indeed good to be back in Kingsport. It's always an encouragement. Turn with me for our Bible study this morning to the Book of Ezra, right after 1 and 2 Chronicles, the Book of Ezra. And we'll read the first 17 verses of Chapter 5. I told our folks a while back Sometimes when I'm reading the scriptures and looking for a text to preach from, I feel like a miner of old, where the miner would get up every day and go into the mine and chip away at the stone and expect that sometime he was going to run across a vein of gold. That's the reason that he did it every day. He had found veins of gold before and he expects to find another one. And that's the way that I feel sometimes when I'm reading scriptures and all of a sudden you see Christ. And you think, I've hit a vein of gold here, and I feel like this morning that we have a text where we do see Christ. We see the Father, we see our Lord, and we see a type of his people. In Ezra 5, let's read the first 17 verses.

Then the prophets, Haggai the prophet and Zechariah, the son of Ido, prophesied unto the Jews that were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, even unto them. Then rose up Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua, the son of Josedach, and began to build the house of God, which is at Jerusalem. And with them were the prophets of God helping them. At the same time came to them Tennai, governor on this side, and Chefs of Bosnai, and their companions, and said unto them, who hath commanded you to build this house, and to make up this wall? Then said we unto them, after this manner, what are the names of the men that make this building?

But the eyes of their God was upon the elders of the Jews, that they could not cause him to cease till the matter came to Darius. And then they returned answer by letter concerning this matter. The copy of the letter that Tadnii, the governor of this side, and Shethbothni, and his companions of Pharsachites, which were on this side of the river, sent unto Darius the king. They sent a letter unto him wherein was written thus, Unto Darius, the king, all peace.

Be it known unto the king that we went into the province of Judea, to the house of the great God, which is builded with great stones and timber is laid in the walls, and this work goeth fast on and prospereth in their hands. Then ask we those elders, and said unto them thus, who commanded you to build this house and to make up these walls? We asked their names also to certify thee that we might write the names of the men that were the chief of them. And thus they returned unto us an answer saying, we are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and build the house that was built these many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and set up. But after that, our fathers had provoked the God of heaven under wrath.

He gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this house and carried the people away into Babylon. But in the first year of Cyrus, the king of Babylon, the same King Cyrus made a decree to build this house of God. And the vessels also of gold and silver of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took out of the temple, which was in Jerusalem, and brought them into the temple of Babylon. These did Cyrus the king take out of the temple of Babylon, and they were delivered unto one whose name was Sheshphazar, who was made governor.

And he said unto him, take these vessels, go, carry them into the temple that is in Jerusalem, and let the house of God be built in his place. Then came the same Sezbazar, and laid the foundation of the house of the Lord, which is in Jerusalem. And since that time, even until now, hath it been in the building, yet it is not finished. Now therefore, if it seem good to the king, let there be a search made in the king's treasure house, which is there at Babylon, whether it be so that a decree was made of Cyrus the king to build the house of God at Jerusalem, and let the king send his pleasure to us concerning this matter. Now in this account in verse five, we find the Jews in Jerusalem rebuilding the temple, which was destroyed, we're told in verse 12, by Nebuchadnezzar. And that was followed by the carrying away of many thousands of Jews to Babylon.

And in chapter three of this book of Ezra, we read how the children of Israel gathered themselves together at Jerusalem where they set up an altar and began to offer burnt offerings to the Lord, the God of Israel, but were told in verse six that the foundation of the Lord, or the house of the Lord, was not yet laid. Then in verse 10 of this chapter three we read, and when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, they set up the priests in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites, the son of Asaph with cymbals, to praise the Lord after the ordinances of David, the king of Israel. And they sang together, by course, in praising and giving thanks unto the Lord, because he is good, for his mercy endureth forever toward Israel. And all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the Lord because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid.

But word got out about this building of the temple that Judah and Benjamin were building And the enemies of these Jews came and offered their help. I don't really know why, but they wanted a hand in the building of this. And the fathers of Israel told them, thanks, but no thanks, we'll do this on our own. And that didn't set well with the enemies of Israel, so they started a letter-writing campaign concerning these Jews and their work on the temple, which succeeded, at least for a while, because we read in chapter, verse 24, chapter four, it says, then ceased the work of the house of God at Jerusalem.

So it ceased into the second year of the reign of Darius, the king of Persia. But then we read in verse one of chapter five, here in our text, that Zerubbabel and Yeshua started back building the temple, which caused the authorities to write another letter. And this time this was addressed to King Darius.

And this brings us to our main text that I want to look at here in chapter five, from verses 13 to 16. And here we find a type of Christ, a type of God the Father, and a type of the people of Israel. And in verse 13, we read this, but in the first year of Darius the king of Babylon, The same King Cyrus, I'm sorry, King Cyrus made a decree to build this house of God. This King Cyrus is a type of God the Father who decreed before the foundation of the world that he would build a house and that house would be made up of chosen elect sinners that were chosen before the foundation of the world.

