Thursday, November 9, 2017

EZRA: A MAN FOR HIS TIME


Ezra 7:1-6 (KJV)
Now after these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra the son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah,
The son of Shallum, the son of Zadok, the son of Ahitub,
The son of Amariah, the son of Azariah, the son of Meraioth,
The son of Zerahiah, the son of Uzzi, the son of Bukki,
The son of Abishua, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the chief priest:
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 request, according to the hand of the LORD his God upon him.

As I have approached the end of this series of messages on those who are spiritual, I chose specifically to give an illustration of those who lived:
·   Just previous to the Babylonian captivity
·   In the Babylonian captivity and final
·   Just after that Babylonian captivity

Just as Daniel served as a transitional character, moving from Jerusalem to Babylon, the character I want to present to you this morning served to transition Israel back from Babylon to Jerusalem.

Post-captivity Israel was, in some respects, similar to the age in which we live.

It’s going to turn into a long waiting period – for Israel, 400 years, of spiritual quietness.

No inspiration is given after Malachi
No prophets seem to appear (not writing ones anyway)

Israel is in their homeland, experiencing ups and mostly downs (Grecian and then Roman conquest) waiting for God to do something.

What God did was to send His Son.

Our age is called, by theologians, the interregnum[1],

We know that God is working because He promises that He is working. He never slumbers nor sleeps. But things are different now.
·   We receive no new revelation from God. Rather, we study the Word of God
·   We have no major miracles – no walking on water or parting Red Seas
·   We experience life – marriages, raising children, wars and rumors of wars

We are waiting for God to do something – and we know that something to be the return of Jesus Christ.
Acts 1:8 (KJV)
But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

Because of these similarities between post-captivity Israel and our modern day, there is a great deal we can learn by learning from these post-captivity Jews.

One of the most telling things, in my mind, is that Israel came to such a low spiritual state during those days that, when God did send His Son – most of Israel missed Him!

·   They were still Jews
·   They were still religious
·   They had spent hundreds of years refining their doctrines and arguing their points so that they had divided into several sects of Jewish thinking: Conservatives[2], Liberals and Separatists

Not one of these theological groups, as a whole, recognized Jesus as the Son of God.

Jesus said, Luke 18:8 (KJV)
….  when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?
It is very likely that we have so categorized ourselves, so defined ourselves, so aligned and refined and contained ourselves, that when Jesus comes He won’t even know us.[3]

I want to use Ezra, a man in the midst of post captivity Israel, s our example of one who is spiritual.

The first think I notice is
I. EZRA’S NAME ISN’T MENTIONED FOR HALF THE BOOK
Ezra 7:1-6 (KJV)
Now after these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, …

Mind you – almost all Christian scholars are convinced Ezra wrote this book.

Further, his work is a significant factor in the book.
But he doesn’t bring up his own name for more than half of the book.

The book records two waves of Jews returning to Israel.
·   The first under Zerubbabel[4]
·   The second under Ezra

Zerubbabel, of the royal the family of David, is tasked with rebuilding the altar and the foundation of the Temple
Ezra, from the priestly family of Aaron, focuses on a return to the Word of God

Six out of the ten chapters of this book have to do with:
The work of God in the heart of Cyrus, king of Persia
Chapters 1-2
The restoration of worship in the feast of tabernacles and of Passover
Chapters 3, 5-6
The opposition they experienced and the success of their adversaries
Chapter 4

Their adversaries first said, “Let us build with you.” They tried to compromise the work with half hearted and artificial faith.
4:2
When that didn’t work, they weakened their hands by troubling them (pestering them, small attacks – picking on the work)
4:4
Then they hired counselors against them
4:5
This was a legal tactic to frustrate their efforts by turning the heart of the king against them once again.

They didn’t stop this process for years, through the reigns of Cyrus, Artaxerxes and Darius.

In fact, they didn’t stop until they thought they won.

They didn’t win, but they thought they did.

The devil isn’t going to stop attacking the faith until he thinks he has won over the faith.

·   He’ll offer to join with us in a kind of Christianity that isn’t Christian.
·   He’ll pick on us with pestering little attacks that weaken us in our true mission
·   He’ll turn the government against us with counselors and officials who challenge our right to worship according to our faith

And he will keep at it until the Great Tribulation, when he thinks he will have won.

Don’t ever forget – he doesn’t win!

The Jews got discouraged, and, for a while, stopped working on the temple, and allowed the city to remain in shambles.

God used prophets like Haggai and Nehemiah to stir them back up and get them busy about the work again.

I want to summarize my first point then by saying that a spiritual person doesn’t focus on himself.

I am not suggesting that we ought to ignore our own efforts or put ourselves down as useless – Ezra will write about his own work for four of the ten chapters.

It is as wrong to poor mouth ourselves as it is to brag about ourselves.

·   The guy who says, “Woe is me. I can’t do anything.” and doesn’t. Is just as bad as
·   The guy who says, “Look at me, I am God’s gift to Christianity.”

