Would you join me this morning
in the second chapter of the book of Ezra? Ezra chapter 2. Ezra chapter 2 is 70 verses long,
and we're going to cover much of that today. Ezra chapter 2. It is a delight to be here. Thankful
for God's providence in our lives it permits us to do this very
thing And that is to worship the true and the living God Ezra
chapter 2 verse 1 Now these are the children of the province
that went up out of the captivity of Those which had been carried
away whom Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, had carried
away unto Babylon, and came again unto Jerusalem, and Judah, every
one, unto his city." The results of Ezra chapter 1 verse 1 are
felt as we read Ezra chapter 2 and verse 1. In Ezra chapter
1 verse 1, Now in the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, that
the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled,
the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, that
he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also
in writing, saying, Thus saith Cyrus, king of Persia, The Lord
God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and
hath charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is
in Judah. Who is there among you of all
his people? His God be with him. Let him
go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build a house of
the Lord God of Israel. He is the God which is in Jerusalem. Between the proclamation that
Cyrus made that the children that remained of the tribe of
Benjamin and the tribe of Judah, between the time that he said
to go and the time we have over here in Ezra chapter 2, we have
a group of people have arrived back in Palestine. Now the scriptures
tell us it took four months for them to travel from Babylon down
to Jerusalem. The trek is about 900 miles. It took them, as it's recorded
in the book of Ezra, would you turn there with me? Ezra chapter
nine, excuse me, Ezra chapter seven, verse nine. Ezra chapter
seven, verse nine. For upon the first day of the
first month began he to go up from Babylon, and on the first
day of the fifth month, he came to Jerusalem according to the
good hand of his God upon him. So according to the good providence
of God, they traveled the distance of about 900 miles in four months
to the day, leaving on the first day of the month and arriving
on the first day of the month. What a trek they took. Not much
is said about their travels as they went through that great
distance, but we do find that they arrived here in the land
once again after 70 years of being taken out, 70 years earlier,
The families of these folks were taken out. They were held in
captivity for 70 years. The proclamation was made by
Cyrus, Benjamin, Judah, you descendants that have been held captive,
go home. Free at last, 70 years later. Now, the reason I'm not going
to read all of these 70 verses is that there is a long list
of the families and the thing that I'd like to talk about this
morning, the presentation this morning, the message this morning
is on the exactness of God. I was amazed as I read down through
this long passage of scripture, these many verses that God shares
with us that he is exact in everything. God is not the God of almost. God is not the God of maybe.
God is not the God of could be. God is not the God of round up
or round down. God is not the God that our natural
mind thinks about, but God is the God that is exact in all
of his doings. Let's read a few verses in this
list of scripture that God left us, and as I was going through
here, I looked up the names, and every one of those names
have some significance. But the significance that I'd
like to look at today, verse three of this. The children of
Porash, 2,172. An exact number. In verse 7, the children of Ilium,
1,254. In verse 17, the children of
Bezziah, 323. In verse 25, the children of
Kirjatharim, Cherarath, Beiruth, 743. Verse 36, the priests and
the children of Jedariah of the house of Jeshua, 973. And verse 39, and I'm just picking
out some verses. All of these verses have similar
characteristics about them. There is the exact number of
folks that come under those family headings. God is very precise
when he called on Ezra to record this message about who went back
and how many there were that went back of every family, of
every tribe that had been taken into captivity. In verse 39,
we read these words, the children of Haram, 1017. And then, if you'll notice with
me, in verse 66 and verse 67, not only was he precise in the
number of folks that came back and the families that they represented,
but in verse 66, their horses were 736, their mules 245, their
camels 435, their asses 6,720. Now who would make up a list
like this and have it recorded in a book that we still use today
that is about 2,000, 3,000 years old? God is demonstrating something
to us here that he wants us to comprehend and to understand
to the best of our abilities. And if it's not revealed, please
take this into consideration. It is exact. When it's revealed,
we see that God always works this way, that His dealings are
exact in every way, that there is nothing that He rounds up
or rounds down, or says maybe, or could be, or it should be,
or anything like that, that we use in our terminology about
any subject whatever. These verses of scripture share
with us that God is exact, and they share with us many other
places in the scripture that God is on an exact route, that
when he made purpose before the foundation of the world, he has
not deviated to the right hand or to the left hand. In fact,
the scriptures tell us that there is not a shadow of turning with
him. that he doesn't alter his purpose
and he doesn't alter his goings. As his word is sent out, as we
heard right this morning, it will accomplish. Some of us were
in some pretty good amount of rain yesterday. And it says,
as the rain comes down, what is the purpose of the rain? It
is to bring forth fruit. That's why it's sent. And what
is the purpose of God's word? It will bring forth according
to God's eternal purpose. It will accomplish where into
it was sent. And so as we look into the scriptures
this morning, we find that God has been precise in all of His
activities with men and without men. Wherever He has turned,
there has been an exactness about God, and He will not be altered
by our whims and our ways. He will stay straight. We read
in the scriptures that there is a straight way, a narrow way,
and that is probably the best description of God's purpose
we're going to find. It is a narrow way. It is so
narrow that it is only as wide as Jesus Christ is and his gospel. No variation on either side.
