Latest / Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago / Ezra 4 Bible Study (Adversaries Oppose Temple Rebuilding/The Letter to King Artaxerxes/The King Orders the Work to Cease) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Book of Ezra Series)

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Ezra 4 Bible Study (Adversaries Oppose Temple Rebuilding/The Letter to King Artaxerxes/The King Orders the Work to Cease) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Book of Ezra Series) · Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago

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  Let's turn in our Bibles now to the book of Ezra, chapter 4.
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  We have not been together in the book of Ezra for a couple of
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  weeks now, so I think it will be helpful to refresh our memories
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  of where we are in the study. The. 1st wave of exiles have
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  returned and established themselves back home.
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  They did not wait very long to re established the brazen altar,
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  to offer right sacrifices and to even lay the foundation of the
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  temple down. Now the site of this progress
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  got mixed reactions from the remnant.
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  The younger generation rejoiced those who lived long enough,
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  however. To see the grandeur in the
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  splendor of Solomon's temple. Interestingly, strangely,
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  perhaps wept, they could not help but compare the glory of
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  the former temple with the, in their perception, inferior
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  quality of this newer structure. And so they were broken about
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  it. And what you?
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  Had at the end of Ezra chapter 3 is this mingling of sounds.
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  You had the shouts of praise from the younger and from the
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  seasoned Saints. You had sorrow and weeping.
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  But as we're about to discover in this new chapter, there is
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  also going to be reactions from a different group of people.
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  They have been relatively quiet since the Exiles have returned
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  to the Promised Land, but that's about to change.
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  And what we are going to discover in this new chapter is
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  that the response of this particular group is not only
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  disturbing. It's actually quite dangerous.
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  And that really sets up the main theme of this section of
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  Scripture, and we can really summarize it in one word,
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  opposition. Ezra chapter 4 is about
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  opposition. And I want to show you how
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  that's not something that's inferred or imposed.
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  That's actually what the author intends to convey.
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  And so if you're there in Ezra chapter 4, skip over to verse 7
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  for a moment. This is after Ezra describes how
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  this first group of returnees experienced many obstacles in
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  their attempt to rebuild the temple.
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  Ezra in verse 7 is going to Fast forward in time, and he is going
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  to bring to our attention a letter written by the enemies of
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  the Jews to a. King, who comes much later in
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  the story. Look at it with me very quickly
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  in verse 7. In the days of Artaxerxes,
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  Bishlam and Mithridath and Tabil and the rest of their associates
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  wrote to Artaxerxes, king of Persia.
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  The letter was written in Aramaic and translated.
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  Now Scroll down to verse 16 because verse 16 really gives us
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  the essence of this letter of accusation.
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  We make known to the king that if this city is rebuilt and its
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  walls finished, you will then have no possession in the
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  province beyond the river. This is strange.
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  Why? Because at this moment in Ezra's
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  timeline, the Jews are nowhere near rebuilding the city or
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  resurrecting the walls. They just finished laying down
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  the foundation of the House of God.
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  So what is Ezra doing here by including this document that
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  comes way down the line with a different king who rises the
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  power far down in the chronology of the story and inserts it
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  here? Well, here's what you have.
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  Ezra is not concerned by providing us his book with
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  strict chronology. Instead, he actually wants to
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  emphasize a theme, and the theme is clear, the opposition that
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  these exiles face in their attempt, in their pursuit of
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  glorifying and obeying God. So what Ezra is doing is he's
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  reaching into the future because he's writing this as a
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  historian. And now he compiles this text
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  together to show us that these exiles not only faced obstacles
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  when they return and rebuilt the temple, but also as they
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  continued to restore all things. So this opposition, it, it began
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  under the reign of Cyrus, it continued during Darius, and it
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  extended even in the days of Azuris and Artaxerxes.
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  And you have to be mindful of that because not just in Ezra,
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  but in different parts of the Bible, there will be moments
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  when the author doesn't honor the chronology and instead wants
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  to present a. Theme.
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  And so he will bring things in that at first glance may seem
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  contradictory or a mistake, when in fact that's how many of these
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  ancient authors put together their information.
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  And so with this in mind, this is how we can understand this
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  chapter. Opposition is what?
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  The people of God should always expect in their desire to stand
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  for what is right and to obey what God has revealed.
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  And this is something that we are going to look at.
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  This is going to be to our benefit because opposition is an
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  ongoing reality even for the church.
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  And so as we come to this text, we are going to realize that
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  the. Evil 1 is determined to resist,
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  and he is determined to fight as long as you are committed to
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  living for the advancement of God's purposes.
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  But his consistency in this regard is not the only.
