Good morning once again, and
welcome to our study of the Book of Ezra. As we continue through
this book, we are reminded as the saints of old, let's pray
for one another, and as we prepare for what God has for us, let's
pray for one another. The Book of Ezra, Chapter 6,
we've gone through these first few verses over the past few
weeks, and we've noticed that there was a request to investigate
the history books of Babylon and in so doing they found out
that Cyrus the king had left an edict that he had left a Decree
and in that decree those that had been in Babylonian captivity
For 70 years or to be released and go back and this is brought
out here in the book of Ezra chapter 6 there in verse 3 and
it talks about the construction of the temple and And last week
we looked at verse five and we noticed there about the golden
and silver vessels that God had protected, which represents protecting
the sheep and all the places of the world until it's time
for them to hear the gospel and he gives them the new birth.
As we look here in verse seven today, and we're going to be
looking through a few verses in this passage of scripture,
verse seven says, let the work of this house of God alone. Let
the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews build
this house of God in his place. Now those instructions were to
those that were trying to hinder the work there at Jerusalem. The instructions from the king
of Babylon, and as it's mentioned here, let the work of the house
of God alone, leave it alone. It may look from time to time
like great hindrances to the work are being established. Error
seems to raise its ugly head on every side, and there are
nothing but God's eternal decrees. These things shall not prosper
against the work of God. If you'll turn with me to a passage
over in the book of Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 14. Isaiah chapter 14
we have these words that the Lord left us through this preacher
through this prophet And I'll say again that if you lived in
the days of Isaiah And you love God and you love Christ and you
love his word you would want to be around this man even though
is very unpopular and Have a lot of bad things said about him
by the enemies of the church yet it would behoove us to be
around him because he had the Word of God and And here in Isaiah
chapter 14 verse 24, the Lord of hosts has sworn, saying, surely
as I have thought, so shall it come to pass. And as I have purposed,
so shall it stand. So these things that were going
on, we find out that the glory and grace of God were made more
evident to the children of Israel to find out that the purpose
that God had given Cyrus God had called Cyrus even before
he was born. He mentions him in the book of
Isaiah He had called Cyrus to do what the purpose of God was
and that was to allow the children of Israel to go back to Jerusalem
and here as trouble arose after they got there the decree was
sent out it was checked and Here we have it leave the work of
God alone I'm reminded what the Lord Jesus said in the book of
Matthew chapter 16 when he told Peter Upon this rock I'll build
my church. Now that certainly is not upon
Peter. Different word for rock. Peter is a small stone, a pebble,
and this rock is a giant rock. That rock is Christ. I will build
my church. Upon this rock I'll build my
church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Don't you know Cain believed that he got rid of the world's
problem by killing his brother? Now that's over, I can go on
offering my watermelons and my onions. He thought he'd got rid
of the problem, but not so. The Lord raised up someone else,
always does, to carry the message of God's free and sovereign grace. A preacher came to a pastor friend
complaining about some religious group building a temple of doom
next to a sheep barn. The pastor friend said, don't
worry, you're not in competition with them. And sometimes we get
all stirred up, but we're not in competition with the world.
It's our job to preach the gospel. It's our privilege to preach
the gospel. It's our responsibility to preach the gospel. Now there
in, going back to the book of Ezra chapter six, we find there
in verse eight, a wonderful thing, a wonderful thing about the building
of the temple, but also a wonderful thing about the grace of God,
about the blood of Christ. It says there in verse eight,
moreover, I make a decree, what ye shall do to the elders of
these Jews for the building of the house of God, that at the
king's goods, even the tribute beyond the river, forthwith expenses
be given unto these men, that they be not hindered." Isn't
it interesting that all expenses were paid by the king? This certainly
makes us appreciate God's grace. For all his sheep, all expenses,
are paid in full, nothing owing. It is free grace. I am reminded of several verses,
particularly three or four in the New Testament and one in
the Book of Zechariah, that helps us to to just think about and
praise God for what He has done when He pays all the expenses.