He will not give in to anybody. He will declare the truth and
let it stand. Well, turn with me, if you would,
as we look at this view for just a few moments this morning about
the exactness of God. Turn back with me to the book
of Genesis. Genesis chapter two and verse two. God shares with
us after he created all things. It tells us in Genesis chapter
two and verse two, and on the seventh day, Pretty exact. Now, I've ran into all sorts
of people that will tell me what that word's day means. And, he that hath faith, we don't
have to worry about, and he that doesn't, you can't convince him.
But that word day just means day, like we're dealing with
today. I had a friend of mine tell me one time that that day
could have been eons long. And I said, okay, but the night
would have been just as long, and there would be no life survived.
Just think about it, even logical. So on the seventh day, Genesis
chapter two and verse 22, on the seventh day, God ended his
work which he had made and he rested on the seventh day from
all his work which he had made and he's sharing within that
verse of scripture that everything that preceded this, God was directly
involved with and did not let anything else influence him.
Man looked just like he decreed The apple tree looked just like
he decreed. The peach tree looked like just
he decreed. The grass and every blade of
grass looked like he decreed. Yesterday morning, we woke up
to snow, and it was amazing. If I'd have had a telescope,
not a telescope, a microscope, I could have seen that every
snowflake was different. And then I thought about every
thumbprint is different on every individual that has ever been
born. God is exact. He leaves nothing
to chance. He left nothing outside of his
eternal purpose. And so, in the book of Hebrews,
it says, we understand by faith, we understand that the worlds
were framed by the word of God. If we don't have that faith,
we can't convince each other. Otherwise, if we do, we just
say, thank God for showing me that, and I understand why my
family doesn't agree with it now. It's a revealed truth. In
the book of Exodus, chapter 12, verse 41, we've looked at this
verse a number of times, particularly as we look at the children of
Israel and the timeline of God and His exactness, that He does
things exactly on time. exactly according to purpose.
He does all things after the purpose of His own will, and
nobody persuades Him or nobody turns Him in another direction.
I used to have these prayer chains. Have you ever been involved in
that? where someone has a problem and so they get on the prayer
chain and they call everybody they know up and you ask them,
what are you doing? We're trying to convince God
to do it this way. It is so wonderful when you're
born again and you realize that all the prayer of everybody is
not going to change God. We don't want a God that can
be changed. We need a God that is eternal
in his purpose, and he is exact in what he does, and that's the
God that can save his people from their sin, and have it taken
care of for eternity, and it's not up to us. Oh, if it was up
to us, we'd be in the pit every day, wouldn't we? But since it's
up to a God that is exact in His word, and exact in His promise,
and exact in His numbers, we don't have to worry about it. Here in the book of Exodus chapter
12, we read there in verse 41, you know the children of Israel
had been in slavery down in Egypt for 400 years. You know why God
told Abraham they're going to be in slavery in Egypt for 400
years? because the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. You know who the Amorites are?