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  Thing that's on display, we also find in this chapter his
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  craftiness. Here's how we're going to
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  organize our thoughts. We're going to look at six
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  strategies, 6 devices, 6 schemes that Satan often employs in
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  order to hinder and harass the efforts of God's people to build
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  his house. Now this is going to be applied
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  on a corporate level, but it can be also understood and
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  experienced on an individual basis.
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  So, so be mindful of that. And though Satan does not
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  explicitly mention in this text, his fingerprints are all over
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  it. And we can find throughout the
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  Bible how he has a similar playbook to what we find here in
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  this portrait. And so we're going to begin by
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  looking at the first scheme by reading Ezra chapter 4 one to
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  three. And we'll continue from there on
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  and seek to accomplish reading and explaining this entire text.
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  And when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that
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  the return exiles were building a temple to the Lord, the God of
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  Israel, they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of
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  Father's houses and said to them, Let us build with you, for
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  we worship your God as you do. And we have been sacrificing to
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  them ever since the days of Essar Haddon, king of Assyria,
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  who brought us here. But Zerubbabel, Joshua, and the
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  rest of the heads of Father's houses in Israel said to them,
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  You have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God,
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  but we alone will build to the Lord, the God of Israel, as King
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  Cyrus, the king of Persia, has commanded us.
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  Can we pray together and ask for the Lord's help?
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  Lord, the words of the apostle Paul come to mind where he said,
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  But this one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and
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  straining forth to what lies ahead, I press on toward the
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  goal of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
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  And Lord, we pray that you would use this study to help each of
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  us press on, to help us continue steadfastly in humility, in
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  dependency on you, with joy as we sang about unspeakable joy.
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  We pray that you would use this time to help us imitate this man
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  of God who said follow me as I follow Christ.
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  So though we we yield now and we ask for you to guide us through
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  every verse in this chapter, believing that you will speak to
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  our hearts. We pray these things in the name
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  of the living Christ. Amen and Amen. 6 schemes that
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  you and I have to be aware of if we really want to withstand all
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  that Satan would throw at us to thwart or to derail us from what
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  God has called us to do #1 compromise.
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  Compromise. That's quite obvious, is it not?
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  But not to some. There are those who look at the
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  response of the leaders in Judah here in the first few verses and
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  feel as though it was a little harsh, maybe insensitive, and
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  even unnecessary. Here you are moving back into
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  the neighborhood. There are still inhabitants in
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  the land. I think it would be good to not
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  just build a temple, but maybe build relationships, a foster
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  harmony, maybe even build some kind of alliance on top of that.
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  You can use some help exiles and they're willing to offer it.
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  Now, that might be a debatable thing if the author had not
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  included the detail in the beginning of this chapter.
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  Plain and clear. Whatever assumed innocence there
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  might be on the part of this group of representatives who
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  approach the Exiles, all of that is quickly dismissed by the fact
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  that we're told that they are the adversaries of Judah and
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  Benjamin. These are not friends, nor are
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  they friendly. We know from the beginning that
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  these residents have not come to help, that we can actually
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  question their motives because we're told that they're enemies
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  of God's people. So whatever they're presenting
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  here as a veneer, we have every right to see that this is
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  actually a veiled sabotage. This is something sketchy, this
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  is something to question. And the way that they're
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  actually going to try to take advantage and hijack the
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  resurrection of this temple is by trying to convince these
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  exiles to form an unholy alliance.
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  There's no hint here that they're going to physically
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  assault or damage the structure. That would actually be a foolish
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  move because they have some knowledge that the King of
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  Persia gave them permission and even the funds to actually build
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  it. So what are they going to do
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  instead? They're going to try to
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  contaminate the House of God. And we can confirm this further
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  when we understand the origins of these adversaries.
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  Where do they come from? Well, we have a clue here in
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  verse two. Look at it again at the end they
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  said, and we have been sacrificing him ever since the
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  days of Sr. Haddon, king of Syria, who
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  brought us here. So we studied second kings
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  together, 1st and 2nd kings. And we remember that before the
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  Babylonian invasion of the people of Judah and Benjamin,
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  there was an Assyrian invasion that removed the northern
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  Kingdom of Israel, the 10 tribes of Israel.
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  But we also studied that not only were these tribes removed
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  from their land, but they were replaced.
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  And this was a common strategy of the Assyrian Empire.
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  It was a way of disorienting and demoralizing their captives.