Everything that we owed, God paid. I owed a debt I could not
pay, and He paid a debt He did not owe. So the expenses paid. We see this several times in
the New Testament. Paul was destined to go to Rome,
but he got an all-expenses-paid journey. The Romans took him
over there to Rome. In the book of 1 John, would
you turn with me to the book of 1 John? 1 John chapter 1 verse
7. Sometimes the if should have
been translated since, but since we walk in the light. Now we
can only do that in Christ. If we think we can walk in the
light by our own efforts and by our own power, we're greatly
mistaken. But we can only walk in the light
as He is in the light. And since we walk in the light
is because he is the light. We have fellowship with one another
and the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanseth us from all
sin. Expenses are all paid. He has paid all the expenses
to cleanse us from all sin. And we find this in the book
of, would you look with me in the book of 1 Corinthians, 1
Corinthians chapter six. In 1 Corinthians chapter six,
We find that the Apostle Paul is sharing with a group of folks,
1 Corinthians 6, and there, let's notice here, in verse 11. And such were some
of you. Now if we back up, we find he
enumerates, he lists a group of sinners and identifies them
by the sins committed. And when someone says, I've never
done any of that, we have a problem. We've done all of that. We are,
our heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.
And the Apostle Paul, led by the Holy Spirit, he says, and
such were some of you, but you are washed, but you are sanctified,
but you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus by the
Spirit of God. You are washed, you are sanctified,
and you are justified. Those three things are brought
out in that verse, and that's the work of grace. All expenses
are paid. When the children of Israel set
up to go back to Jerusalem and build those walls and to build
that temple, the expenses were paid out of the coffers of the
king. All the expenses of our salvation
are paid out of the coffers of the King and that's by the blood
of Christ If you'll turn with me to Revelation Revelation chapter
1 Revelation chapter 1 and in verse 5 Revelation chapter 1
verse 5 Revelation chapter 1 and verse
5 and from Jesus Christ who is the faithful witness, and the
first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the
earth, unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in
his own blood. Never once do we find a passage
of scripture that allows us, or permits us, or causes us to
intermingle our works of righteousness in this. It is washed us from
our sins in his own blood. In other words, All expenses
are paid. There's nothing left to pay.
He's paid it all. We owed a debt we could not pay,
and he paid a debt he did not owe. Over in the Old Testament
in the book of Zechariah, Zechariah chapter 13, we have a wonderful
passage of scripture here in the book of Zechariah chapter
13 that one of our favorite hymns is taken from. Zechariah chapter
13 and verse 1, there is a fountain filled with blood drawn from
Emmanuel's veins. This passage of scripture in
Zechariah chapter 13, in that day there shall be a fountain
open to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
That's to the church. Different ways of identifying
the elect. Different ways of identifying the sheep. Different
ways of identifying the church. This shall be opened to the house
of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for
uncleanliness." So God has taken care of the problem. Now in Adam
we fell and we are all sin. There's not one part of us that's
not sin. Our thoughts, our heart, our
mind, our body is just overwhelmed by it. He has taken care of all
the expense of cleaning us. He has made us accepted in the
beloved by His blood. So as those children of Israel,
back over there in the book of Ezra, the book of Ezra, it shares
with us that the expenses were going to be paid by the crown.
And all our expenses have been paid by the crown. the Holy One
of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of Israel, the King
of Kings, and Lord of Lords. And as we look here just a little
further in our passage of scripture in the book of Ezra, it tells
us that in chapter six and verse nine of the book of Ezra, as
we continue through here, it says in verse nine, and that
which they have need of, both young bullocks and rams and lambs
for burnt offerings, of the God of heaven, wheat, salt, wine,
and oil, according to the appointment of the priests which are at Jerusalem,
let it be given them day by day, without fail, all that they need."
