems with some other
thing. And yet God has control of all
those things. He has control of what goes on
inside of an atom. He has control of what goes on
in the Himalayas. He has all power and control. In all of history, the people
of God say, the matter belongs to thee. I hear oftentimes, this
situation changed history. Never changed history. Never
changed his story. We think of it from a human standpoint,
but nothing has ever changed the plan of Almighty God from
what he's determined before the foundation of the world. In every
wise counsel and purpose, his people say, this matter belongs
to me. And in everyone that has ever
been or shall ever be saved, this matter belongs to you. in Job chapter 38, 39, and 40. Now, I don't have time to read
all of that right now. But in the conclusion of the
book of Job, God asked Job in those three chapters over 30
questions. And Job had to say, I don't know
anything about this. Were you there when I created
the clouds? Were you there when I caused the eagle to fly? And
Job had to say, no. And then we heard that last
statement of Job in Job chapter 42. I heard of thee with the hearing
of the ear, but now my eye seeth thee. And what is he summing
up? This matter belongs to you. If
it isn't for your grace, I will never see. If it isn't for your
grace, I will never hear. If it isn't for your grace, I
will never have anything spiritual. If it isn't for God, I'll have
nothing spiritual whatsoever. This matter belongeth to thee. Now, did you notice that word
that Shekinah shared with Ezra in Ezra chapter 10 and verse
4 before he said, this matter is your matter? Ezra seems to
have been in a sitting or bowing posture when this was going on.
And Shekinah said, Arise. Now there's some significance
in that word. Arise, for this matter belongs
to you. You're the only one that can
take care of the problem. You're the only one that can
share it, and people will believe it. We as people who understand
or have some thought about the gospel may take it to someone
else but there's only one that can bring it to the person and
that is God. He's the only one that can bring
the issue to people. We throw out the seed and that's
it. We find here Shekinah shares
with Ezra as he is in his position He's been praying his prayers
in chapter 9 It's a wonderful prayer about the gospel and God's
activity and the problem that God dealt with at the cross And
that is our sin Ezra is called on to arise and did you notice
it? I didn't read verse 5, but did
you notice there then arose Ezra? Ezra arise for this matter belongeth
to thee Now there's some glorious Glorious things that are the
results of the real Ezra arising Would you turn with me to the
book of Psalms? Psalms 113 Psalms 113 Psalm 113 and verse 7. Without grace we will never admit
that the Lord took us up from these two places. Without grace, we will never
admit that we are that low. With grace, we understand what
he's talking about. The lowest of the low. He raiseth
up the poor out of the dust, and he lifteth the needy out
of the dunghill. without grace, we'll never go
there. We will always admit that we're
in better shape than that. We're not that poor. We find out in very poor countries,
particularly at this time, They took all the human and animal
refuse and threw it in a pile out of the city. And the poor
people who were cold threw a blanket over that and laid on it because
there was natural heat coming off of it. That was their heater. Now most of us will never admit
that we've ever been there. But when the Lord comes to us
and says, I caused you to arise from this place, we agree with
him. It was a very low down place
where you brought us from. But He causes us to arise from
that, to take us up from that, to lift us out of that, to bring
us to Himself where it is so different, where the warped,
the spiritual warped comes from the Lord Himself and not from
some place like this. Turn with me if you would. to
the book of Jeremiah chapter 18. In Jeremiah chapter 18, this
is something that God shares with his people. And it is necessary
that we have some comprehension about this. Much of the Bible
will go misunderstood if the Holy Spirit does not open some
of this up to our heart. And that is, as the Lord brings
us out of those terrible places, out of the horrible pit, out
of the dung heap, if you please. Here in the book of Jeremiah,
we find here in chapter 18, Jeremiah chapter 18, that he tells Jeremiah
to rise up and I want to go show you and illustrate to you a lesson. Here again is a wonderful statement,
a parable. Now to many people it's nothing
more than an illustration, okay take me down to the potter's
house and I'll watch them make some pottery. How beautiful is
that? But to God's people, it means
much more than that, because he goes on to explain what it
means. The Lord will arise, take us
up, lift us up, and teach us some things about God himself. And God himself will share with
us some things about himself. And he will teach us and lead
us in the truth about his position in the creation of this world, complete overrunning of this
world, the rule of this world, and complete salvation belongs
to Him and Him alone. This belongeth to you. All right,
