Okay, this evening we're looking
at Ezra chapter seven. Ezra chapter seven. I'm taking
the title for the message from verse six. And the title of the
message will be Ezra a ready scribe in the law of Moses. And
that's exactly what it says there in verse six. This Ezra. this Ezra who was a descendant
of Aaron the chief priest this Ezra went up from Babylon out
of captivity and he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses which
the Lord God of Israel had given and the king granted him all
his requests according to the hand of the Lord his God was
upon him a ready scribe now we know that Ezra was a priest of
God, as it says there in the text. He was a direct descendant
of Aaron. Aaron was the original priest,
the original priest in the Levitical priesthood. Aaron was a type
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Ezra also is a picture and type
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
great high priest. There were many priests under
the law and they were not suffered or permitted to continue by reason
of death. But this man, the Lord Jesus
Christ, his priesthood is not like that of Aaron. His priesthood
was more like that of Melchizedek. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
priest forever. Now, do you need a priest to
represent you before God? Absolutely, and we do. We do,
the one provided of God. He is our priest, he is our mediator
forever. And the priest of God, seeing
that he's exalted to the right hand of God, he said, come unto
me. Come unto me, come boldly unto the throne of grace that
you may obtain mercy, find grace to help in time of need. What
a gracious, gracious command from our great high priest. Now,
after the temple was finished, as it says there in chapter six,
verse 15, and the house was finished on the third day of the month,
Adar, which is the sixth year in the reign of Darius the king. After the temple was finished,
Ezra, along with 1,500 others, came to Jerusalem to further
build up the way of worship, the worship of the true living
God, to instruct those in a way according to the law of God,
and to encourage those who came up earlier unto Jerusalem. Notice verse 25. of Ezra 7. And thou, Ezra, after the wisdom
of thy God, which that is in thy hand, set magistrates, judges,
which may judge all the people that are beyond the river, all
such as know the laws of thy God, and teach ye them that know
them not." They were set to teach the Word of the Lord. Now, how many years they waited,
that is Ezra and those 1500 men, how many years they waited there
in Babylon while this work was going on and while those others
who earlier came to Jerusalem We don't know exactly. Some have
speculated that the second group that left Babylon did so 57 years
after the original group of 50,000 left. Now, we don't know exactly
that date, but some have speculated 57 years. Now we do know, according
to the exact time, the Lord had fixed Ezra was sent to Jerusalem. Now Ezra is the type and picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ. How many years were in passing
from Adam's ruin and Adam's fall to the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ? many, many years. But when the
fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son. And the
priest of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, came to His Jerusalem
to establish the way of salvation in Christ Jesus. Our God does
all things according to the time He has decreed. And I thought about this scripture.
Ecclesiastes chapter three, verse one. Remember, to everything
there is a season and time to every purpose under heaven. That
was the purpose of God, that Ezra, the priest of God and these
others would stay in Jerusalem those many years. And when the
time came, God sent them out. And I thought about this scripture
too, about due time. You remember Romans 5 verse 6
said, when we were yet without strength in due time Christ died
for the ungodly in due time or according to the time. Now think
about this, the same is true of our first birth, the very
day you were born, whatever your birthday is. The very day of
your birth was fixed and decreed by God. The day of your first
birth, the day of your second birth, when you were born into
the kingdom of God, that day too was fixed and decreed by
God from all eternity. And the exact day that God takes
us home to glory, whenever that will be, it will be. God has
fixed that day and that time as well. There's a time to be
born and a time to die. All things according to God's
good purpose. Now, I want to divide this chapter
into three sections. Verses 1 through 10, we learn
something about Ezra, the priest of God. In verses 1 through 5,
we see his pedigree, his genealogy, and it goes all the way back
to Aaron. Look at verse 5. Ezra, the son
of Zariah, and it goes all the way back to Abishua, the son
of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the chief priest. So he was a direct descendant
of Aaron and in line to be the great high priest or the chief
priest. Now, I like the way the Lord
preserves the record of his people. He mentions all the names of
his ancestors all the way down to Aaron. I like the way the
Lord preserves the record of his people and does so to show
us that he's Lord over all things. He knows the names of all his
people. You look over in chapter 8 And
you can read down through all those names. God knows the exact
name of all His people from all eternity. He writes them down
for us to see. I thought about this scripture
too in Jeremiah chapter 1. The Lord says of Jeremiah, before
I formed thee in the belly, I knew you. Before thou camest forth
out of the womb, I sanctified thee, I ordained thee a prophet
unto the nation." God has known His people from everlasting to
everlasting. As long as He has been God, He