Every need is supplied. There is nothing that God's people
need that He does not supply. We know He takes care of the
physical needs that we have. He takes care of the bread, he
takes care of the milk, he takes care of all the food necessities,
and if he does not, he's still a gracious God. Many years ago,
my wife and I had a daughter that was in a terrible automobile
wreck. She nearly died. Just a very
small piece of bone that was holding one of her vertebrae
together. When that doctor showed me, it was just so insignificant.
And we had lots of phone calls and letters, isn't God good?
Isn't God good? Well, I learned a great lesson
right there. God has never been bad. He's always good. And we may
not look at it as good sometimes. We may not look at what's happening
in our world or our country or our state or our county or our
city right now as being very good. But God doeth all things
well. Everything he does is good. He
is a good God, a gracious God, a merciful God. And he's working
all things after the counsel of his own will. A pastor in
a message I heard one time says, will God start a war to save
one of his elect? And he said, absolutely. And
will God bring on a great disease to save his elect? Absolutely.
So before we judge what's going on, it may be uncomfortable.
We may have friends and family that die as a result of this.
We may have people in our church that pass away as a result of
this. But it's not because God is bad. God is good. Here in
this very thought, every need is supplied, that which they
have need of. Every need is supplied. Turn
with me once again over to the book of Isaiah. I want you to
look at this passage of scripture with me in the book of Isaiah.
Isaiah chapter 49. to just be privileged to come
across some of the passages that seem to have been hidden for
so long. We read over here in the book
of Isaiah chapter 49, chapter 49 of the book of Isaiah. As
we think about every need supplied, everything they had need of,
was taken care of. The burnt offerings, the oil,
the salt, the wheat, the different animals that were needed, everything
was taken care of by the king. And here in the book of Isaiah
chapter 49, verse 23, it says, and the kings shall be thy nursing
fathers, and their queens, thy nursing mothers. Now let's just
back up a little bit in this chapter to verse 16 and read
a little bit of this to get the idea of what's going on here.
Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands. Thy walls
are continually before me. God has taken care of all of
our needs and he never forgets us and never leaves us. He's
graven on the palms of his hands. Metaphorically, every one of
his elect was written on the palm of his hand when those nails
went through and he knew exactly who he was dying for on the cross. Not one escaped him. And there
shall never, ever be anyone that hear the words, depart from me,
ye worker of iniquity, that Jesus Christ died for. None of those that he died were
ever hear those words. So he says, I've graven you on
the palms of my hand. Thy children shall make haste. thy destroyers, and they that
make thee waste, shall go forth of thee. Lift up thy eyes round
about, and behold, all these gather themselves together, and
come to thee. As I live, saith the Lord, thou
shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as with an ornament,
and bind them on thee as a bride doeth. For thy waste and thy
desolate places and the land of thy destruction shall even
now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants, and they that
swallowed thee up shall be far away. The children which thou
shalt have after thou hast lost the other shall say again in
thine ears, The place is too straight for me, give place to
me that I may dwell. Then shalt thou say in thine
heart, Who hath begotten me? hath begotten me these, seeing
I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and removing
to and fro. And who hath brought up these?
Behold, I was left alone. These, where have they been?
Thus saith the Lord God, behold, I will lift up my hand to the
Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people, and they shall
bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried
upon their shoulders. And then we read that the world
will be made the nursing fathers and the nursing mothers of these. They'll be taken care of. The
kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing
mothers. They shall bow down to thee with
their face toward the earth and lick up the dust of thy feet.
And thou shall know that I am the Lord, for they shall not
be ashamed that wait for me. These kings, these queens, nursing
fathers, taking care of God's people. Do you remember with
me over there in the book of Joshua when there was a group
of folks called the Gibeonites? They threw dust all over themselves
and wore the worst shoes they had and the clothes looked like
they'd been traveling for so far. They tried to beguile Joshua. When he came to the end of that,
he said there, the Gibeonites shall be hewers of wood and drawers
of water. Now, for two groups of people. Turn with me as we look at that
over in the book of Joshua chapter 9. Joshua chapter 9. God's going to take care of his
folks. And he's going to use other folks to take care of them. I used to teach school, and I
had people, when I'd go to a conference, they'd say, oh, you're a school
teacher. Do you teach in a Christian school? And I'd say, no, I don't.
