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2024-08-04- Sunday School- Ezra, A Skillful Scribe
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The speaker begins by mentioning prayer requests for members of their community. They then introduce the topic of Ezra, a skillful scribe, and discuss the restoration of the temple and the reformation of Israel. They mention the Golden Text from Ezra 7 and 10 and the objective of the lesson: to learn from Ezra the need for devotion and reformation among God's people. The speaker describes Ezra as a priest, descendant of Aaron, and a scribe. They discuss the role of scribes in Jesus' time and how they were criticized for their hypocrisy. The speaker gives examples of Jesus calling out the scribes and Pharisees for their lack of true righteousness and for prioritizing man-made traditions over God's law. They emphasize the importance of staying in the word and preaching sound doctrine. The speaker concludes by urging teachers and preachers to strive for accuracy and warns of the greater judgment they will face. Good morning, everybody, or all four of you. We're missing a few this morning, praying for the Durbin family and Brother Joseph and also praying for safety on Brother Clinton out there in Florida. I wonder if they're accepting applications. All right, let's get into Ezra, a skillful scribe, this morning, Lesson 10. We got a long ways to go, a lot to cover this morning. We'll cover as much as we can, Lord willing. The theme says, God not only provided for the restoration of the temple as his house, but he also desired the reformation of Israel as his holy people. The Golden Text is out of Ezra 7 and 10. It says, For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it and to teach in Israel's statutes and judgments. The introduction this morning says, We studied earlier about the first return of Jews to Jerusalem under the leadership of Zerubbabel. At that time, almost 50,000 people returned with the specific goal of rebuilding the temple of God. After many years of distractions and opposition, they completed the work in approximately 516 B.C. The events of the Book of Esther then took place in Persia between the first and second returns of the captives to Jerusalem. Now we move forward to about 458 B.C., about 58 years after the completion of the temple. A devout scribe named Ezra is inspired by God to return to Jerusalem to teach the people the Word of God. So turn with me in your Bibles to Ezra, around chapter 7. We'll move around a little bit, but kind of hold your place around 7. And I usually don't read the objective, my teacher's manual. I don't think y'all's has like an objective for the lesson, but I'll read that this morning and we'll try to stay on track with that, Lord willing. It says, To learn from Ezra, this is what our application would be, to learn from Ezra the need for devotion and even reformation at times among God's people. We are too easily influenced by the world around us and at times must be made aware of our concessions so that we will repent and renew our covenant with the Lord. Like I said, we'll try to stay on that objective today. First our instruction is to learn from Ezra the need for devotion and reformation. To learn from him, we need to know what kind of man he was. Brother Ronnie, Ezra was a priest and a descendant of Aaron, but most notably he was a scribe. Ezra 7 and 6 says, This Ezra went up from Babylon, 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 upon him. He uses that phrase a lot, the hand of the Lord, his God upon him. I like to think about, I was reading that this morning, it just hit home how many times Ezra has said the hand of the Lord, and he was a scribe, using his hands a lot. When you read the New Testament, and I only know the scribes from that era. I was raised Church of Christ, and I'm not trying to down them, but they don't believe in reading the Old Testament at all, it's not profitable for us, it was just for the Jewish people. And we do believe that it was for the Jewish people, but we also believe that we should read it and learn from it, it's still God's word, but there was no reason, they don't feel any reason in reading the Old Testament, but I do. But if you do read the New Testament only, you may be under the impression that being a scribe is a bad thing, and by the time the Messiah comes, a scribe wasn't what it one time was, and probably not something you wanted to be a part of, or labeled as. But the Sermon on the Mount, and you can turn with me in Matthew 5 and 20, the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus calls out the scribes in 20, it says, Jesus speaking, of course says, For I say unto you that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter the kingdom of heaven. They're usually lumped in with the Pharisees as a hypocritical type people, and that's what they were at this time. They prided themselves on knowing the letter of the law, but they had long forgotten the spirit behind it, Brother Austin. The first example that Jesus gives is in the following verse, in 21, as he talks about anger. 