has known the names of His people and He has loved them with an
everlasting love. You remember from 2 Timothy 2.19,
the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord
knoweth them that are his. Remember John 10, he said, I
know my sheep by name, and I call them out, and they do follow
me. Now the exact genealogy of Ezra
is given to show us that he is the true and valid priest, right? Likewise, exact genealogy of
the humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ shows us that he is indeed
the promised son of David. He declared a son of God, right? But he was made of the seed of
David. Now he's not made the Son of
God, he's declared to be the Son of God, but he was made of
the seed of David. And you can go through the genealogy
there in Matthew, and the genealogy there in the book of Luke, and
it shows and traces it all the way back to David, to Jacob,
to Abraham, all the way back to Adam, the Son of God. The
Lord Jesus Christ is that valid Messiah, Son of God, Son of David,
I like to call him the greater David, the greater David. The
Lord Jesus Christ is the only King Priest we find in Scripture. The only King we find in scripture,
not only after the order of Aaron, but more like unto the order
of Melchizedek, who was a priest forever, a priest forever. We read over in Psalm 110, don't
turn, let me just get it, read it for you, Psalm 110, and it's
quoted over in Hebrews, Chapter 7 as well. The Lord has sworn, Psalm 110
verse 4, the Lord has sworn and will not repent, thou art a priest
forever after the order of Melchizedek. He is the eternal king priest
of God. Now something else about his
character, look down in verse 6. This Ezra went up from Babylon and he went up ready. He was a ready scribe in the
law of Moses which the Lord God of Israel had given. And the
king granted him all his requests according to the hand of the
Lord his God was upon him. He was a ready, willing, able
scribe of the law of God. He knew the law. He recorded
the law. Rewrote the law. For others could
read the law. And he did so because the hand
of his God was upon him. It says that again in the last
part of verse 9. He came to Jerusalem according
to the good hand of his God was upon him. a willing, able scribe. And that's why I read Psalm 45,
where it says, my heart is indicting a good matter. I speak of things
which I've made concerning the king. My tongue is a pen of a
ready writer, a ready writer. Thou art fairer than the children
of men, speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who are sent
to preach the gospel are ready to declare The graciousness of
the Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is full of grace and truth.
Grace is poured into thy lips, therefore God hath blessed thee
forever and ever. He is the blessed God. The Lord
Jesus Christ, make no doubt about it, was a ready, willing, able
priest of God. Likewise, gospel ministers are
made willing scribes of the Word of God. That is, they publish
what God has already said. That's what preaching is. It's
just repeating what God has already said and we do so because the
hand of God is upon us. I never had the wildest imagination
when I was younger before I knew God or the gospel that I would
ever stand as a gospel minister and declaring the gospel of God.
I had no idea in the world what the Lord was planning to do with
me, but he called me out of darkness, put me in the ministry, and gave
me his message." And God's people, those who were called into the
ministry, they published what God has already said, because
the hand of God is upon them. The hand of God is upon them. Like Paul said to the Romans,
He said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. He said, I'm
ready to preach the gospel to you who are at Rome also. And Paul charged young Timothy
to be ready to preach the word. be ready to preach the word.
I remember Brother Earl Blackburn's funeral. Ran into his daughter
a couple of weeks ago over at one of the restaurants in town,
and she came up to me and had tears streaming down her eyes,
out of her eyes, and she said, you Tom Harding? I said, yes. She said, you don't remember
me, do you? I said, no, I don't. She said, I'm Earl Blackburn's
daughter. And I said, well, yeah, I do remember you. I do remember
you. But when I preached his funeral
over there in Martin, Kentucky, one of the things I told his
brother and his family, I told him, I said, you didn't know,
many of you didn't know that Earl Blackburn was a preacher
of the gospel. He was ready to preach a sermon
anytime somebody gave him a shot at preaching. Now, he never stood
up like I am in front of a congregation, but now, I guarantee you, he
preached the gospel to anybody that would listen to him. He
was a ready, willing preacher of the gospel. And he was so
because the good hand of his God was upon him. The Lord makes
His people willing in the day of His power. And this is also
certainly true of our blessed Savior. He was ready, willing,
and able to come. and save his people. Remember
the Lord said, no man takes my life from me. I have power to
lay it down. I have power to take it again,
this commandment have I received of my father. The Lord is able
to save to the uttermost all that come to God by him, seeing
that he ever liveth to make intercession for us. He came to do the redemption
work of his father and doing so he accomplished Our salvation. We have salvation because the
Lord Jesus Christ came to His Jerusalem seeking out His people
doing the Father's business and redeeming us and seeking out
His people. The third thing I want to look
at concerning Ezra is found in verse 10. Ezra had prepared his
heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it and to teach
in Israel statutes and judgments. Ezra was a man of great zeal,
great integrity, because the Lord had prepared his heart."