And they'd say, well, how can you do that? And I'd say, do
you shop at a Christian grocery? Do you get your gas at a Christian
gas station? These folks are the hewers of
wood and drawers of water, so we can put food on our table,
pay our bills. God has provided, and all our
needs physical and spiritual are taken care of here in the
book of joshua chapter nine verse twenty three we have these words
as joshua spoke and he says in joshua chapter nine verse twenty
three now therefore ye are cursed and there shall none of you be
freed from being bondmen and hewers of wood and drawers of
water for the house of god listen to that these folks Joshua decreed,
declared, and they turned out to be that. Hewers of wood and
drawers of water for the house of God. And if you'll drop down
just a little bit further in that chapter, in verse 27, Joshua
made them that day hewers of wood and drawers of water for
the congregation. and for the altar of the Lord,
even unto this day, in the place which he should choose." Who
was it that cut the lumber for the church buildings? Who was
it? By and large, we're going to
find out. They're just nothing but gibbonites, hewers of wood
and drawers of water that God used to provide the necessities
that we have. Build our church buildings to
build our own homes. And that's the way it is. God
supplies every need. He supplies every physical need.
He supplies every spiritual need. hewers of wood, and drawers of
water. He's going to supply every need, all that is needed. Now
going back to the book of Ezra there, if you'd go back to the
book of Ezra chapter 6 again, and we find out there in Ezra
chapter 6 and verse 10, Ezra chapter 6 and verse 10, that
they might offer sacrifices of sweet savers unto the God of
heaven. and pray for the life of the
king and for his sons. They'd offer these sacrifices,
sweet savor. We're all privileged today to
offer the sacrifices of praise, the sacrifices of prayer, which
are like sweet savor unto God. And then in verses 11 and 12,
the king of Babylon, the king, the king that ruled over all
the area, writes about the punishment that would be meted out to those
who oppose the work of God. In verses 11 and 12, Ezra chapter
6 verse 11, Also I have made a decree, that whosoever shall
after this word let timber be pulled down from his house, and be set up,
let him be hanged thereon, let his house Let his house be made a dunghill
for this, and God that hath caused his name to dwell there destroy
all kings and people that shall put in their hand to alter or
to destroy this house which is at Jerusalem. I Darius or Darius
have made a decree, let it be done with speed. If you're going
to contradict, if you're going to go up against, this is what's
going to happen to you. If you oppose the work of the
living God, the punishment of those who oppose the work of
God. Daniel said, which speak anything amiss against the God
of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be cut off. Cut in pieces,
their houses made a dunghill. In the book of Matthew chapter
25 and verse 41, the Lord Jesus says, depart from me, you cursed,
I never knew you. So these that oppose the work
of God have not the heart to do the work. Those who, like
Cain, opposed the work, just could not stand grace, could
not stand. to have someone offer a sacrifice
that was acceptable, and then would offer a fake, dishonoring
sacrifice, would rob God of His glory in their sacrifices. They're
the folks that are always upset. They're always angry about it. They're the ones that make charges
against. They're the ones that say, I
know what it says, but I don't believe it. Well, if we don't
believe the word of God, we're unbelievers, and there's a place
for unbelievers. In verse 13 of that chapter,
then, Tatenai, governor of this side of the river, Shalth-Bonezi,
and their companions, according to that which Darius the king
had sent, so they did speedily. They got things started, and
they took off with the work. It had never completely stopped,
but they have the authority to go on now. Now, we get down to
verse 14 and we're going to spend the rest of our morning here
in verse 14 as we find there's the thought of prosperity. There's
a lot said in the world today, religious world. There's a prosperity
gospel. Well, the gospel is prosperity
to the elect. It doesn't mean you're going