21, he says, Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill, and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment. But I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council. But whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. The Pharisees and the scribes knew that if they killed someone, that they would be in danger of the judgment, of going to hell. But Jesus wasn't just concerned about the act of killing, but to be angry at someone without cause was enough to put a soul in the danger of judgment, and Jesus wanted them to know that it's the spirit behind that act. And the ultimate hypocrisy is these Pharisees would someday soon even murder Jesus. Mark 7 and 1 is a good example of Jesus dealing with these scribes. If you turn over to the next book, Matthew Mark 7 and 1, it says, Then came together unto him the Pharisees and certain of the scribes which came from Jerusalem. When they saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is to say, with unwashed hands, they found fault for the Pharisees and all the Jews, except they washed their hands off to eat not, holding the tradition of the elders. Notice that, the tradition of the elders. And when they came from the market, except they washed, they ate not. And many other things there be which they have received to hold as the washing of cups and pots, braising vessels and tables. Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashing hands? He answered and said unto them, Jesus, answering back, Well hath Asaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honour me with their lips, but their heart is far from me, a hypocrite. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men as the washing of pots and cups, and many other such like things ye do. And he said unto them, Full will ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition. For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother, and whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death. But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me, he shall be free. And ye suffer him no more to do aught for his father or his mother, making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered, and many such like things do ye. The scribes were known for adding laws on top of God's laws, oral laws, and the intentions at some point may have been right. And we've talked before in here about fence laws, and I've read, I think Joseph Amaral was a Jewish historian, he still writes books today, but he studies Jewish culture and history, and he talks about fence laws, and like putting a law around another law to keep you safer, to not trespass that. For example, if you weren't supposed to eat of a tree, like eat of a fruit tree, we know Abel wasn't supposed to, or Adam and Eve wasn't supposed to eat of the fruit tree. So just for example, if you weren't supposed to eat of a fruit from a tree, the temptations might be strong to do that. So we could just put a fence a mile around that tree, and then make it a law to not cross the fence, and make that law just as important as say, if God commanded us not to do that. The scribes and the Pharisees invented laws and gave as much or more credence to these laws as God's law, which were making God's word ineffective. Now the Messiah comes, and he's not bound by these man-made laws. They're not his. He didn't write these laws, these traditions, but they are accustomed to them. So they would assume that the Messiah would fall in suit. Why isn't he recognizing these laws that are so important to us that it's our tradition? If he's the Messiah, he would know this, and he wouldn't do these things. So they didn't recognize Jesus for what he was. If he was really Jesus, would he be breaking the law? And he wasn't breaking the law, he was breaking a tradition. Whose law? The one that you made up. He's not bound by those laws. One Jewish historian comments on his hand washing in Mark 7, and it sheds light really on what's going on. It says, when you start giving credence to man's law as much as God's law, it only creates confusion and makes the truth void. They held these traditions as sacred, so surely this great Savior that was coming would acknowledge the laws. So it just caused confusion about who Jesus really was. 2 Timothy 4 and 1 says, I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing in his kingdom, preach the word, be instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. What held true then, brother Austin, holds true now. Stay in the word. Sound doctrine and longsuffering is what will save people. Listening to it will only turn people away. Watering it down will only lead people to hell. I thought one of the most sobering verses, brother Ronnie, and I have it on my iPad and I read it before I do my Sunday school lessons, it's James 3 and 1, it says, my brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation. That's a sobering thought. Master means teacher in this context. If you're going to do something for God, there's nothing greater. But if you get it wrong, there's a greater judgment. Teachers and preachers, let's get it right. If you're going to do something for God, get it right. Get the word right. The scribes were even part of the Sanhedrin, the Supreme Court of the Jewish people that tried Jesus. So doing a work for God and getting it wrong can be disastrous. It can go really wrong. I thought even in the funeral home business, to make a point, I know a lot of older men that can embalm, brother Tim, just awesome. They know what they're doing. I mean, they could go in there and embalm blindfolded. They're awesome at their job, much better than I am. There's people that have taught me that are much better than me. They can take a look at somebody and know exactly what fluids would work for them, the right formaldehyde index. They know just how to manipulate a body to do exactly what it needs to do. It can also take a life insurance policy, which even, I don't know, 12, 13 years into the business is foreign to me a lot of times. I hate dealing with life insurance companies and the policies, but there's men that can look at that and just tell you exactly what would be coming to