The book of Ezra, if you go to the book of Psalm and
just turn back a few chapters, you'll find Ezra. Ezra, Nehemiah,
Esther, Job, Psalm. So back to the book of Ezra. My Sunday school class, we've
been going through just the books of the Bible. the books of the Bible. Some
of the things we look at, we're just kind of interested in when
it was written, about what time. It's believed the book of Ezra
was written around 400 B.C. Who wrote the book? In this case,
it's believed that the author bears its name, Ezra. But most important, as we go
through these books, Our heart's desire is to see more than just
when it was written and who wrote it. But where's Christ at? And that's true of every book
of the Bible. We're looking to see our Savior. We're looking to see the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, if you have Ezra, look at
chapter 3. We'll just read a few verses
here to begin. But Ezra 3 and verse 11. And they sang together by course,
in praising and giving thanks unto the Lord. I was thinking
about that as we, Mike, you sent me those songs Monday that you
had picked out for this service. But that's so important. As we gather together, as we,
listen, we're not just here to be entertained by some music.
We're singing praise unto our Lord. And these songs, and I
appreciate this, Mike, you're always so careful in picking
out hymns that praise our Lord. I turned the radio off on the
way here this morning because of just some of the words that
people sing. I mean, the music sounds great,
but it's nearly blasphemy. It is blasphemous, some of these
songs. They sang together by course
in praising and giving thanks unto the Lord, because he, the
Lord, is good. 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. Now much of this, much
of this book, much of the book of Ezra points to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Think about that, 400 years before
our Lord was even born, they were praising, they were singing
praises unto the Lord. And we often, I love the Old
Testament. So often we see these Old Testament
pictures, these illustrations that we could never come up with
that point to our Savior. And men in error, they often
see the Old Testament as nothing but a book of history, just a
history book. And there are many who don't
even use the Old Testament. that they'll have just a thin
little copy of the New Testament and they'll call themselves a
New Testament church. But the gospel, the Lord Jesus
Christ is clearly revealed in the Old and the New Testaments. Our Lord said this. You don't
have to take my word for this. Our Lord said this. Listen to
just a few of these scriptures. In John 5, 46, he said this. He said, had you believed Moses,
if you would have believed Moses, you would have believed me. Because
Moses wrote of me. In Luke chapter 20, 24, verses
44 through 45, he said unto them, these are the words which I spake
unto you that all things must be fulfilled which were written,
where? In the law of Moses, in the prophets,
and in the Psalms. Well, what did they reveal? What
were they about? He said, concerning me, concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ. And then he opened their understanding
that they might understand the scriptures. He's seen. If the Lord's pleased
to reveal himself, he is seen in his work, throughout his work.
Old Testament and New Testament. In the book of Genesis, so many pictures of our Lord
back there in Genesis, but one of the clearest ones is the ark. Deliverance. God provided deliverance
through that ark. The whole world perished. The
whole world was destroyed in judgment, yet eight souls were
saved in that ark. Delivered. Could that point to
anything but the Lord Jesus Christ? To anyone but Him? In the book
of Exodus, the Passover lamb, God said, take a lamb, slay that
lamb, apply the blood of that lamb to the door. And God said
this, he said, when I see the blood, not when I seen anything
you did, when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. And he passes
over his people. in mercy and in grace. How? By the blood. By the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he continues to do so today. No wrath. Think about that. Think
about that. In the land of Egypt, the firstborn
in every house was slain. And yet the children of Israel deserving of death, deserving
of judgment, yet he was pleased to pass over. In Leviticus, we
read of the blood before the Lord. It was in Leviticus 4. We read of man's sin, yet we
read of a sacrifice, a sacrifice without spot and without blemish. Over and over through the scriptures,
we read of a blood sacrifice, that blood being brought before
the Lord, a blood sacrifice pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ, pointing
to our Redeemer, our substitute, that one who must suffer, that
one who must die in the room and stand of his people. See,
the only way God can honor his law, the only way he can satisfy
his perfect justice, to fulfill his righteous sentence and yet
forgive and justify sinners is through the blood of his son,
through the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, the God made.