to have a chicken in every pot, in a Ford, in every garage. It
means to prosper in the Lord. And that's what it says in verse
14 here. And the elders of the Jews builded, and they prospered
through the prophesying or preaching of Haggai the prophet, and Zechariah
the son of Ido. and they built it and finished
it according to the commandment of the God of Israel and according
to the commandment of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes, king of
Persia. Did you notice that? It says
right there in that first part, they prospered through the preaching. They prospered through the preaching
of these two prophets. We have their little books in
the Bible, the book of Haggai, the book of Zechariah, They're
filled with pictures, types, and shadows of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And he included them all in his
statement that he brought out all the things concerning himself
throughout the Old Testament when he talked to his disciples. prospers us. This word prosper
is to cause to prosper, show prosperity, be prosperous, have
success, to be successful. There's only one place that we
truly can have success, have prosperity, and that is in the
Lord. There's a wonderful passage in
the life of Joseph over there in the book of Genesis. Very
few of us have ever endured what Joseph went through. We find
he's a wonderful type of the Lord. He has many things that
were written about him that are similar to and pictures of the
work of the Lord Jesus. And here in the book of Genesis
chapter 39, we have this passage about Joseph. He's been sold
by his brethren down into Egypt. He's been taken down there and
we don't know what it'd be like to be taken 10,000 miles away
from home to a strange place that we didn't know the language.
and we're thrown into jail. And this is written about Joseph.
It says in verse 2, verse 1, Joseph was brought down to Egypt. What a word, what a statement
is made here. A fellow that's been used to
taking care of his father's sheep and being with his dad and being
around his brothers, and then he's sold into Egyptian slavery. He's gone down to Egypt. He's
going to a place that we wouldn't want to live. It's kind of like
Lot moving to Sodom. People living in very precarious
places in this world, but they're children of the Most High God.
And many of them have the privilege of meeting at little places there
that preach the truth about the grace of God and the Lord Jesus
Christ as the all-sufficient Savior. And we notice here in
this passage of scripture in Genesis chapter 39 and verse
2, after he's been down there in Egypt and Potiphar, the officer
of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, He is being a slave
of an Egyptian, and we know what Egyptians are typical of. Brought
him of the hands of the Ishmaelites, which had brought him down thither.
He's been sold by the Ishmaelites to Potiphar. Potiphar is a captain
of the guard. And then it tells us in verse
two, and the Lord was with Joseph. Now notice the next phrase in
that verse of scripture, the Lord was with Joseph and he was
a prosperous man. And he was in the house of his
master, the Egyptian. Now how can that be that someone
would be prosperous living in a condition like that? Well,
we find the apostle Paul there in Rome and he had a guard about
him all the time, many miles away from the folks he loved
and the folks who loved him. Taken off there, later he would
be killed over there. He'd be martyred. And we find
here, still, he was a prosperous man. He got to preach the gospel
there. Well, the Lord was with Joseph. That's prosperity. That is true prosperity, to have
the Lord with us. Even though Joseph was in Egypt,
he was a prosperous man. Not physical wealth, but the
Lord was with him. That's prosperity. It's not having
a big bank account. It's prosperity is to have the
Lord as our prosperity. When Samuel went to anoint a king, after Saul proved
unworthy, and he was going to anoint another king. It tells
us in the book of 1 Samuel chapter 16, this word is used there again,
1 Samuel, prosperous. This word is translated from
a Hebrew word that's translated a number of ways in our translation
in the King James here, and we find that as over there, The
Lord was with Joseph and he was a prosperous man. We find that
there's a prosperity mentioned here in 1 Samuel chapter 16.