them and what this would do. They've dealt with them a thousand times and they're going to give you a problem here. They just know their job really well. People take a lot of comfort in that knowledge. When they sit down in front of somebody that has that much knowledge and experience and they can just rattle off and they'll say, well, this is what they're going to tell you and this is what you're going to run into and it exactly happens that way. People take a lot of comfort in that and they depend on us as funeral directors to be able to do that. But there's men like that that are so awesome at their job, but they've kind of lost the spirit behind it. Not all of them, but some people that's been in it so long, they kind of get calloused to their job. They don't really sometimes don't care about people. They've seen it all. And people have just kind of rubbed them the wrong way so many times that they just kind of fake their way through it. And I see maybe sometimes I see these scribes and Pharisees like that. They lost the spirit behind really what they're doing. Early scribes and like pre-Ezra mostly transcribe things for kings and important documents and people in authority. But Ezra was a bit different and he put scribes really on a higher plane. He's the most notable scribe. Scribes most important row, and you would agree with me, was preserving the Word of God. If you're not familiar with the word scribe, you're probably familiar with scribble or inscription and stuff like that. The word scribe just means to write it down. And Ezra was the best at this. He's the most notable one by the time he came along. And they would meticulously copy the law letter by letter on parchment scrolls, written across the page up and down from side to side, and every letter had to match exactly. And they said that historians would say that like three rabbis would read it and go through like three of them and every letter had to be perfect. If it wasn't, it would be destroyed. After all of that work, it would be tossed out. So their job was to preserve the Word of God, and we owe a debt to them. I mean, we're thankful that they preserved this Word of God, and Ezra was one of those people. And they may have, whatever the scribes and the Pharisees was into in the New Testament, it started out as a very important job, and Ezra was the best at it. And so being an early scribe like Ezra was a prominent and honorable position. It wasn't a hypocritical position. Ezra most likely wrote the book of Ezra and the first and second Chronicles. We've talked about that before. But he doesn't come on the scene until chapter seven, and we've been through chapters one through six, and we'll pick up here around chapter seven. We've already covered the first part. After the exodus of the first 50,000 from Babylon, remember, the Lord stirred Cyrus's heart to send his children back to rebuild the temple. 50,000 people returned under the leading of Zerubbabel, and Zerubbabel wasn't a king, but he was a governor, appointed governor. They spent two years, Sister Allie, building that foundation, if you remember, and then they got discouraged by some adversaries that tried to frustrate their purpose, and they wrote letters to the king, Artaxerxes at the time, now there's a king named Artaxerxes in Persia, and these adversaries wrote letters to Artaxerxes and said that the Jews were a rebellious people, that once they get this built, they'll never go back and pay their taxes and tributes and things of that nature, and Artaxerxes reads this letter, and he commands them to stop building, and then the Jews get discouraged and stop building for 14 years, and then we read that Haggai, we studied about Haggai and Zechariah, these great prophets that encouraged them through preaching, and they started rebuilding again, and in chapter five, the governor in that region named Tantani inquires about the rebuilding of the temple. This is a governor that would be up near around Samaria, and he sees them rebuilding this temple, and he's like, are y'all supposed to be doing that, who gave you permission to be doing this? And he decides to write Darius, the new king of Persia, to see if they had permission to be rebuilding this temple, and then the work resumes, the Bible tells us that the work resumes while Tantani is writing this king, and Ezra five and five, skip back to five and five with me if you don't care, it says, but the eye of their God was upon the elders of the Jews that they could not cause them to cease till the matter came to Darius, and then they returned answer by letter concerning this matter. Five and eight, we can read what this letter says. Eight says, be it known unto the king that we went into the province of Judea to the house of the great God which is built with great stones and timbers laid in the walls, and this work goeth fast on and prospereth in their hands. Then asked 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. So Tantani saying, I try to get their names, and thus they returned us answers saying, we are the servants of the God of heaven and earth and built the house that was built these many years ago, which a great king of Israel built it 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 that was in Jerusalem and brought them into the temple of Babylon. Those did Cyrus the king take out of the temple of Babylon, and they were delivered unto one whose name was Shesh-bazaar, whom he had made governor, and 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 its place. Then came the same Shesh-bazaar and laid the foundation of the house of God, which is in Jerusalem. And since that time, even