God robed himself in flesh and came to this earth, took upon
himself the form of a servant, was made obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. In the book of Numbers, think
about that brazen serpent. Remember that the people, they
had murmured against God. They had complained and found
fault like we continue to do. And God sent those fiery serpents
and they bit the people. Much people died, and the people
went to Moses. They said intercede for us. Remember
what God told Moses? Make a serpent of brass, lift
it up, And behold, anyone who looked at that serpent lived
life again. What about in Deuteronomy, those
cities of refuge? I remember we looked at that
back in the summer, those cities of refuge, one place to go. It was easy to find. The pathway
was clear. If you could get to the city
of refuge, just stay there, stay there. and judges the scarlet
line remember that scarlet line that was outside of that that
window throughout the old testament and we could go from book to
book to book and see christ to see his gospel if he's pleased
if he's pleased to reveal it to us and this morning i want
us to look quickly here at the book of of ezra look look turn
this to ezra 7 Look at verse six. Here's a few things about Ezra. Look at Ezra seven, verse six. We read that Ezra was a ready
scribe. A ready scribe. We also read
there in verse six that the hand of the Lord his God In 1 Peter, I believe it's 1
Peter 1, it says this, that prophecy came not in old time by the will
of man. This is, but holy men, holy men
of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. This wasn't
just something Ezra woke up one morning and thought this would
be an interesting thing to write down. No, what Ezra wrote is
what God gave him to write. This is the inspired word of
God. They wrote what God gave them
to write. It's the, what we have here in
our hands, this is the inspired word of God. He gave it. 2 Timothy 3 says this, that all
scripture, the whole of it, all scripture is given by inspiration
of God. And it's profitable, it's helpful,
it's good for us, huh? For doctrine, for reproof, for
correction, for instruction in righteousness that the man of
God might be perfect. that he might be complete, thoroughly
furnished unto all good works. It's God's word. It's God's word. And listen, that being said,
and Jason, I know you're careful about this. Jason looks for men
to come and fill this pulpit that the gospel would continually
be preached to you. He doesn't bring men up here
to stand and talk about their opinions or anything like that,
right? He's careful. I remember I talked
to him a while back. He said, listen, he said, and
I knew this, I knew this to be so. He said, I check people out
before I have them come here and preach. There's a reason
for that, isn't there? Listen, we're not interested
in man's opinion. We're not interested in man's
revelation. We're not interested in man's
thoughts. Definitely not interested in
man's thoughts. It's clear. He said this. He
said, our thoughts, he said, your thoughts aren't my thoughts.
Your ways aren't my ways. No, we preach the word. We're careful about that. We
don't want to hear anything but God's word. Paul's instruction
to Timothy, he said this. He said, preach the word. That's pretty clear instruction.
Preach the word. Same thing said back in Isaiah.
Isaiah 8 verse 20. To the law and to the testimony,
if they speak not according to what? This word. It's because there's no light
in them. Paul writing to the Galatians.