Jeremiah chapter 18, verse 1 through 6, the word which came to Jeremiah
from the Lord saying, Arise and go down to the potter's house,
and there I will cause thee to hear my words. Thank God He causes
us to hear Him. He causes us to arise and make
us teachable about the things of God. He brought us from a
great place. It was a terrible place. It's
worse than we thought. And here he says, Then I went
down to the potter's house, and behold, he wrought a work on
the wheels. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in
the hand of the potter, so that he made it again another vessel,
as seemed good to the potter to make it. Then the word of
the Lord came to me, saying, O house of Israel, cannot I do
with you as this potter, saith the Lord. Behold, as the clay
is in the potter's hand, so are ye in my hand, O house of Israel. Guess what? The church is in
the hand of the Lord, and he makes it for his glory. He has called us out of a terrible
place, but he wants us to know emphatically, without question,
that he is the potter, and we are the clay. And that only by
the grace of God will we let God touch us. We will say by nature, I'll not
have this man rule over me. I know more about how I want
to be than God knows how I want to be. But yet, God, as He arises,
He lifts us, He takes us, He brings us to the position, I'm
taking you out of a terrible place. And I am going to cause
you to know some things about me that you did not know by nature. Jeremiah chapter 31 would you
look there with me Jeremiah chapter 31 and verse 6 Jeremiah chapter
31 and verse 6 For there shall be a day that
the watchmen upon the Mount Ephraim shall cry arise ye and Let us
go up to Zion unto the Lord our God My goodness Every time we find the Lord doing
something for us, it gets better and better. We are called to
arise, and where are we called to go? Unto the Lord our God. We're called, and for thus saith
the Lord, sing the gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief
of the nations, publish ye, praise ye, and say, O Lord, save thy
people, the remnant of Israel. Behold, I will bring them from
the north country, and gather them from the coast of the earth,
and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child, and
her that travaileth with children together. A great company shall
return thither. They shall come with weeping
and with supplication. Will I lead them? And I will
cause them to walk by the rivers of the waters in a straight way,
wherein they shall not stumble, For I am a father to Israel,
and Ephraim is my firstborn." What wonderful blessings God
has in store for all his people that he calls out of darkness
to his marvelous light, and he says, arise, let's go to the
Lord. Well, when we get into the New
Testament, I want to just spend a little time in one book of
the New Testament, and Brother Mike has been going over this
book. When you plow a field, it's that
much easier to find nuggets. We've had that field plowed.
My brother lived on a piece of property down in Willow Ranch,
California that hadn't been plowed for 70 years. When he had it
plowed, he went through with a five-gallon bucket and picked
up arrowheads. He had a five-gallon bucket full
of arrowheads. And I asked him if I could go
out there and kick around in the dirt. He said, go ahead.
And I found a red obsidian knife cut in half with a disc or a
plow. I couldn't find the other half.
And he said something very unrespectful to me after I found him. Because
he thought he had found them all. Well here in the book of
Luke, join me if you would in the book of Luke chapter 5. In Luke chapter 5, our Bible
class teacher has gone over this but I'm just going to go back
over it for just a little bit. Luke chapter 5 in verse 22. Luke
chapter 5 in verse 22. And when Jesus perceived their
thoughts, he answering said unto them, What reason you in your
hearts? Now they're wondering, who on
earth can forgive sins? That's God's business. Yes, it
is. Isn't that wonderful? It's God's
business, and they're talking to God when they're saying it. And he said, how do you reason
in your hearts, whether it's easier to say, thy sins be forgiven
thee, or to say, rise up and walk? But that ye may know that
the Son of Man hath power upon earth to forgive sins, he said
unto the sick of the palsy, I say unto thee, arise, and take up
thy couch, and go unto thy house. With the words that the Lord
Jesus put out, just the words he put out, he empowered that
man who had no power on his own, he empowered that man to stand
up and walk. That's the wonderful thing about
the gospel. There is power in the gospel.
There's no power in the preacher. There's no power. There's no
power anywhere, but in the Lord Jesus Christ, in the power that
He gives His Word, He can take someone that is quite sick and
raise him up. Well, you know, some charlatan
might come along and say, that's easy to do. Do you remember that
rod that Moses had, or Aaron had, and cast down? Well, those
soothsayers that were there in the days of that Pharaoh, they
did the same thing. But there's some things people
cannot do. Turn with me just a little bit
further, here in the book of Luke chapter 7 and verse 12.