until now, hath it been in building, and yet it is not finished. Now therefore, if it seem good to the king, let there be 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 this house of God at Jerusalem, and let the king send his pleasure to us concerning this matter. So this letter points to the fact that the Jewish people did in fact have permission. They just kind of gave them the rundown of what was going on. Notice that Darius wasn't looking for God's will, but a letter brought it to his attention. There's working going on at a temple, and it's been going on, but now Darius is aware of it and is beginning to find out that there's a role for him to play in this. Keep that in mind. That's important for a point I'd like to make later if we get to it. In chapter one in verse six, Darius begins investigating further about this matter. This is the king, and section one says, Then Darius the king made a decree, and search was made in the house of the rose, where the treasures were laid up in Babylon, and there was found at Acmetha in the palace that is in the province of the Medes, Oro, and therein was a record thus written. Darius' palace was in a place called Susa from Jerusalem. It's about 850 miles away, and that's where his palace is. It's in Susa. You can look it up on maps. Acmetha now is known as Ecbatana, and that's where they found these documents that Cyrus had made a long time ago, and it's pretty amazing. That appears to be about 250 miles. I looked and looked. Best I can figure, somewhere between 200 and 250 miles away from Susa is where they found these documents. It could only be the hand of God that they would even search these records out and give it that much importance, much less find them. Ezra 6 and 3 says, In the first year of Cyrus the king, the same Cyrus the king made a decree concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, Let the house be built, the place where they offered sacrifices, and let the foundations thereof be strongly laid, the height thereof threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof threescore cubits. This is that decree that we read a few centuries back in Ezra 1. Remember that Isaiah had prophesied 150 years earlier, even naming Cyrus by name. Ezra 6 and 4 says, With three rows of great stones and a row of new timber, and let the expenses be given out of the king's house. I think only second to the amazing fact that this was prophesied 150 years prior, naming Cyrus, it says here, Let the expenses be given out of the king's house. The kings back then would have a cylinder made, if y'all have ever studied this, out of clay, and the Assyrians did it, King Sennacherib had one, Cyrus had one, where they found Cyrus' cylinder, and it's a big clay cylinder, and on each side it has writing, inscriptions in it, and a lot of it's broken up, but they can translate a lot of it, and it's in the British Museum right now. They discovered it in 1879, and it kind of tells you the goings on, you know, Cyrus put on there what happened during his kingship, and it has a lot of important things on it. They found Sennacherib's as well, and with Sennacherib's, him being an evil king, we learned about him, that he was from the Assyrians, and the Assyrians tried to overtake Judah and wasn't successful, and so Sennacherib's cylinder was found, and it had a bunch of heads made of stone beside it, where he had decapitated all of his captives, and that was King Sennacherib, and that's who God saved, the Judeans, out of his hand, and then we read Cyrus' cylinder, I can't read it, but somebody can read it and translate it, but he has a plan in place, or God allowed Babylon to lead Judah captive with a plan in place for them to return through Cyrus, this human rights leader, he's regarded as the first human rights advocate Cyrus is. History even states that Thomas Jefferson studied Cyrus and the cylinder, because of course America is like a melting pot of different nations, and so Thomas Jefferson and his grandson read and studied the life of Cyrus, him being such a great king and wanting to free his slaves back to their hometown, or their home cities and countries, and remember, that goes back to God, because God had stirred the heart of Cyrus, and the reason why Cyrus was such a good king, for a pagan king, was because he was in the hands of God. Ezra 6 and 5 says, and also left the golden and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took forth out of the temple which is at Jerusalem, and brought unto Babylon, be restored and brought again unto the temple which is at Jerusalem, every one to his place, and placed them in the house of God. Remember those vessels that Belteshazzar used foolishly when he was having that party that night, and he said, go get those vessels from the Jerusalem temple and bring them to me, and they started putting wine in them and drinking and having a party, and judgment was cast on Belteshazzar that night and he died. These vessels are being restored and brought back to the temple, and I'm thankful that God can restore things to new and use them back in his house and back in his service. No matter how far it's gone or what it had been used for, God said, I can use that again, bring it back, I can restore it to new and for my use and put it back into my house. I'm thankful that he can do that. He could have said, I'm not taking that back, it doesn't belong in my house any longer, it's been defiled, I'll use something else, someone else. But no, in his great mercy, he said, bring that vessel back to me, I can still use that one. Ezra 6 and 6 is, now therefore, Tantaniah, governor beyond the river, Shethar Bosnia