Now that word there, prepared, can also be rendered, his heart
was fixed. His heart was fixed. Remember,
it says of our Lord Jesus Christ in Isaiah 50, He set His face
like a flint to go to Jerusalem. Peter tried to discourage Him
from going. The Lord said, Get out of my
way. I'm going. Ready, willing, able. His heart
was fixed to go to Jerusalem to die for His covenant people. David said in Psalm 57, My heart
is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed. And certainly that is
true of the greater David, the Lord Jesus Christ. His heart
was fixed on His people to save them from their sin and
to seek them and to call them by His grace. And all this, as
it says there in verse 10, Ezra had fixed his heart or prepared
his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it and to
teach his commandments. Certainly that is true of the
Lord Jesus Christ, is it not? To seek the law of the Lord He
said in Psalm 40 verse 8, I delight to do thy law, O God, for it
is written within my heart. And then the Lord Jesus Christ
came to do it. And he did, didn't he? He said,
I didn't come to destroy the law. I came to honor the law
of God. And then in Isaiah 42, it's recorded
of him. The Lord is well pleased for
his righteousness sake. He will magnify the law. He will
honor the law. God speaks from heaven and said,
this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. He came to
seek the law of the Lord, didn't he? He came to do the law of
the Lord, to establish righteousness for his people. And then he came
to teach us the way. He said, I'm the way. I'm the
truth. I'm the life. He taught others,
didn't he? To teach in Israel the statutes. What is the teaching of the statutes
of salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ? I am the way, the truth,
I'm the life. He said, my sheep hear my voice,
I know them and they follow me. The fourth thing I want to look
at is this about Ezra, verse 7 and 8. Ezra went up with the
children of Israel, the priests, the Levites, the singers, the
porters, the Nethemans unto Jerusalem in the seventh year of Artaxerxes
the king. He came to Jerusalem in the fifth
month, which is the seventh year of the king. Upon the first day
of the first month began he to go up from Babylon. On the first
day of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem according to the
good hand of his God was upon him." Now, I read all that to
say this, that was a real travel. That was a real trip. Five, six
hundred miles through a desert country on foot or by some type
of animal, maybe they rode, but four months in the desert traveling
from Babylon there to Jerusalem. Long, hard journey, right? But it pales in comparison when
we talk about the journey the Lord Jesus Christ took. From
the realms of glory, the word was made flesh and dwelt among
us. and we beheld His glory." Now
how long a trip is that? From the eternal throne of glory
down here to this barren, dirty, sin-cursed earth. That's a trip. I mean that's a journey, that's
a trip, that's a journey. And yet the Lord Jesus Christ
took that journey upon himself willingly and he did so to put
away our sin. Don't turn, let me just read
this to you over in Philippians chapter 2 we read about this
journey that he took who being in the form of God, thought it
not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation,
took upon himself the form of a servant, and was made in the
likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled
himself, became obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross, wherefore God also hath highly exalted him. He came from
glory, accomplished our salvation, then he went back to glory. Now that's a journey. That's
a trip, and he did so to accomplish salvation for us and to honor
and magnify His own law, His own Father. Wherefore God also
hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above
every name. That at that name every knee
will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. We read last week John 6 where
He said, I came down from heaven. to do the Father's will for us. That's where he came from, down
here. Now, it's a long journey. But the good hand of God was
upon him and he accomplished all God's purpose. Now, the second
thing I wanna look at this evening, the second portion of this, in
verse 11, all the way down to verse 26, We read about the decree Darius
or Artaxerxes the king gave to Ezra when he returned. Aren't you glad the Lord preserved
that and gave it to us? We have the very letter that
God put in the heart of Artaxerxes. He wrote it down according to
the will of God. He gave it to Ezra. Ezra recorded
it for us, and now we have it, and we read it this evening.
Now, I like what it says. all through this, but one of
the things I like the best, the king granted Ezra all his requests. You remember John said, the father
loved his son and has given all things into his hand. In many ways, as we read this
decree of the King, in many ways this too is typical of the coming
of the Lord Jesus Christ to His Jerusalem. He came to Jerusalem
with the full commission of His Father, just as Ezra. Ezra came
to Jerusalem for the good of Judah and Jerusalem, and he did
so by the decree of the King. You see how that typical of the
Lord Jesus Christ? He came to Jerusalem with the
full commission of His Father and had all power in heaven and
earth given unto Him that He might accomplish the will of
God in redeeming His people. Now, I'm always looking for the
Gospel when we look at these Old Testament types and pictures.