When Samuel went to anoint a new king, you remember that account
as they looked over the seven sons. Verse 10 of chapter 16
of the book of 1 Samuel, again, Jesse made seven of his sons
pass before Samuel. And Samuel said unto Jesse, the
Lord hath not chosen these. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are
there all thy children? And he said, There remaineth
yet the youngest, and, behold, he keepeth the sheep. And Samuel
said unto Jesse, Send and fetch him, for we will not sit down
till he come hither. The work's not done, so we can't
sit down. And he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy and
with all of beautiful countenance and goodly to look to. And the
Lord said, Arise and anoint him, for this is he. Now notice in
verse 13, the same word that we find prosperous. Prosperous
there in the book of of Ezra and prosperous there in the book
of Genesis is Translated just a little bit different here in
this verse of scripture, but all the significance the significance
is so valuable so important then Samuel took the horn of oil and
Anointed him in the midst of his brethren and the Spirit of
the Lord came upon David from that day forward so Samuel rose
up and went to Rama now From that reading, it might be difficult
to know which word was translated from the word we have over in
Genesis or in Ezra that comes to us as the word prosperous,
but it's the word came. In verse 13, the Spirit of the
Lord came upon David. You know what? We never will
have any prosperity, spiritual prosperity, in this world, in
our life, in our religion, or anything, until the Spirit comes
and we're born again. That's when we begin prosperity,
to have the Spirit of God in us. The Spirit came upon David. The word translated in many places,
prospered. We truly prosper when the Holy
Spirit comes in the new birth. We don't know anything. We don't
have anything. We don't have a spiritual clue
till that point. And there's a new creature. When
we're a new creature in Christ Jesus, behold, all things become
new. Every spiritual blessing, everything
about Christ is new. We just can't figure it out with
the physical mind and the fallen heart. But when we're born again,
the Lord gives us some understanding about salvation, about grace,
about Christ, about the Spirit. And we begin to see this is true
prosperity to have the Lord God Almighty in us, the Holy Spirit. In the book of Isaiah, would
you turn with me to the book of Isaiah chapter 53? Right here
in the middle of the book of Isaiah chapter 53, that great
chapter of the working of the Lord Jesus Christ and the redemption
of his people here in the book of Isaiah. Isaiah 53, and there
in verse 10. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
him. My, my, what a wonderful verse. That is, what a wonderful
thought, it pleased the Lord to bruise him. And that word
bruise is so far greater, the thought of it is so far greater
than just bruising ourself against a table leg. He hath put him
to grief when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin. He shall see his seed, he shall
prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in
his hand. That word prosper, the pleasure
of the Lord. God is so pleased to extend to
the elect the salvation procured by the Lord Jesus Christ. We
truly prosper in Christ. We truly prosper in what he's
done for us. And also in the book of Isaiah
chapter 55, Isaiah chapter 55. We have this
word there. Isaiah 55 and there in verse
11. Isaiah 55 and verse 11 says,
So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall
not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which
I please, and it shall prosper in the thing wherein to I sent
it. Now back over there in the book of Ezra, we got two preachers,
Haggai and Zechariah. And when they started preaching
about the grace of God, when they started preaching that the
things that God has done for his people, that this temple,
the sacrifices that were going to be exercised there, were a
picture of what the Apostle Paul said that we do, and that's preach
Christ and Him crucified. They were typifying, they were
pictorializing the Jesus Christ crucified for our sins. That's why it must be as perfect
as possible. The sacrifices must be without
spot and without blemish. They were going to be consumed
and the fire fell from heaven. The sins of the people were confessed
over those animals. pictured the imputed sin of all
the elect placed on them. That is what's going to be shown
over there. We preach Christ and Him crucified. And if you
take anything away from that, if you use animals that are not
perfect, or if you do it without a spirit of grace, it just takes
away and destroys. Once again, we just robbed God.
But there, it shall prosper in the thing whereunto I sin it.
As they preach the gospel, as they preach to them, God is with
you. God is glorious, glorious things
of God. Oh, how we are made to have great
prosperity in the Savior. We are prosperous. We're so prosperous
in being able to hear the gospel. There was a bunch of folks there
that two preachers came. I mean, they're going to have
a meeting. There's going to be preaching going on. The book
of Zechariah and the book of Haggai is there. These preachers
are going to be preaching. They're preaching the prosperity
that is in Christ Jesus the Lord. They're preaching about the gospel. They're declaring the goodness
of God. The elders of the Jews built
it and they prospered through the preaching or the prophesying
of Haggai and Zechariah. My goodness, it's like going
to church. like here in the gospel. Our hearts are caused to prosper.