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  They would take them from one place and put them in another
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  country, and from this country they would remove them and place
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  them into this region. And that's what they did with
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  the Israelites. They removed many of them, and
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  then they replaced them, according to Second King 1724,
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  with men and women from Babylon and Kuthan, Ava, Hemeth and
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  Sephirvaiam. And they settled in these vacant
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  cities in Israel. But these new residents realize
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  that there is a God of Israel, and so the Syrian leadership
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  sends back one of their priests to teach him about the God of
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  Israel. We learned that they attempt to
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  worship him, but their worship towards the true God was not
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  pure worship. Listen to this verse, it's very
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  important. It's actually worth putting in
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  your margin here in Ezra 4 in Second Kings 17 verse 33 it
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  reads. So they feared the Lord, but
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  also served their own gods after the manner of the nations from
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  among. Whom they had been carried away,
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  so they. Devoted themselves to Yahweh,
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  but they place them on the same level as other deities.
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  Here's why all of this matters. What you have here in Ezra
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  chapter. Four are the descendants of
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  these idolaters. These are the descendants of
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  those who were placed in the land of Israel and remained ever
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  since, who would later become known as who the Samaritans.
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  So this is a generational problem, actually.
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  It doesn't begin here and it won't end here.
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  But here's the point that we want to we want to understand if
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  they had assimilated with these exiles who had returned, it
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  would have proved to be disastrous for the spiritual
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  life and testimony of this people.
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  So many other temptations would have opened up.
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  You can imagine what kind of demands they would make on the
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  people of Judah had they helped build the temple.
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  Well, we helped you. So we want these rights and we
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  want to worship in this way. Or maybe it would have been less
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  threatening than that and there would have been intermarriage.
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  It would have been. Dangerous.
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  Had they accepted this offer? Here's a lesson for us to
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  consider. One of Satan's most prominent
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  devices in getting the church to accept and partner with
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  falsehood under the guise of honoring God and looking out for
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  the interests of his people is exemplified here.
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  And he wears many pleasant masks.
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  And he offers many ways of fulfilling supposed needs that
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  we might have in order to be more convincing.
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  And here's how you and I can protect ourselves from listen.
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  Dangerous friendships, regretful partnerships, heartbreaking
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  marriages, and even compromised ministries.
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  It's not by simply asking those who present themselves to us if
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  they worship God. That's not enough.
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  Do you worship the true God? And do you worship the true God
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  alone? That's what we have to ask.
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  That's what we have to discern. So you say you believe in the
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  gospel of Jesus Christ. What do you believe about it?
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  Don't just tell me you believe in the gospel.
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  What? Gospel do you believe in?
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  You tell me that you submit to the word of God.
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  OK, To what degree and on what issues?
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  There's a lot of people who pay lip service to the Bible, but is
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  it the whole Bible? Is it part of the Bible?
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  You know, there are many people who are teaching in seminars
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  that don't believe that there's a single miracle in the Bible,
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  but they'll say they teach the Bible.
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  OK, what about it? OK, you claim to be a part of
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  the Church of Jesus Christ and that your church is worshipping
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  God. To what degree does the church
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  that you are a part of submit to the word of God?
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  And how much of your worship is actually instructed by the
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  principles of the scriptures? See, they, they approached the
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  Exiles and says we worship the same God as you.
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  And many people are making the same claim.
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  And here's the thing though. Those who actually profess
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  devotion to God oftentimes will expose themselves how by the way
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  that they live for him. And you find that even here,
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  what do they say? They said here that they worship
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  the same God and that they have been sacrificing to him ever
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  since that they were brought into the land through the
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  Assyrians. Here's a question.
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  How did you sacrifice to God when you had no altar or no
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  temple? Good question, right?
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  I think so. So you see there are false and
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  compromised worshippers who sometimes expose themselves and
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  if they're very clever, it takes a little bit of time.
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  So I know this may hard may be hard to believe, but you have to
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  know it that there are many who affirm a desire to honor God and
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  even build for God but have ulterior motives.
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  They have selfish agendas in mind.
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  They are harboring something else that is not in alignment
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  with the truth. They're out there, and they're
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  bold enough to even step foot into the Church of Christ and
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  claim that they are an ally and they're not.
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  And that's why each of us has to possess discernment and courage
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  unless we succumb to syncretism. That's you and I.
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  Open ourselves up to an infiltration of those who have
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  different ideas and can even harm what we want to protect.
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  And praise God, these leaders had it.
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  Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the others, they can smell it from a
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  mile away. They didn't entertain it for a
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  moment. They saw right through all the
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  facade and all the verbiage and all the supposed niceness.
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  They said no way. We are the pure breed.
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  We worship the true God. You don't.
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  And we have nothing to do with you in terms of working together
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  for the glory of God. This belongs to us and to us
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  alone. And here's where those who
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  promote ecumenical philosophies in the name of love, in the name
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  of Christian unity need to keep this in mind.
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  Because we see something here exemplary with Zerubbabel, but I
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  see something with a descendant of Zerubbabel known as Jesus
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  Christ. You understand that he himself
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  is a descendant of Zerubbabel, right?
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  And now only is he from this royal line.
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  He also had a conversation with a Samaritan.