They're descendants of Esau. Their iniquity is not full, so
I'm going to put you in storage over here, and when the time
of storage is complete, I'll take you out of storage, and
you'll be the ones to take care of the Amorites. All right, but
notice here in Exodus chapter 12, and there in verse 41, it
says, and it came to pass at the end of 430 years. Now, the
30 years is the time that Joseph reigned. Joseph was second in
charge in Egypt. He was there for 30 years, and
then there arose a king upon his death who knew not Joseph. And he looked around and saw
there's going to be a problem if we don't take care of the
problem. and he put them in servitude, he put them in slavery, and that
was for 400 years, but even the selfsame day it came to pass. Now there's nobody around that
went into slavery in Egypt that are ready to go out. They're
all gone. Nobody left scratch marks on
the wall. Nobody left scratch marks in
prison to count the number of days because it just carried
on for 400 years. But on the selfsame day they
were put into captivity, 400 years later, God released. in an exactness that we can't
comprehend. He's the only one that was taking
care of the clock. He's the only one that made the
statement, this is how long it will be. It will not be 399 years
and seven months. It will not be 400 years and
one month. It will be 400 years to the day. And the church has ever said
amen. I like a God that keeps his word
on time. He is exact in this, the self,
same day. Turn with me, if you would, to
the book of Psalm, Psalm 118. This verse of scripture is tossed
around a little bit, but let's look at it, Psalm 118, and there
in verse 24. Psalm 118 and verse 24, the psalmist
gives us this message and the church rejoices in it and it
says right here in Psalm 118 and verse 24, this is the day. Right now. Not yesterday. We should have yesterday. And
not tomorrow. Now we should tomorrow too, but
this is the day the Lord hath made. Right now, this day, we're
living in it. I told Nancy yesterday, I just
cannot comprehend that I'm going to be 69. As to some of you, that's just being
a kid. Just a kid. The days have passed,
but the only important one is today. What think ye of Christ
today? This is the day the Lord hath
made. This is the day which the Lord
hath made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. Now there's only
one way to rejoice, and only one way to be glad in it, and
that is to know the one who made the day, the Lord Jesus Christ,
the God Almighty. Over in the book of Galatians
chapter one, we get down to dealing with individuals. And this is
where God's glory shines, not only in just the creation, not
just in the heavens and the earth, not in our worlds, as it says,
we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God.
that this is the day he hath made, but it gets down to where
we live when we find out that God is an exact God in our lives. In the book of Galatians chapter
five, or excuse me, chapter one, verse five, Galatians chapter
one and verse five, the apostle Paul was used by the Holy Spirit
to write this letter, and he covered a lot of subjects in
this letter, but notice here in chapter one and verse five, Chapter 1 verse 15, but when
it, when it, when it pleased God, but when it pleased God. Now it says, the apostle Paul
is sharing with here, and this is God moving in Paul to write
this. He's not saying, I had a good
time over there. I want to share with you, the
Holy Spirit wants us to have this information. Paul is just
not telling a story. The Holy Spirit wants us to have
this information. He said, I profited in the Jews'
religion, verse 14, above many my equals in my own nation. The thing about it is, Paul or
Saul knew that. Once the Lord said to him, he's
the humblest man on the face of the earth. But before that,
pride had just ruled his heart. I was in the tradition, zealous
of the traditions of my fathers. In our vernacular today, that
is someone telling you or telling me, my dad was a, fill in the
religion. I was zealous of the tradition
of the fathers, not one word in that says I stood for Christ. I was zealous of the tradition
of my fathers, but, now we get to the when. the wind, this is
an exact wind, but wind it pleased God. That's the exact wind. God is exact in creation physically
as is exact as he is in spiritual creation. He is the exact God
that had a purpose in creating the heavens and the earth and
all the critters and all everything that we see around us And he
has the same purpose and the same exactness when it comes
to creating our spiritual life. He doesn't deviate or alter.