I am just saying spiritual people understand that this isn’t about them.
God is at work!
·   He is at work in good times and bad
·   He is at work when things are going our way and when they are not
·   He is using people all over the world, with all sorts of stories in all sorts of ways

And one of the most encouraging things that can happen to you is to acknowledge it.
·   You are not the only one who stands for right
·   You are not the only one who serves the Lord and
·   You are not the only one who has taken some hits because of it

The second thing I note is that
II. EZRA PREPARED HIS HEART
Ezra 7:6-10 (KJV)
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 request, according to the hand of the LORD his God upon him.
And there went up some of the children of Israel, and of the priests, and the Levites, and the singers, and the porters, and the Nethinims, unto Jerusalem, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king.
And he came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king.
For upon the first day of the first month began he to go up from Babylon, and on the first day of the fifth month came he to Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his God upon him.
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.

Ezra was from the priestly line of Aaron, but times had changed.

There had been no need for priestly service in Babylon:
·   There was no Temple
·   There were no sacrifices

What do you do?
·   Do you give up on God?
·   Do you quit serving the Lord because you don’t get to do what you have always done?

Not Ezra.
He was a scribe, which means he was a student and an expert the Word of God.

·   He had studied it
·   He had likely written out copies of it
·   He had been instructed in it so that
·   He was qualified to be a teacher of it

More than that
He had prepared His heart to seek the law of the Lord…
Vs 10

In my mind I am thinking about the Bible college student.
·   He studies the Bible
·   He memorizes major portions of the Bible
·   He is instructed in the Bible so that
·   He could probably teach others the Bible

But not every Bible college graduate should teach and preach the Bible because they have never prepared their hearts to seek the Lord.

I think we see it in some preachers and teachers.
They know the Bible and they can technically tell you what the Bible says, but their heart is too drawn to the things of the world.
·   They minister for money
·   They frequently disobey the Bible in their own lives and
·   They will compromise truth for the sake of success

Anyone who has done any door knocking has probably run into the guy who claims that he went to seminary and knows the Bible as well (or better) than we do.

And there is the issue, knowing the Bible is only part of the equation.

We ought to be well studied in the Word of God, in our doctrine and in our practice of faith.
People who go out to serve the Lord but are unprepared in their knowledge of the Bible do great damage.

On the other hand
We must have a heart that seeks after the LORD of the Law as much as the Law of the Lord.
The Bible is a spiritual book. Those who are not spiritual will miss the very reason for the book.

I notice finally
III. EZRA’S BURDEN WAS REVIVAL
Ezra 9:5-9 (KJV)
And at the evening sacrifice I arose up from my heaviness; and having rent my garment and my mantle, I fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto the LORD my God,
And said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens.
Since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass unto this day; and for our iniquities have we, our kings, and our priests, been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, and to a spoil, and to confusion of face, as it is this day.
And now for a little space grace hath been shewed from the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage.
For we were bondmen; yet our God hath not forsaken us in our bondage, but hath extended mercy unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the house of our God, and to repair the desolations thereof, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem.

October 31st is Halloween to most people in the world.

But to the Protestant it has another significance.

It was 500 years ago, October 31, 2017, when Martin Luther nailed his 95 Thesis to the door of the college at Wittenberg and began what is known as the Reformation.

To Protestants, the Reformation is the greatest act of God in Christian history, outside of the birth of Jesus Christ.

I consider the Reformation to be more damaging to true spirituality than Halloween is.

Baptists are not Protestants because true Baptists were never part of the Catholic Church.

The people who are Baptists have existed since the days of John the Baptist.

Our forefathers
·   Refused to come under the catholic church of Constantine
·   Suffered under the cruelty of both Catholics and later  Protestants and
·   Steadfastly insist that the gates of hell have never prevailed against the church Jesus built

·   We do not need protestations
·   We do not need reformations

We do, however, desperately need reviving.

Revivalthe stirring of the souls of the children of God to dedicate to Christ
Revivalthe awakening of the children of God to work at the Great Commission
Revivalthe confession among the saints of God of their sins
Revivalthe humbling of God’s people concerning their need for Him
Revivalthe refreshing of the Christian for prayer and the ministry of the Word
Revivalthe turning of the believer from the things of this world to the things of heaven

Ezra looked at the people of Israel and saw them in their land with a form of godliness.

But:
·   They were compromised
·   They were corrupted
·   They were spiritually calloused

And he prayed.
He preached to them – he gave them the Word of God and caused them to understand the meaning.

Then he prayed.
And the burden of his prayer was, “…that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage…”

·   A spiritual person sees God at work in others
·   A spiritual person prepares his heart with the Word of God and
·   A spiritual person prays that God would give revival




[1] It means, the interruption, the hiatus, the pause, the wait.
[2] Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes
[3] Matthew 7:22-23 (KJV)
Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
[4] Chapters 1-6

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