He said, though, think about it. He said, though we, he's
talking about the other apostles. He said, though we or an angel
from heaven. He said, if we preach any other
gospel to you than that which is preached, let him be cursed. This is serious matter, isn't
it? This thing of preaching and hearing God's Word. Well, verse
6, it says, Ezra was a ready scribe. He was ready, he was
diligent. Paul wrote in the Romans, he
said, as much as is in me, I'm ready. He said, I'm ready to
preach the gospel to you. Verse six, still, he said, the
hand of the Lord was upon me. Ezra was called of God. Not of
men, called of God to preach the word. Now look at Ezra seven,
verse 10. It says, Ezra had prepared his
heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach
in Israel statutes and judgment. Ezra had prepared to seek the
law of the Lord, to do it, to teach Israel the statutes and
judgment. And I covet your prayers, and
this has been my prayer all week, that the Lord would enable me
And in any place where men stand to preach the gospel, that he
would prepare me to teach this morning. But also, that he would
prepare us, each one of us, to receive this word. That he'd
give us a teachable spirit. You know, we don't always have
that by nature, do we? Anybody ever try to tell you
to do something, and they even knew what you needed to do? And what's our response? I can
get this on my own, right? I don't need your help. I've
been guilty of that a number of times, and continue to be
guilty of that. Is that, am I the only one in
here that's like that? Lord, give us a, give us a teaching
spirit. Give us a desire and a heart
to receive thy word. Turn to chapter eight. Look at
verse 21. Ezra, proclaim the facts there
at the river of Ahava that we might afflict ourselves before
our God to seek of him a right way for us, and for our little
ones, and for our substance. Ezra proclaimed a fast that night
to afflict ourselves. Now that word afflicted, it means
to humble. It means to submit, to submit. For what purpose? To seek of him a right way. That means a straight way. It
means a correct way. It means a righteous way. For who? For who? A right way for us. I desire that. Lord, show me. Show me thy, show me thy way,
a right way, a right way for us. And listen, in this world,
that he would show us a right way. I pray for this church. I know
it's your heart's desire to have a pastor. Don't you desire, what's his
way? Lord, what's your way? Show us
a right way. in this matter. But above all, a right way in
salvation. Show us a right way. And listen, I know that's the
desire of many of you. A right way. My spouse. How many of you have prayed for
that one in your life, those that you love, that they might
know his gospel? For our family. A right way,
oh a right way for us. He says a right way for our little
ones. A right way for our little ones.
Now, you older ones, don't be offended by this, by being called
little ones. I've got a couple little ones
Back there, I remember Isaac. I used to be able to carry him
around. He can carry me around now. But listen, he's still,
huh? You two are still our little
ones. Is there anything that we should
desire more than the salvation of our little ones? Lord, you
show us. a right way. Show us a right
way for our little ones, our children, our family. And listen
to what he says here. If that didn't cover it, he says
a right way for all our substance. What is that way? What is that
way? Better ask the question, right,
who is that way? It's none other but the Lord
Jesus Christ. He said that. He said, I am the
way, the truth, and the light, and no man comes to the Father
but by me. All that he would show us, show
us his way. Well, turn to chapter 9. Look at verse 9. Look beginning
with verse five. I wanna look through most of
this chapter. I promise we'll go quickly. Chapter nine, verse five of Ezra. At the evening sacrifice. At the evening sacrifice. Now,
in the New Testament, this is the ninth hour. That's what this
is. And listen. This is the same
time. It was in the ninth hour that
our Lord gave up the ghost. It's in the ninth hour that he
cried out with a loud voice, my God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? Isn't that amazing? I mean, again,
this is 400 years before Our Lord even walked this earth
in the flesh. He says, at the time of the evening
sacrifice. Boy, if we're ever gonna approach
God, if we're ever gonna come before him, that's the time we're
gonna come before him, huh? Through his blood, through his
sacrifice. At the time of the evening sacrifice,
Ezra says, I rose up from my deadness And having rent my garment
and my mantle, I fell upon my knees, spread out my hands unto
the Lord my God, and said, oh my God, I am ashamed and blush
to lift up my face to thee, my God, for our iniquities are increased
over our head. Our trespass is grown up unto
the heavens. Now, he speaks on behalf of the
people here. But let there be no mistake.
Ezra says, this is a person saying, he says, I, I am ashamed. I blush to lift up my face to
thee, my God. Look at verse seven. Since the
days of our fathers, we have been in great trespass unto this
day. Prior iniquities have we, our
kings, our priests, have delivered in the hand of the kings of the
land, to the sword, to captivity, to a spoil and to confusion of
face as it is this day. What's Ezra saying there? We're
sinners. We're sinners. Deserving of death,
we are sinners. Look at verse eight. Now for
a little space. Now for a little moment, grace
hath been showed from the Lord our God to leave us a remnant
to escape and to give us a nail in this holy place that our God
may lighten our eyes and give us a little reviving in bondage. We must have his grace. And who's
the source of it? He is. He said, you have given
us. Grace has been shown unto us.