And we see several things. The first thing I noticed was
this in verse 11 and verse 12. where it says, Artaxerxes, king
of kings, verse 12, and that is typical of our great God,
as in his office as king, he's typical of the one who is king
of kings, unto Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of God
of heaven. Now here's what caught my attention, and I underscored
it, perfect peace at such a time. Perfect, is there such thing
as perfect peace with God? There is. perfect peace at such
a time. You see, we only have peace with
God by the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the sacrifice
that He made for us. And my friend, it's perfect peace. It's eternal peace. He made peace
for us with His own blood. Put away our sin. Christ made
perfect peace for us. Being justified by faith, we
have peace with God. Something else I noticed, down
in verse 13, the king made a decree that all they of the people of
Israel and of the priests and the Levites in my realm, which
are minded of their own free will to go up to Jerusalem, let
them go with thee." A great multitude of those in captivity were given
leave to go with Ezra and were minded to do so and were made
willing to do so by the decree of the king. They did so. You remember when the first group
came back In chapter 1, I believe it is verse 5, Then rose up the
chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests
and Levites, with all them whose spirit God had raised, to go
up to build the house of the Lord God, which is in Jerusalem,
with all those whose spirit God had raised up. And these people
here were made willing because of the decree of the king. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of God's power. And they went up You see, salvation
is not by our own free will, because the scripture said, it's
not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God
that showeth mercy. I know the Armenian free will
preacher, he would look at that and he would say, ah, see there,
it says free will. They went up with their own free
will. They did so because the king decreed it to be so. They were made willing by the
decree of the king. Now here's the third thing I
wanted to see in verse 14. For as much as thou art sent
of the king and of his seven counselors to inquire concerning
Judah and Jerusalem according to the law of thy God which is
in thy hand. Ezra was sent by the king, by
his counselors, to inquire concerning a certain people. Ezra wasn't
sent to find out about the Philistine, the Jebusites, the Hittites,
or any otherites. He was interested in the people
of Judah who lived in Jerusalem. Ezra was sent to inquire or to
make a search about Judah. the people of God living in Jerusalem. Even so, the Lord Jesus Christ
came seeking the salvation of his covenant people. He came
to inquire about them. Remember he said, I came to seek
and to save that which is lost. The messenger from heaven said,
call his name Jesus. He shall save his people from
their sin. And the apostle said, this is
a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. The Lord
Jesus Christ came to save sinners. He came to save sinners. He said,
I'm the chief one. Aren't you glad He came? The
Lord Jesus inquires of His people and He came to save. He came
to seek and to save them. Now the fourth thing on this
second point from verse 15 all the way down to verse 23. we're
not going to go back and read this again but here's what's
said in verse fifteen all the way down to verse twenty three
the king of persia says all the expenses for establishing the
house of god in jerusalem and for all the animals that were
to be offered upon the altar of god were to come from him
and his kingdom and his treasure house to beautify the house of
the Lord that they might willingly offer of all the different sacrificial
animals upon the altar of God and he did so. He provided, as it says over
here in chapter 6, he said the same thing, let it be given them
day by day without fail, whatever they need. Whatever expense is
incurred, he says, you just send me the bill. He said, I'm going
to take care of all the expenses at my hand. All the expenses
for establishing the house of God in Jerusalem for the animals
that would be offered upon the altar of God were to come From
Him, He provided all things. Our great God has given all things
to bring in everlasting salvation for us. He's given all things
for us. He gave the jewel of heaven,
did He not? He gave the jewel of heaven.
God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. You
see, salvation's free to us, but it costs God everything.