Hold your place here in Ezra and turn over to the book of Hebrews with me. Hebrews chapter 3, Hebrews chapter 3, the first six verses, speaking of the house of God, wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of our profession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house.

For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath built the house hath more honor than the house. For every house is built by some man, but he that built all things is God. And Moses verily was faithful in all his house as a servant for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after. But Christ, as a son over his own house, Whose house are we if we hold fast to confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end? This verse three tells us that he who builds the house has more honor than the house, which certainly applies to our God. We give all honor, all glory for our salvation to God and God alone. We know that this building of the house of God is 100% the work of our Lord and Savior. We have no hand in it whatsoever. Now, I don't know how many of you all have been to Central Kentucky. I know several of you have because you lived there for a while. Cody, you did?

There's several houses, and I'm guessing there probably is around Tennessee as well, that are constructed of stone. Some are made and covered with what we call field stone. It's basically exactly what the name implies. It's a piece of limestone that they get out of the field after they're plowing, and they pick up all the stones. And those of you that have been to central Kentucky know that we have literally hundreds and hundreds of miles of stone fence that is built from these field stones.

But other more stately homes are constructed of what we call hewn stone. Now these are stones that are taken out of a quarry and they're shaped to certain sizes and used in the building of a house. The larger the house, obviously, the more stones that it takes to build it.

But those stones that are used in that building took no initiative whatsoever to become part of that building. They were simply chosen by the one who was building that building and quarried and shaped into a source that was useful to use, usually by a stonemason. And the elect of God are the same as the stones that are used in the building of this house.

They took no initiative. We took no initiative whatsoever to become part of the house of God. No more than those stones that are picked up and quarried and used in the building of the house. We had nothing to do with becoming part of that house of God.

We're described in 2 Peter, the description that we're called lively stones. We're going to look at that in a minute. And they're built up by none other than our sovereign God who came to where we were and chose us and shaped us by his grace and mercy and made us part of that house of God. And we know from the scriptures that any house which God builds is eternal. It shall never be torn down or destroyed as was the physical temple when the Romans plundered the city of Jerusalem in 70 AD and leveled the temple.

And Paul assured the Corinthians of this when he wrote in 2 Corinthians 5.1, he said this, for we know that our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved. We have a building of God and house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. The church of God in this world is made up of his people. But each of those saints will one day leave this world and become part of that eternal house of God.

Then next we read in verse 14 of Ezra 5, And the vessels of gold and silver of the house of God which Nebuchadnezzar took out of the temple that was in Jerusalem, and brought them into the Temple of Babylon. These things did Cyrus the King take out of the Temple of Babylon, and they were delivered unto one whose name was Shesh-gazar, whom he had made governor." Now, these vessels were made of gold and silver, many of them, and they're a type of God's elect. These vessels were very costly, very precious.

And the vessels did not change, their value did not change, their location simply changed. They were located to another place. They came into the possession of another. And like the stones that we discussed, they had no say whatsoever over who possessed them.

And so it was with the elect of God, with us, who sat here, who know the Savior in saving faith. We have always been precious to our heavenly Father. But when our father Adam fell, we fell in him. In Adam, we went from having sweet fellowship with God to being enemies of God, as Paul said several times in Romans.

And we were relocated because of our fallen nature to another place, a place of judgment and wrath. And Paul tells the Ephesians in chapter two, verse three, that we were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. We never were truly children of wrath. We were by nature, by our fallen nature, children of wrath. We have always been in Christ. But we were never intended to remain in that place.

Because in the eternal purpose and will of God, we were delivered unto another whose name is Jesus Christ the righteous. In the same way that this verse 14 tells us that Cyrus the king delivered those stolen vessels to one whose name was Sesbazar, who he had made governor, we're told. Now the people of God are called by many names throughout the Word of God. We find many descriptions of the people of God.

And do you know what they're called in Romans 9.23?

Vessels of mercy. Vessels of mercy. Like a cup would simply receive the wine that is poured into it. So were we. We were like that cup. We had the mercy and the grace of God poured into us. We had nothing to do with it. And in 2 Corinthians 4, 7, we're called earthen vessels, just clay pots shaped by God. to receive his mercy and grace. Paul asked the Romans in 921, Romans 921, hath not the powder power over the clay to make one vessel unto honor and another to dishonor? But we thank God that we are among those fashioned to be vessels of honor. We could have been born in Esau, but in our God's mercy and grace, he made us vessels of honor.