Verse 9, we're bonded. Yet our God hath not forsaken
us in our bondage. He promised this. He said, I
will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. Boy, there's times we feel
forsaken, don't we? How often do we feel like we've
been left alone? But the Lord's not left his people.
He said that. God hath not forsaken us, even
in our bondage, but hath extended mercy. Oh, I need mercy. Mercy unto
us and the side of the kings of Persia to give us a reviving. And our desire here this morning,
just for a little, just for a little reviving, to set up in the house
of our God to repair the desolations thereof and to give us a wall
in Judah and Jerusalem. And now, oh, our God, what shall
we say after this? For we have. He's not debating
or disputing the fact we have forsaken thy commandments. Is
that us? Is that not a clear picture of
every one of us? We've forsaken his commandments. Which thou hast commanded by
thy servant, thy prophet, saying, the land into which we go to
possess it. It's an unclean land with the filthiness of the people.
The land of their abominations was filtered from one end to
another. with their own cleanliness. Now,
therefore, give not your daughters unto their sons, neither take
their daughters unto your sons, nor seek the peace or their wealth
forever." You know, I was thinking back
there when he said that, show us a right way. He wasn't talking
about wealth. or cities. You know, we desire,
we want our children to be successful. We want them to have what we
call a good life, right? Look what he says here. He said,
don't give your daughters or their sons, neither take their
daughters under their sons, nor seek their peace or their wealth
forever, that you may be strong and eat the good of the land
and leave for inheritance you for your children forever. Again, we read this in the New
Testament. Don't be unequally yoked with
unbelievers there's a warning there's a warning here same thing
back back in if you look back in Deuteronomy 7 well verse 13
after all this come upon us for our evil deeds and our great
trespasses seeing our God has punished us less than our iniquities
deserve and has given us a such a deliverance as this. You know, we're deserving of
death. We're deserving of condemnation. He certainly punished us less
than we deserve. Yet he's given us grace. He's
given us mercy. He's given us the forgiveness
of sin. Verse 14, should we again break
thy commandments and join in affinity with the people of those
abominations? Wouldest not thou be angry with
us till thou hast consumed us, so that there should be no remnant
nor escaping? Look at verse 15 here. Just three
points here I want us to see in verse 15. O Lord God of Israel,
thou art righteous. God, thou art righteous, for
we remain yet escaped as it is this day. Behold, we are before
thee in our trespasses. We cannot stand before thee because
of this. Here's my first point. The God
of Israel, what's he saying? He's righteous. He is righteous. He's just and righteous in all
that he does. His people are sinful people.
That's settled, isn't it? Yet, in spite of that, His people
are found righteous. Scripture declares that. God's
people are made the very righteousness of God. Is it by what they do
or what they don't do? No, it's in Him. were made the
very righteousness of God in him. Noah, Noah was a sinful
man. Yet, Noah found grace in the
eyes of the Lord. In Genesis 7, 1, it says this,
the Lord said unto Noah, come thou and all thy house into
the ark. How's that possible? Why is God
gonna deliver Noah? He said, for I, I've seen thee
righteous before me. Noah was seen as righteous. God's people are seen as righteous
in his son. 2 Corinthians 5, do we ever grow
tired of that verse of Scripture? For he hath made him to be sin
for us who knew no sin, that we, that we, that God's people
might be made the very righteousness of God in him. It's only, how can I be found
righteous? How can a sinner be found righteous?