and your companions, the Aphrodite, I'm butchering these names, which are beyond the river, be far from this. So Darius agrees and tells Tantaniah, leave them alone, don't hinder that work in his letter. Verse 7, let the work of this house of God alone, let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews build this house of God in his place. Moreover, I make a decree, what you shall do to the elders of these Jews for the building of this house of God, that of the king's goods, even of the tribute beyond the river, forthwith expenses be given unto these men that they be not hindered. King Darius not only approves of this rebuilding, but funds it, again, the providence of God. He allowed captivity to Babylon, but he could have allowed captivity in the hands of a series of kings in Acre, and it would have ended much differently for the Jewish people. Romans 8 and 28, and we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Yes, the Judeans were disobedient at times, but there were still a few that held on to God, and more importantly, God loved them. Ezra 6 and 9 says, and that which they have need of, both young bullocks and rams and lambs for the burnt offerings of the God of heaven, wheat, salt, wine, and oil, according to the appointment of the priests which are at Jerusalem, let it be given them day by day without fail. So this is an ongoing funding of the temple. It wasn't a one-time grant, Brother Austin, it was whatever they need, just give it to them. I would like to see the faces of those local adversaries when they read this decree. They wanted to frustrate the purpose of the children of God, and the king of Persia is doing the direct opposite. If they need something, just get it to them. If they ask for something, give it to them. No need to tie it up in paperwork, legalities, nothing like that. If they say they need it, give it to them. Ezra 6 and 10 says that they may offer sacrifices of sweet savors unto the God of heaven and pray for the life of the king and of his sons. Darius even wanted the prayers of the Jewish people. He says in 11, also I have made a decree that whosoever shall offer this word, let timber be pulled down from his house, and being set up, let him be hanged thereon, and let his house be made a dung hill for this. So in case you thought that this was just a mild-mannered pushover king, this lets us know that that's not the case. According to Jewish history, Darius recorded that he impaled 3,000 Babylonians. So he was capable of doing such, but he was in the hands of God. Ezra 6 and 12 says, and the God that hath caused his name to dwell there, destroy all kings and people that shall put to their hand to alter and to destroy this house of God which is at Jerusalem. I, Darius, I have made a decree. Let it be done with speed. Ending his letter back. Don't lose sight of the fact that this was the most powerful man in the world at this time. The governor, he didn't seem like a bad person. He didn't say, hold up, stop this right now. He did say, but he just wanted to inquire about it. This was his job. And so he sent a letter to Darius and he probably thought it was going to go the other way. He probably thought he was going to get a feather in his cap for catching these people wasting money and resources. But he was in control of that area. But the most powerful man in the world sends word back, give these people whatever they ask for. Don't get in their way. Tell them to pray for me and my family. And if anybody tries to stop this work, hang them. The end of chapter six tells us that the children of God did finish the temple and dedicated it and they held a Passover. Ezra shows up in chapter seven and we've already read verse six that tells us that he was not only a scribe but a ready scribe. This Ezra went up, chapter seven and six. This Ezra went up from Babylon 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 upon him. So Ezra was a ready scribe, skillful and knowledgeable in the word. He was the most notable scribe in the Bible and he not only copied the law, he also taught it. Idolatry and disobedience led these people into captivity for 70 years and they never wanted to repeat that. Zechariah 1 and 4 says, Be ye not as your fathers unto whom the former prophets have cried, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Turn ye now from your evil ways and from your evil doings. But they did not hear nor hearken unto me, saith the Lord. This was the words of Zechariah and it was on the forefront of their minds. So a man like Ezra was crucial, a scribe that wrote, preserved the law and he taught it, preserving and teaching people to apply it to their lives. So that never happens again, they don't have to be led into captivity ever again. Ezra 7 and 10, For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments. These were not just historical writings but commandments from God. This verse is our golden text and for good reason. Our objective this morning is to learn from Ezra the need for devotion and reformation. This verse is Ezra in a nutshell and I wonder does it describe you this morning? Read this verse again but put your name in Ezra's place. For so and so had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments. If someone was reading your life story and they wrote that sentence, would it be a true statement? It's a tri-fold statement. Number one, do you prepare your heart to seek the law of the Lord? So how can you prepare your heart? You will not accidentally have a heart for God. It will be on purpose and through practice. Psalms 5 and 3 says, My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord. In