Luke chapter 7 and verse 12. Some things only that belongeth
to the Lord. This belongeth to you. This is
your business. In Luke 7 and verse 12 it says,
Now when they came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there
was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother. And she
was a widow, and much people of the city was with her. And
when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto
her, Weep not. And he came and touched the bier,
and they that bear him stood still. And he said, Young man,
I say unto thee, arise. The word of his power brought
to life dead. What power is in the word of
God that he can take dead and raise it to life? What power
is there is far beyond our power. That's why we have to say, this
matter belongeth to thee. This is the only one that can
deal with the problem And he, his name is Jesus. He demonstrates
here by doing a physical act what he does spiritually for
everyone that he died for on the cross. He will bring them
to the place that he will breathe upon them the breath of life
and they will become a living soul. This meant what happened
to him when he said that? Did he continue to lay there?
Did he languish there? Did he wait a long time there
before the Lord acts, his effect? What does it say? And he that
was dead sat up. I can clap my hands. I can say hallelujah. He said,
young man, arise, and the next words, that young man sat up
and was alive. Turn with me just a little bit
further here in the book of Luke, Luke chapter eight and verse
41. Luke chapter eight and verse
41, how he illustrates the point that there's some things that
belong to the Lord. Shechaniah said to Ezra, this
matter belongs to you, and when it comes to salvation, when it
comes to raising the dead, this matter belongs to you. We can
only say, as Jonah said, salvation is of the Lord. Here in the book
of Luke chapter 8 verse 41, we have these words, it says,
And behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was the
ruler of the synagogue, and he fell down at Jesus' feet, and
besought him that he would come to his house. For he had one
only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she lay dying. But as he went, the people thronged
him, Then there's another event takes place there and let's go
go go to verse 49 While yet spake there cometh one from the ruler
of the synagogue's house say thy daughter is dead trouble
not the master Isn't that an interesting statement? There's no hope now While she
was sick there was hope but while when she died there is no hope
That's why did the Lord Not heal her when she was just sick, and
why did he tarry there with the woman? This matter belongs to
me And it goes on to tell us there in Luke chapter 8 verse
40 950, it says, but when Jesus heard
it, he answered and said, saying, fear not, only believe, and she
shall be made whole. And when he came to the house,
he suffered no man to go in, say, Peter and James and John
and the father and the mother of the maiden, and all wept and
bewailed. But he said, weep not, she's
not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn,
knowing that she was dead. And he put them all out. and
took her by the hand and called, saying, Maid, arise. And her spirit came again, and
she arose straightway, and he commanded to give her meat. Maid, arise. How wonderful. Do you remember what the prodigal
son, and really he's not a prodigal son, he's a lost son, When he came to himself, he said,
I will arise and go to my father who gave him that. This matter
belongs to God. He's the only one that can change
our sons or our daughters or our grandchildren. He's the only
one that can intercede. He's the only one that can bring
life. He's the only one. Well, when
the son got back, the father was already anticipating his
coming and robed him up and put a ring on his hand and had a
feast. All this is because Turn with
me to Luke 24. Luke chapter 24. Arise Ezra,
this matter belongs to you. The true Ezra, arise, this matter
belongs to you. Look what he's done on the behalf
of his people. Brought us out of that terrible
plight we're in by nature. Brought us down to the potter's
house and taught us that God is sovereign in all things in
salvation, in the moving of this world. He's sovereign in all
things. He brings us to the great truth
that God is in charge of all things. And here in the book
of Luke chapter 24, whole bunch of people were disappointed that
they took the Lord Jesus and crucified Him. His disciples
were disappointed and deserted Him. On purpose it was to fulfill
the Scriptures. They thought He would throw off
the Roman rule. Here in Luke chapter 24 verse
3, the Scriptures say this, They entered in, and found not the
body of the Lord Jesus. And it came to pass, as they
were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them
in shining garments. And as they were afraid, and
bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why
seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is
risen. Remember how he spake unto you
when he was yet in Galilee. The Son of Man must be delivered
unto the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third
day rise again. He has arose. And as a result
of that, turn with me to one final passage of scripture in
the book of Ephesians, chapter 5. In the book of Ephesians,
chapter 5, verse 14. We have the Apostle Paul as he
led by the Holy Spirit to write this wonderful book to the saints
at Ephesus. Ephesians chapter 5 and verse
14 Wherefore he saith Awake thou that sleepest and arise from
the dead and Christ shall give thee light arise from the dead
Something we cannot do on our own. We are Required to go back
to Shekinah's words and say this matter Belongeth unto you Is
he pleased to raise his people from the dead? Absolutely. When will he do it? At his time. How will he do it? Through the
preaching of the gospel. And God's people said, Amen. Brother Mike, if you'll come.