Only in the Lord Jesus Christ. Second, He says, we yet remain
escaped, as it is this day. Escaped. A remnant, a small number that
has been delivered. Isaiah 4520 says this, assemble
yourselves, come, draw near together, Ye that are escaped of the nation. God seemed fit to reach down,
and boy did he reach down and just pluck out a few to himself. A remnant, according to the election
of grace, escaped, delivered, called out of darkness, marvelous light, the light of his gospel. Isn't
it a glorious thing to think he would enable us to even hear
his gospel, that he'd let us, enable us to believe it, that
he'd let us see the light of his gospel, that he'd let us
see that he would be pleased to reveal unto us the light of
his dear son, called out of ignorance, called out of worshiping of idols,
called out of our works unto his glorious gospel. A righteous people. How's that? We're made righteous. A delivered
people. Are we a delivered people? Think
about this. He delivered Daniel out of the
mouth of the lion. You reckon anybody that stood
around that day and saw what was going on thought for a minute
that Daniel would walk out of that den the next day? Maybe
no one but the king. The king said that. He said,
your God will deliver you. How about Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego? Remember that cast into that
fiery furnace? How are they gonna come out of
that? He said, I thought we just put
three men in the first. I see four. And one is likened
to the Son of God. And when they came out of there,
listen, they were delivered out of that. The smell of smoke,
I just can't get over that. Anybody that's ever stood around
a little fire burning. Gets in your hair, gets on your
clothes. There's no mistaking it, is there? The smell of smoke
wasn't even upon him. They were completely delivered. He delivered the children of
Israel out of the land of Egypt. Ezra writes here, he has delivered
us. We're escaped, delivered from
wicked men. Delivered from the power of darkness.
Delivered from the wrath to come. I looked this song up last night.
"'Tis the grandest theme through the ages rung, "'Tis the grandest
theme for a mortal tongue, "'Tis the grandest theme that the world
ever sung. "'Our God is able to deliver
thee.'" "'Tis the grandest thing, let the tidings roll. "'Tis to
the guilty heart, to the guilty soul, "'to the sinful soul, look
to God in faith. "'He'll make thee whole. "'Our God is able to deliver
thee.'" A righteous people, a delivered people. Third point, and I'll
quit, an undeserving people. an undeserving people. Do you
still have verse 15 of Ezra 9? Look what he says here. We are
before thee in our trespasses, for we cannot stand before thee
because of thee. Lord, if thou shouldest mark
iniquities, who shall stand? What are you going to bring to
God? What are you going to offer unto
God? We have nothing. We're an undeserving people. We're before thee in our trespasses. We cannot stand before thee because
of it. What's he saying? I'm guilty. I am a sinner. And I can't plead
ignorance. I can't speak any self-defense. Was it Job who said, I'll just
put my hand over my mouth. If I speak my own words, it would
condemn me. I can give no reason that God's
judgment should not be on me. we can do nothing but fall at
his feet. I'm in his hands. I'm in, and
I must, I must have mercy. Lamentations 3.22 says this. It's of the Lord's mercies that
we are not consumed. Because his compassions, they
fail not. In fact, we read on there, and
boy, his mercies are new every morning. And we need them, don't we? I'm so thankful that Jesus Christ,
the Lord Jesus Christ, came into the world to save sinners. And he did it all for his glory. A remnant, think about this,
a remnant, a peculiar people, set apart to himself, made to
be his, purchased by his own blood. Scripture says a people
that were not a people, but now are the people of God, a people
that had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. A chosen generation, a royal
priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, a sinful people, made
righteous, made the very righteousness of God and delivered He saved
us and He called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but
according to His own purpose and grace, given us in Christ
Jesus from before the world began. Aren't we thankful for His grace,
His mercy to send us? Oh, I pray he'd enable us to
see that, to see, to see my Ezra Saw, didn't he? Ezra Saw, I'm
a sinner. I'm a sinner. And I must have,
I must have his mercy. I'll follow his, I'll just follow
his feet. All right, I pray God will bless
his word.