We see the glories of God in the scriptures. Our eyes are
made to be open to the things that are glorious about Christ.
Our hearts are warmed by the goodness of God. We are so prosperous
in the covenant of grace. My goodness, we are lost without
it. If God didn't have an interest
in his sheep before the world began, we're all lost. He had
an interest, a covenant of grace, and the enjoyable thing about
the covenant of grace is that we're the recipients. We're not
going to participate and destroy it, but we're the recipients.
The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, they're going to
take care of that. They have a great deal that of
interest in it, and they're going to carry it out to the end just
as they promised. We are so prosperous in the Son's
atonement, complete and full atonement. All sins put away. The atonement of Christ is effectual.
The atonement of Christ is complete. The atonement of Christ was pleasing
to the Father. We're so prosperous in the sin
being put away to find out that we can stand before God without
sin, without spot, or without blemish. What a wonderful prosperity
we have. We're prosperous in being adopted
by God. Someone said that when a person
is adopted, that's by choice. We have children born to us.
That's what happens in the natural process. But adopted children,
that's by choice. We want to do this. And so God
wanted to adopt the people. He wanted to adopt the church.
We are so prosperous in the righteousness of Christ, full, complete righteousness. We have none of our own but his.
is so absolutely complete that it's pleasing unto God. We are
so prosperous in Christ. We thank him that he has taken
us from where in is our prosperity. We had old prosperity, we thought
it was great. If we had a chicken in the pot
and a Ford in the garage, we were prosperous. Well, our prosperity
is in the Lord. We thank him. He's taken us from
where we were to our prosperity. There's a wonderful passage of
scripture over in the book of 1 Samuel. We've been there several
times this morning, and I just want to go back over there to
the book of 1 Samuel, because in that chapter two, we have
a wonderful saint of God. We have a dear, sweet sister.
She knew something, and something had been revealed to her. She
was like Lydia, whose heart the Lord opened. God had taken care
of it. And she is telling us the sweet
blessings of grace, the prosperity that we have in Christ, because
she just kind of goes down the way God saves his people from
their sins. He says, the Lord killeth. Oh
my goodness. And he does. He does that spiritually. But he maketh alive. How prosperous we are to have
spiritual life. He bringeth down to the grave
and bringeth up. My goodness, how prosperous we
are to be brought up, brought out of ourself and brought out
of the world and brought into Christ. The Lord maketh poor
and maketh rich. We are so prosperous in the riches
of Christ Jesus the Lord. He bringeth low and he lifteth
up. He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, And lifteth up the
beggar from the dung-heap. the dunghill. Can you just imagine
what these pictures share with us about our condition by nature?
That we have no hope, we have no hope at all in all the religious
paraphernalia that we are attracted to and we thought we were doing
a good job in, we thought we were doing God a service, but
we just can't do it in our natural state. And yet, we find out the
Lord, when He does the work, when He does the work of grace,
when He sends somebody by, that we get to hear the gospel, and
the Holy Spirit takes that word and creates in us life. He takes
up dwelling in us, and we're made prosperous. The Lord is
with us, and we're prosperous people, far above anything else
that there is possible. And it says there, He's taken
us He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, verse 8, and lifteth
up the beggar from the dunhill. Now what's He do with us? He
sets us among princes, and make them inherit the throne of glory. What prosperity do we have! Oh, to hear that prosperous good
news! prosperous good news, the gospel
of God's free grace in Christ Jesus, that prosperous news that
salvation is of the Lord. It upsets us to begin with, but
then we find out what prosperity we have. He lifts us from the
most terrible of descriptive places that we could think of,
and from the dust and from the dunghill, and set us among princes,
and made to inherit the throne of glory for the pillars of the
earth of the lords, and he hath set the world upon them." What
a wonderful passage. Look at this blessed passage.