the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee and will look up. Start each and every day with the Lord. Once you've committed your day to the Lord, there are things to avoid on purpose and things to run to on purpose. Second Timothy 2 and 22 says, Flee also youthful lust, but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, and with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. This is creating an atmosphere that prepares your heart for the Lord for your day. And this would probably be Ezra's favorite verse I would imagine. Second Timothy 2 and 15, Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Study the word of God. The second is, He kept God's commandments. Jesus says in John 14 and 15, If you love me, keep my commandments. Second Timothy 3 and 7 says, Ever learning and never able to come to knowledge of the truth. These are people that don't love the Lord, that hasn't prepared their hearts. James 1 and 19 says, Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. Wherefore, lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. The word is able to save you. But be you doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass. For he beholdeth himself and goeth his way in straight way, forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. I thought it's a man with a shallow experience with God, a shallow relationship with God that comes to church week after week, hears the truth, but then goes out and spends their week living life on their terms. People do it every day. Don't be that person. Live a life disciplined unto the will of God. Why live your entire life fooling everyone by going to church and putting a smile on your face and not living, living in secret sin and going to hell? If that describes you, just change your ways today. The third part is he taught God, Ezra taught God's word. And you might say, well, that excludes me. I'm not a teacher. I'm not a preacher. You might even say, well, I'm a female. It's not even my job. I'm not allowed to do that. First Peter three and 15 says, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. We're all commanded to do that. Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts. What's it saying? Prepare your heart to seek the law of the Lord. Be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. Do you have a hope on you? Are you ready to give an answer of why you have hope? If you go to town and you go to your local grocery store, which my wife goes to Kroger's probably five times a week and she goes a lot that we're creatures that have it. She has like some of her favorite like clerks and she'll go to that one. And I hope they see a hope in her. Is she ready to answer if one of those clerks are having a bad day and something's going on in their lives and they say, why do you have hope? I need that. I hope that she's ready to answer. Always be ready to give an answer. Know his word, live his word and teach his word from chapter six to seven, it seems about 60 years, about 58 years have passed and there's a new king. But God is the same God and he always will be God. And he moves on this new king as he did on Cyrus and Darius. And we're going to see much of the same generosity out of him. Ezra leads the second exodus out of Babylon and into Jerusalem with about a thousand four hundred and ninety six going with him. Arctic Xerxes writes a letter again to Ezra that starts in chapter seven and verse 13. It says, I make a decree that all that all the people of Israel and of his priests and Levites in my realm, which are minded of their own free will to go up to Jerusalem, go with them. So the king encouraged volunteers to go with Ezra 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 that God, which is in thy hand and to carry the silver and gold, which the king and his counselors have freely offered unto the God of Israel, whose habitation is in Jerusalem and all the silver and gold that thou can't find in all the province of Babylon with the free will offering of the people and of the priests offering willingly for the house of their God, which is in Jerusalem, that thou mayest buy speedily with this money, bullocks, rams, lambs and with their meat offerings and their drink offerings and offer them up the altar of the house of your God, which is in Jerusalem and whatsoever shall seem good to thee and to thy brethren to do with the rest of the silver and gold that do that do after the will of your God. Ezra was given gifts once again and money and told to spend it however he sees fit. The vessels also that are given in verse 19, the for the service of the house of that God, those deliver the thou before the God of Jerusalem whatsoever more shall be needful for the house of that God, which thou shall have occasion to bestow bestow it out of the king's treasurer's house. And not even I are to exert the king to do do make a decree to all the treasures which are beyond the river that whatsoever as are the priests describe the law of the God of heaven shall require of you it be done speedily unto one hundred talents of silver and to a hundred measures of wheat and to a hundred baths of wine and to a hundred baths of oil and salt without prescribing how much whatsoever is commanded by the God of heaven. Let it be diligently done for the house of God of heaven. For why should there be wrath against the realm of the king and his sons? Also, we certify you that touching any of the priests and Levite singers, porters, nephilim or ministers of the house of God, it shall not be lawful to impose toll tribute or custom upon them with this great generosity. I don't think there could ever be a doubt that this was