And so God the Father delivered those precious vessels, his chosen people, into the hands of one who he had made governor, the great governor of this universe, the Lord Jesus Christ, whom God the Father, we're told, hath appointed heir of all things. This one who has all power in heaven and earth, this one whose hand cannot be stayed, this one whose power compared to the every inhabitant of the earth is like dust on a scale. You don't wipe the dust off a scale before you weigh anything. It's insignificant. That is the way that the entire human race is compared to the power that our Lord Jesus Christ possesses.

And in Ezra 15, 515, Cyrus instructs Shezbazar to do this. He said, take these vessels, go carry them into the temple that is in Jerusalem, and let the house of God be built in his place. Cyrus put the responsibility of the safekeeping of these precious vessels into this one called Shezbazar. And he added, let the house of the Lord or let the house of God be built in this place. This place that the house of God is built is in this sinful world. That's what God has purposed. He has purposed that the responsibility for building this house be in the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ who said this in his prayer to the Father in John 17.

He said, while I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name. Those that thou gavest me have I kept, and none of them is lost, safe and sound in the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter described this. Turn with me over to the book of 1 Peter. Peter described this in 1 Peter chapter 2. 1 Peter chapter 2. starting in verse 5, 1 Peter 2, verse 5.

Ye also, as lively stones, are built up in spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore also it is contained in the scriptures, behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. Unto you, therefore, which believe, he is precious. But unto them that be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word being disobedient, whereunto they were appointed.

But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, and holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, which in times past were not a people, but are now the people of God, which hath not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. The vessels which are mentioned here in Ezra chapter five were once in a place of holiness and honor.

They were in God's temple in Jerusalem. But they were later found in a place of sin and ungodliness in the temple in Babylon. But thankfully they did not remain there forever. They were returned to the temple in Jerusalem. So it is with the elect of God. We were at one time in a place of sin and misery. We are now found in a place of righteousness and honor. We are found in the Lord Jesus Christ and have become part of that house of God.

First Peter 2.25 states it this way.

For ye were as sheep going astray, but are now returned unto the shepherd and the bishop of your souls." If something is returned, it means it was taken from one place, put in another, and it was brought back and put in the place from which it was taken. It is returned.

And since we have always been in Christ from the far ages of eternity, it is only fit that we are now returned to him by the price of his shed blood. He has redeemed us, he has bought us back. That's what redemption means, to buy back. We have been returned unto him. And notice this, notice the wording. A lot of times we read over scripture, but every word is critical to the meaning. Peter says this, He does not say that we have returned under the bishop of our souls, which would indicate that we chose to return to him, but it says that we are returned, which would indicate that we were moved by a force outside of ourselves to a place of honor and a place of safety.

Then lastly, in Ezra 5.16, it says this.

Then came the same Sezbazar and laid the foundation of the house of God, which is in Jerusalem. And since that time, even until now, it had been in the building, yet it is not finished. This Sezbazar, who is a type of Christ, is said to have laid the foundation of the house of God. But Jesus Christ didn't just lay the foundation. He is the foundation of the house of God.

Several scriptures speak of this. Let me read just three. Isaiah 28, 16 says this, therefore, thus saith the Lord God, behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. He that believeth shall not make haste. First Corinthians 3, 11, for other foundation. can no man lay that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

In Ephesians 2, verses 19 through 22 says this, speaking of Christ, now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God, and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord, in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. But also in verse 16 of Ezra 5, it also says this, and I really like this, and since that time until now hath it been in the building, yet it is not finished.

Ever since that first chief cornerstone, that sure foundation was laid, that sure foundation in which we place our hope, the Lord Jesus Christ has been building this house of God in this world, calling and saving chosen sinners, those who are called lively stones. Since the foundation of the world, our Lord has been adding to the church, such as should be saved according to Acts 2 47, The building of this house of God has been going on for a long, long time, and yet we read here in Ezra, yet it is not finished. God continues every day in this world to call and give faith to chosen sinners. This has been going on since Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, and God clothed them by the sacrifice of an innocent lamb.

And now we have something to look forward to. One of these days, the house of God in this world will be finished. This text tells us here that the temple of the Lord was not yet finished, but there will come a day in this world where the house of God will be finished. The last stone will be laid. The last lost sheep will have been found and brought into the fold.

And then our God shall bring this world to a screeching halt. And we will be part of that eternal house in the heavens where we shall ever be with our Lord. This is described by the Lord Jesus Christ himself in Matthew 25. Turn over there with me if you'd like to read it. Matthew 25. Starting in verse 31, Matthew 25, 31. This is describing what's going to happen when this house of God is finished in this world. When the Son of Man shall come in His glory. and all the holy angels with him.

Then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory, and before him shall be gathered all nations. And he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on his left. Then shall the king say unto them on his right hand, come you blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. The house of God is finished, Christ will tell us, enter therein. Come and enjoy all the blessings that have been purchased by my shed blood. Come and welcome Jesus Christ.