He gave this jewel of heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ. God the
Father gave, and the Lord Jesus Christ gave the silver of his
blood, as mentioned here in a text, silver and gold. And the Lord
Jesus Christ and God Almighty gave the gold of his grace to
redeem us. the jewel of heaven, the silver
of His blood, and the gold of His grace. We have all given
by God. You know the grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He
became poor, that you through His poverty might be made rich. Now, all the way down to verse
24. Here's the fifth thing I want
to see. The king's decree, verse 24, also we certify you that
touching any of the priests, the Levites, the singers, the
porters, the nethomans, or the ministers of the house of God,
it shall not be lawful to impose one tax against those people. No toll no tribute nor custom
upon those people." Now, what is the lesson there? None of
those who served God's purpose in God's house shall be taxed
in any way. And the point is this, salvation
to God's saints in God's household, salvation is free. We're bought
with the blood of Christ. Salvation in Christ is free. If the Son, therefore, shall
make you free, you shall be free indeed. All the great expense
to accomplish our salvation were paid for by the King of kings
and the Lord of lords. God, who spared not His own Son,
but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also
freely give us All things, we have all things in Christ. Now,
the sixth thing on this second point, verse 25 and 26, And thou,
Ezra, after the wisdom of thy God that is in thine hand, set
magistrate judges which may judge all the people that are beyond
the river, all such as know the laws of thy God, and teach ye
them that No, them not. Now, what caught my attention
immediately in that verse 25? The wisdom of God. The wisdom
of God. Ezra was given wisdom by the
hand of God to establish rule of order according to the law
of God and to teach it to others. You see, our God is the God of
order. He's not the God of confusion. Those that would not obey the
law of God Look what it says in verse 26. Those that would
not obey the law of God, the rule of God, the government of
God, verse 26, whosoever will not do the law of thy God and
the law of the king, judgment's coming. Judgment be executed speedily
upon him, whether it be by death or by banishment, or we're going
to confiscate his house, his goods. We're going to put him
in prison. Boy, severe consequences. Severe
consequences. And certainly all this is true
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He has all wisdom is given unto
him in heaven and earth. He has all power in heaven and
earth. In the Lord Jesus Christ, Colossians 2, 3, in whom are
hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. He has certainly
ordained others to teach the gospel. He has certainly ordained
others to teach the gospel to His people. And all those who
refuse to bow the knee before the sovereign throne of the Lord
Jesus Christ must bend the knee before the rod of His justice.
That's just so. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life. He that believeth not the Son
shall not see life. The wrath of God will abide upon
him. Those who will not bow to the
king will certainly feel the rod of his righteous justice. Now, here's the last thing. Verse 27, verse 28, we see the
doxology of praise. that Ezra utters out before the
Lord. And this is Ezra saying, blessed
be the Lord God. You see that verse 27? Blessed
be the Lord God. of our fathers, which hath put
such a thing as this in the king's heart, to beautify the house
of the Lord, which is in Jerusalem." How could you make any account
for this apart from the almighty intervention and the grace of
God in this man's life and in his heart? "...to beautify the
house of the Lord, which is in Jerusalem. And, as it says, hath
extended mercy unto me before the king, and his counselor,
before all the king's mighty princes, and I was strengthened
as the hand, there's that hand of the Lord my God was upon me,
and I gathered together out of Israel the chief men to go up
with me. Now, just a couple things here,
almost through. Blessed be the Lord our God. It reminded me of what David
said in Psalm 103. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and
all that is within me, bless His holy name. We have been blessed in the Lord
Jesus Christ with all spiritual blessing. How can we not bless
Him? By believing Him, by worshiping
Him, by honoring Him. Now, to put such things in the
King's heart God can certainly put things in men's hearts and
thoughts that was not there before. He's put it in the heart of His
people to love Him, to believe Him, to submit unto Him, to call
His name holy and reverent. Those things are not in us by
nature. He's given us faith to believe
Him. You see, He's put these things in the hearts of His people.
If any good thing is in our heart, put in our heart, we must own
it that God put it there. Is that right? Philippians 2,
for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do His
good pleasure. Every good gift comes down from
God Almighty. Verse 28, can't we all say this? You see, Ezra's not only a type
and picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, he's also a type and
picture of every believer who is made in Christ a priest under
our God. He hath extended mercy unto me
before the king. Can't we all identify with that?
He hath extended mercy unto me. David said in Psalm 51, according
to thy lovingkindness, according to the multitude of thy tender
mercies, blot out my iniquity, O Lord. The Lord has extended
mercies unto us. We say with Jacob, we're not
worthy the least of thy mercies, but we know it is of the Lord's
mercies that we are not consumed. And the last thing, And, verse
28, I was strengthened as the hand of the Lord my God was upon
me, and I gathered together out of Israel, the chief men. I was
strengthened. I was strengthened as the hand
of the Lord was upon me. Notice, don't turn, let me just
read this to you in Psalm 27. David's strength. He said, The Lord is my light
and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength
of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? The Lord is our strength. Now, if God gives His hand, we
are bold and cheerful. If God withdraws His hand, we're
as weak as water. Now, if the hand of God is upon
us, No one can turn his hand or stop his hand. We are called
the sheep of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. If God's
hand upon us, no one can be against us. God before us, who can be
against us? You see, strength is derived
from him, therefore we must praise him for it. I can do all things,
the apostle Paul said, Now, I can do all things through Christ,
who strengthens me. You see, He sustains us by His
grace. You remember John 15, 5, without
Him, without Him, we can do, well, nothing. You see, He must
keep us. I was strengthened as a hand
of the Lord my God was upon me." Ezra is acknowledging that all
of his strength, all of his help came from the hand of the Lord
that was upon him