It is a win. He is pleased. We pray for our
kids. We pray for our grandkids. We
pray for our aunts. We pray for our uncles. We pray
for our brothers. We pray for our sisters. But
if they're ever going to be saved, it must be win. It pleases God. And he has an exactness on that. When it please God who separate,
he was involved in my physical birth. He was involved with my
dad and mother's physical birth. He was involved with my grandparents'
physical birth, my great-grandparents, and all the way back, he said,
I can trace my line back to that second tribe that was taken into
Babylonian captivity, the tribe of Benjamin. I can trace it back
to the four months that they traveled from Babylon to Jerusalem. I had part in the building of
the second temple and part in the building of Jerusalem walls. We want to get historical. He
had a line right back there. He could trace his line back
to Jacob, Isaac, Abraham, Noah, and to Adam. Now, we may not
have the ability, but we can trace the same line right back
to Adam. Here it is. God said to Paul,
write this down. I'm talking about you, and you
as an example of everyone I will ever save. These words are also
true when it pleased God who separated me from my mother's
womb and call me by his grace to reveal his son in me. There is an exactness about God
that is incomprehensible. It is so exact that is from eternity
to eternity. that term I keep coming up with
from one of the old writers, from old eternity to new eternity. The exactness is there, but when
it please God. And then in chapter four, we're
looking at the book of Malachi on Wednesday night, and Malachi
is the last of the prophets to testify if we were going to have
Trial or a comet the last of the prophets to testify about
the coming of the Messiah It's been promised. He's promised
to come Malachi brings that subject to our face To our ears to our
eyes the subject of the coming Messiah He is the last one to
testify for 400 years There is not going to be any word given
to be written down for 400 years, until we come to the New Testament
era. But during that 400-year period,
we have preachers of the gospel declaring the Messiah is coming,
and He will save you by His grace right now. in the fullness of
time right now, during this 400 years without the inspiration
of God, he still saves his people from their sins. We get down
here to Galatians chapter four, and we read in verse four, but when the fullness of time
was come, God sent forth his son. The exact moment, the exact
time, the exact place, the exact mother, the exact stepfather,
the exact everything took place, and as it's recorded here, in
the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his son, made
of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them. Do you know what? The redemption of God's people
is just on the same exactness as when Jesus Christ was determined
to come and be born of a virgin. The exactness of God. is found
in his redemptive work, to redeem them that were under the law,
that we might receive the adoption of sons. God leaves us the understanding
about himself that he is an exact God. We hear this from the scriptures
that speak about our salvation. Turn with me, if you would, back
just a little bit to the book of Romans chapter 8. In Romans
chapter 8, we're reading those verses down in the book of Ezra
chapter 2 of this family, 2,413. That's how many traveled. And that verse, this many, and
this many camels, and this many horses, and this many donkeys,
exact numbers. And we find out that's not half
been told about God. Everything he does is the same. He never is one. I was working
with some kids in the classroom the other day, and I'm amazed
they didn't know how to round numbers. God didn't do that. He just leaves
it with 13s on the end, and 17s on the end, and 23s on the end,
and 47s on the end. He does no rounding. He has an
exact number in mind whenever he does, an exact time in mind
whenever he does, an exact purpose in mind. And here in the book
of Romans chapter 8, and there beginning with verse 28, and
we know that all things work together for good to them that
love God, to them who are called according to his purpose. Now
notice these verses. This is what he has to say about
his exactness with regard to our salvation. He is exact in
every one of these words. For whom, we could go to a lot
of places and find out who the whom are. My sheep know my voice
and they follow me. You will believe not because
you are not of my sheep. For whom he did foreknow. Now he didn't look down through
time to find out who was going to raise their hand in some altar
call. The exact reason that he had
to have election was he knew that nobody would answer the
call. And he had to, those he foreknew. He also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn
among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
them he also called. Everyone that God chose in before
the foundation of the world Sometime in their life the word will come
to them the truth of the gospel will come to them and he will
call them And they will not be able to resist. In fact, after
it's over with, I said, thank God, he overpowered my will. Because left to myself, I would
have never come this way. I'd have never chosen God. I
know the depths of my despair and the depths of my sin and
how fallen I am. So thank God for all that work.
And people that have a problem with it have a problem because
God has an exactness and they want to push in their will into
this. I need to add a little bit to
this. Now that works in making carrot
cake, potato salad, but it doesn't work with the
gospel. There's a thousand ways to make potato salad. and 999
are good. But it doesn't work with the
gospel to add anything but God's ingredients, and that is His
Son and His righteousness. For whom, moreover, whom He did
predestinate, them He also called, and whom He called, them He also
justified, and whom He justified, them He also glorified. What shall we say to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? What shall we say? Hallelujah!