the hand of God and why Ezra would repeatedly say this is the hand of God. Verse twenty five. And now Ezra, after the wisdom of that God that is in that hand, set magistrates and judges which may judge all the people that are beyond the river. All such as know the laws of that God and teach you them that know them not and whosoever will not do the law of that God and the law of the king, let judgment be executed speedily upon him, whether it be unto death or to banishment or to confiscation of goods or to imprisonment. The king grants Ezra authority to do as he pleases to those who don't obey God. Blessed be the Lord God of our fathers, which has put such a thing as this in the king's heart to beautify the house of the Lord, which is in Jerusalem and has extended mercy unto me before the king and his counselors and for all the king's mighty princes. And I was strengthened as the hand of the Lord. My God was upon me and I gathered together out of Israel chief men to go up with me. Ezra had no no doubt that it was God who was in control. Proverbs 21 and one, we read it the other day and it bears repeating the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord as the rivers of water. He turneth it what withers, whoever he will. As far as I know, there's still some Jewish people there held captive in Hamas and these underground tunnels to this day. I pray that God will put it in his hands and turn the hearts of those men that are in control over there. Chapter eight tells the genealogy of who returned with Ezra. He took a census. Being a scribe, he took a census of everything. This was a 900 mile trip that took Ezra about four months. He didn't have an army. He had families with elderly and children and they camp out by river at one point. And they realize he realizes that there's no Levites. You Bible readers will know why that's a problem. Levites were the only group that could work the temple. And Ezra has some men to return and appeal to some Levites. And they were able to round up about 38 descendants of Levi and also 220 Nethanyims, which are Levi, Levite assistants given to them. And I love this part right here. It's the most relatable part of our passage this morning. And I love stuff like that. It says Ezra eight and twenty one. Then I proclaimed Ezra talking. Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Hava that we might afflict ourselves before our God to seek of him a right way for us and for our little ones and for all our substance. For I was ashamed to require the king, a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy in the way because we had spoken into the king saying the hand of our God is upon all of them for good that seek him. But his power and his wrath is against all of them that forsake him. So we fasted and we sought our God for this. And he was entreated of us. Can anybody relate to Ezra here? I know I can. Sometimes you go through something. We don't really want anybody to know about it. We'll come to church with a smile on our face. We'll act like everything's good. People ask us, you know, I don't know how you're going to know. Oh, well, God's in control. You know, he's got me. But then you go home and you fear and you tell God, God, I trust you. I love you, but I'm scared. I don't know how this is going to turn out. I need you. And this is Ezra here. He was he was ashamed to tell him, hey, we need some men because he doesn't talk God up so big. And we get like that sometimes. But Ezra fasted and sought God. And he said God answered his prayers. He was entreated of us. If you were walking around feeling that way about something this morning, something big going on in your life and you don't want to share it with nobody and you're secretly worried about it and you take it to your prayer closet, know that God is answering those prayers. He can answer that prayer. In chapter nine, Ezra arrives to Jerusalem. Finally, I thought they backed the U-Haul truck up and they started unloading boxes. And he's like, I want my couch over here. I want this over here. Be careful with that. And everything's going good. And while he's getting settled in and all things are great, one of the princes come up to him and says, we got a slight problem. And, you know, what could be wrong with the temples running? They just celebrated the Passover. Ezra says, Ezra 9-1 says, the people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, even according to their abominations, even the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites and the Egyptians and the Amorites, for they have taken up their daughters for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands. Yea, the hand of the princes and rulers have been chief in this trespass. Do you think Ezra would have taken that well? He just got out of captivity. He was there because of idolatry and disobedience of his fathers. He just traveled a four month journey with well over a thousand people, children, livestock, and they just arrived. And he finds out that they've been intermingling with these pagans and marrying off to these foreign women and strange women that God is against. I thought, what if we packed up as a church and we took Casey's animals and noodles and all of our animals and we all just walked to Oklahoma to like Bristow Holiness Church. It's about Oklahoma's about eight, nine hundred miles from here. And we get there and they inform us, oh, we're Scientologists now. We don't believe we're not holiness. That would be very disheartening. Ezra, see how he takes the news in verse three. And when I heard this thing, I rent my garment and my mantle and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard and sit down, astonished. Then were assembled unto me everyone that trembled at the words of the God of Israel because of the transgression of those that had been carried away. And I said, astonished, until the evening service and at the evening sacrifice and at the evening sacrifice, I rose up from my heaviness and having rent my garment, my mantle, I fell upon my knees and spread out my hands into the Lord, my God. So Ezra weeps before God. And it wasn't one of those quiet prayers. I mean, it was weeping and crying and throwing himself down. Chapter 10, verse one says, Now, when Ezra had prayed and when he had confessed, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, there assembled on him out of Israel, a very great congregation of men and women and children for the people wept very sore. The Hebrew for casting himself down means exactly what it sounds like. Ezra threw himself on the ground over, back and forth, weeping and his prayer sent conviction amongst the people. And I thought the Bible can be so interesting sometimes. It kind of sometimes it'll take a turn. You don't see it's going to go into Ezra ends with men confessing their sin and agreeing to separate from their wives and their children. But they also say it's going to take longer than a day or two because there's a heavy rain, which is just very interesting to me. But this was a terrible time. And I mean, they they responded appropriately. And if that's not enough, the Bible even mentions every man that was guilty of this. It just goes through the names of the people that was guilty of marrying off to women. But you can just imagine the heartache of these men have married these strange women and they have children. And the word from God was separate. This was not the will of God. And they have to separate from their wife and children. Now, God doesn't command us to do that. This is a this is a solitary one time thing. We don't read about it again. We know we can read the writings of Paul. We've done it. That God is not for divorce. That's not for us. This was between them. And this was a solitary time in the Bible here and for the Jewish people. But Paul is very clear, don't don't you know, don't think that you can leave your wife or husband at a backslid and go find somebody else that loves the Lord. That's not God's will. And don't take that from this. But one thing really quickly, and I'm already over my time, this is really what I wanted to get at, and I'll try to do this as quick as I can, I promise that there would be some homework if you choose to do it. But Ezra was a scribe. And I thought the thing that just kept rolling over in my mind was, you know, is the power of a written word. And this whole book to me is about writing, writing letters. First, we have this book because Ezra wrote it. Most likely it's made its way here because it was preserved and copied over and over again. And it's an inspired word of God. Cyrus could confirm the stirring of his heart by reading the prophecy of Isaiah that someone had written. Darius found that decree and then wrote his own decree, allowing the children of Israel to rebuild the temple. He wouldn't even have known about the temple if the governor didn't write to him. Adversaries wrote to the king to get the building of the temple stopped for 14 years. That is a powerful letter. And like I said, I promise some homework and I thought we've got a whiteboard that we've written down at a prayer service one time and it's got a whole bunch of names on it. And most likely almost everybody on that whiteboard isn't searching out God's will like Darius. They didn't go see what his will was. They're probably if they have a Bible, they're probably not open it. Most of them are backslid or lost. They're not seeking out the will of God. They're not reading his words. And if they have a Bible, it's probably not getting open. Most people do have one. They're just not opening it. But you know what they would read? They would later they would read a letter from you. And if you slipped in a word of God in there, they'd probably read it because you wrote it. And the Lord's been dealing with me all week on this, and he woke me up Wednesday night, troubled about it, and I thought, OK, God, it's not just me. You know, this is what you want. So this is where I wanted to go with it. So I'd like what I'd like for you to do and what I'm going to do. I'm going to pick at least one of those names out, if not more, and I'm going to write them a letter. And if you choose to do that, I would love for you to pick someone's name out on your prayer list or off that whiteboard and write them a letter, write them a note, pray about it, take it serious, make it as personal or as long as you want, or just simply give them a card that says, I'm praying for you. If that's that's more you, whatever you want. Nobody else is going to read it. Nobody needs to know who it's for unless you want them to. But I thought we'll put a bag back there and just I thought maybe two weeks they give you time to pray about it, who you wanted to pick, write a letter and then put it in that bag. And then I would like for maybe two Sundays from now, bring it up here and let's just pray over those letters and send them out the power of the word and we'll fill it up and we'll send it out and we'll let God give the increase. If you choose to if you choose to do it, I'm going to do it, but in closing, I'm over. I'm sorry. Hebrews 4 and 12 says, for the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and the joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
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