We're spiritualized. We are so prosperous in him. And where's our prosperity? It's in Christ Jesus. It's a
glory that he continues to allow us to hear the good news, the
gospel. It stirs our heart. It makes
us glad. We realize even on the worst
of days how good we have it as a believer in Christ Jesus. Now,
where is our prosperity? Where do you find this? Would
you turn with me to the book of Deuteronomy? Deuteronomy chapter
32. A couple of verses over there.
Deuteronomy chapter 32. Verses 9 and 10, where did he
find you? You know, those Jews that came
back to Jerusalem, they left captivity. God had purposed that
they would leave captivity. He told them when they would
leave captivity. He has every one of his elect.
He has the day, the time, the place, who will preach the gospel
to them, the act of the Holy Spirit to give them the new birth.
He has it all exactly right. Where was it he found us though?
He finds us down in Babylonian captivity or here as we read
in the book of Deuteronomy chapter 32. Deuteronomy chapter 32 and
there in verse nine and 10, this is where he finds us. If we look
here, it says, the Lord's portion is his people. Jacob is the lot
of his inheritance. Excuse me. The Lord's portion
is his people. We look from this side of the
new birth and we say, hallelujah, my goodness, to be a portion
of the Lord. His people, Jacob, is the lot
of his inheritance. Now where did he find us? Verse
10, he found us in Egypt, he found us in Babylon, he found
us, as it says here, he found him in a desert place, in a desert
land. He found us in Lodibar. He found
us in the waste-howling wilderness, as it tells us in the next part
of that, in the waste-howling wilderness. All that we thought
was good wasn't. We'd eaten so much sand, had
it blown in our eyes. And then he says, he led him
about, he instructed him. It didn't look like he knew where
he was taking us, but he knew exactly where he was taking us.
And he instructed him. And notice the last part of that
verse. He kept him as the apple of his eye. He found Jacob. He finds the church in the desert
land. He found them over there. He
knew exactly why they were there. He knew where they were, over
there in Babylonian captivity. 70 years later, at the appointed
time, Just like we find them down in Egypt, and 400 years
to the day later, they're released. They're taken out. Different
pictures there of the redemptive work of God in Christ Jesus.
And here, found us in a desert land, in a waste howling wilderness. Usually, most of us, right in
the middle of some religious organization, striving to get
to the top. He led him about. My sheep hear
my voice and they follow me. I give unto them eternal life."
He instructed them. Everyone that he saves, he instructs,
and he instructs in exactly the same teaching about Christ. There's no alteration there.
We're going to agree on these things, the things that be of
Christ. And he kept him as the apple
of his eye. If you look that up, I believe
you'll find that the apple of the eye is the reflection of
yourself in the eye of another. He keeps us that close to him. So as those folks over there
in the book of Ezra, Ezra chapter 6, Ezra chapter 6, and we look
there, it says, and the elders, verse 14, the elders of the Jews
builded, and they prospered through the preaching of Haggai the prophet
and Zechariah the son of Ido. They prospered through the prophesying
of these men. They were sent by God to go down
there and preach encouragement as they built the temple there
and later the walls. So we can say, Lord, thank you
for allowing us to prosper in Christ, as you did to Joseph. The Lord was with him, even in,
well, Medals, Oregon, Portland, Oregon, wherever his people are. down there, he's still with them,
and they are a prosperous people. Well, let us pray. Father in
heaven, we thank you for this time you've given us together.
We thank you, Lord, for all your saints everywhere and for the
preaching of the gospel that you so clearly declared would
take place to every kindred nation, people, and tongue. Lord, we
pray for our folks. We pray that you would keep them
from the difficulties of the hour according to your good purpose
And we pray, Lord, for our country and those who are in charge that,
Lord, they would lead us in a good way in this manner. Lord, we
pray for those who will be affected by this disease, that those you
purpose to heal, you would heal, and that you give the dying grace
to those that you purpose to use this to take them to glory.
We ask, Lord, you'd watch over us and care for us until we're
permitted to meet again. And it's in Jesus' name I pray.
Amen.