That's what the church says. God does not turn to the right
hand or to the left hand. He does not allow any extra ingredients. He doesn't expect. He has no
interest in any of our righteousness which is by the law. Straight
is the gate and narrow is the way is what Jesus Christ shares
with us in Matthew chapter 7. in that wonderful Sermon on the
Mount. Straight is the gate and narrow is the way. And what does
that mean? It's exact. And there is only one that has
the ability of showing us the door, the Holy Spirit, through
our Savior, the Lord Jesus. I am the God of the living. and not the God of the dead. Jesus said, I am the God of Abraham,
the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. I am the God of the living and
not of the dead. A number of times in the New
Testament, the Lord Jesus shares with us, shared with people then,
shared with people all down through the time, some exactness about
himself that we still delight in. I delight in the fact that
he is and is only the only bread of life. When they made that
table or that bread for the table of showbread, it had an exact
recipe and God expected them to make it just like he said. Don't alter it. Don't add raisins. Don't add garlic. Don't put butter
on it. Leave it alone. And that's what
we read about the Lord Jesus Christ as being the bread of
life. He is the only one. It is an exact kind of bread. It is a spiritual bread. And
it is the only bread that will satisfy the soul. He says, I
am the light of the world. He is the only light. Lots of
kinds of lights. Along the Oregon coast, along
the east coast, there used to be all kinds of lights to show
a way of sailors into a harbor. But when it comes to spiritual
life, those things don't count. There's only one, and that's
a spiritual light that God shines on every one of those he chose
before the foundation of the world, and the rest are in darkness
and can never see it. But he says, I will be exact
in this and my flashlight will shine on them to reveal unto
them the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. It's an
exact light that comes from God. He is the door. He is the only
door. He's the only door into heaven. There's no other door. There's
no other entrance. There's no other way. He shares
in another place, I am the way, the truth, and the life. An exactness
is there. I'm the only way, I'm the only
truth, and I am the only life. There is an exactness just like
in that line down there in the book of Ezra chapter two, about
this family having this many people in it, and he didn't round
up to the fives, or he didn't round down to the zeros. He said,
there's 13 there on the end, and leave it alone. He is so
exact in all of His Word. He will not retract any. He will
not extend it. He will not give it over. He
will not be moved on this. This God does not move. This God does not change. There
is no variableness, no shadow of turning with him. And the
same message that was preached unto Abel after the fall is the
message that God still uses. You are in absolute need of a
substitute. I am in absolute need of a substitute. And without that substitute,
you'll never see God. He is the good shepherd. The
Lord Jesus shared, would you turn with me to Matthew chapter
24? Matthew chapter 24. He says there's
going to be a lot of unexactness. Matthew chapter 24. A lot of
unexactness. Oh, it doesn't matter. Do the
best you can. Turn over a new leaf. All of
the stuff I've heard, you know, God's done all. God has done
all he can do, and now it's up to you. That is an unexactness. There is no exactness in that.
My goodness, a God that's done all he can do. He's not the God
of almost. He is the God of absolute. Here
in the book of Matthew, chapter 24 and verse 5, the Lord shares
this. He says, for many shall come
in my name, saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many. What
does that mean? Every time a person declares
that God is almost a savior if you let him. That is a deceptive
gospel and it goes on to tell us there, many shall come in
my name saying I am Christ and shall deceive many. There's only
one and you can tell the difference. What does this one say about
Christ? Is he absolute? Is he straightforward? Is he truthful? Does he have
a message that will change lives? There are many. They'll come
in his name and shall deceive many. I am the resurrection and
the life, he shares. There's only one way of being
raised from the dead. There's only one way to be raised
from the spiritual dead. There's only one way to be raised
from the physical dead, and that's God Almighty. I am the vine,
you're the branches. Boy, this time of year, a whole
bunch of those vines are losing their leaves and they look like,
boy, there's not much going on there. There's nothing going
on if there's no attachment. I kicked out some weeds the other
day. I just love to kick them out of the ground by their roots
and watch them die, shrivel up, leaves wilt. Just, oh, that's
happy day. Happy day. Do you know what? Jesus said, he is the vine. He's the root. All his people
are the branches. The only life we have is the
life that he puts in us. And that's exact. Now another name, given under
heaven. Anywhere, everywhere that we
must be saved. And so in that list, may we see
those folks as they travel along. This family's got 2,413 people. Guess what? That's how many left
Babylon. Four months later when they're
taking a roll, guess how many arrived? The exact same number. That's what it is with God. Those
he chose before the foundation of the world will be the exact
number that he has seated in glory, saying, worthy is the
lamb that was slain. Exact number. No deviation. No one's left out. No one's added
in time. So here we are, dealing with
a God that deals exactly the way he's purposed, and there's
no deviation. That's the one we need to trust.
Brother Mike.