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  And yes, Christ is filled with grace and emanating glory and
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  oozing compassion, but with this woman who is beaten and battered
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  by her own people, who is ostracized by her culture, when
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  Christ approached her, that was scandalous enough.
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  He never compromised in her pursuit, in His pursuit to win
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  her. You understand that, right?
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  They had a conversation about many things and one of the main
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  things was worship. And do you remember what Jesus
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  said in John 4 verse 22? Let me remind you, He says to
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  this Samaritan, a descendant of the same group that approached
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  Zerubbabel, you worship what you do not know.
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  We worship what we know, for salvation comes from the Jews.
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  He's drawing a line here. He's making something very
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  clear. In his desire and in his
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  endeavor to win her heart, he never compromised.
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  He says you don't worship the truth.
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  You don't we do. We have the truth because
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  salvation has come to the Jews. So this is this is something we
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  even see in our Lord and our Savior that when something's
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  false, he was willing to call it false and he wasn't unloving.
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  That's the most loving thing you can actually do.
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  And he didn't. Bend and he didn't massage and
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  he didn't twist and he didn't dilute anything to to try to
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  allure and to try to win. No, no, no.
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  He's stuck with the truth. He believed that it was powerful
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  enough to set the hearts of people who are captives free and
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  he proved it. He proved it.
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  But Satan loves to to come and to.
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  Present himself in a way that seems unharmful, that seems even
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  optimistic, that seems even fruitful, when in fact it's
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  compromised. Be aware of that.
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  But if he can't get God's people to compromise, he will find ways
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  to discourage. He will find ways to discourage
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  us in our pursuit of righteousness.
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  That's the next plan of action in our passage here.
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  Let's look at verse 4 together. Now then the people of the land
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  discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to build
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  and bribed counselors against them to frustrate their purpose.
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  All the days of Cyrus, king of Persia, even until the reign of
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  Darius king of Persia, discouraged.
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  So the original word actually. Conveys the idea of sinking down
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  and letting go or relaxing, which is often what you see in
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  someone who continues in a disheartened state.
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  Dejection is one of the most common temptations implemented
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  to weaken Christians in their service to the Lord or to even
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  just give up altogether. It has claimed many victims.
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  It has hindered many, many men and women of God.
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  And though we are not explicitly told how or what they said to
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  discourage these exiles, we might have an idea from a
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  different part of the Bible. Nehemiah's own experience is
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  very similar to that of this first group of exiles.
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  Nehemiah will be the leader of the third wave of exiles 1/3 in
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  the final wave and as he sought to rebuild the walls.
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  You almost have a copy paste of what you find here in his book I
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  Want You. To see what happens in Nehemiah
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  chapter 4, let's go with it together in Nehemiah chapter 4,
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  beginning in verse one. Remember, Nehemiah comes many,
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  many years after Zerubbabel and Joshua between the. 1st wave and
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  the third wave you have a span of 90 to 100 years.
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  But all the tactics of the evil one do not change.
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  Look at Nehemiah chapter 4, verse one.
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  Now when Sanballat heard that they were building the wall, he
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  was very angry and greatly enraged, and jeered at the Jews.
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  And he said in the presence of his brothers and of the army of
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  Samaria, what are these feeble Jews doing?
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  Will they restore for themselves?
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  Will they sacrifice? Will they finish up in a day?
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  Will they revive the stones out of these heaps of rubbish, and
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  burned ones at that, to buy the Ammonite was beside him, and he
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  said, yes, what are they building?
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  If a fox goes up on it, he will break down their Stonewall.
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  So let's point out a few things of this mockery and this
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  scornful verbal attack. The first thing that Sambala
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  does here in terms of his discouragement is that he
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  targets the condition of the Jews.
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  What are these feeble Jews doing?
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  So he, he, he. Wants to under score their
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  weakness, their inability that they're unqualified, that
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  they're they're uncapable in themselves to actually do
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  anything of worth. Another tactic you use is to
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  emphasize the unlikelihood of finishing it in a reasonable
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  time. Will they finish up in a day?
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  What do you guys are actually going to do?
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  How do you think you're going to actually do this?
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  You think you're going to do it in your lifetime?
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  Who knows how they added to that?
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  Most of you won't even be alive to see half of this build.
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  You can only imagine. Finally, he underscores the
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  magnitude of the damage as just to suggest that this, this whole
• 24:33
  thing is not even worth it. Your, your efforts are a waste.
• 24:36
  Those are you going to revive these stones out of the heap?
• 24:39
  These are burn stones, maybe even showing them their lack of
• 24:42
  resources. This is all pointless.
• 24:46
  If it wasn't disheartening enough, you got this.
• 24:49
  Tobiah the Ammonite who chimes in, and what does he do?
• 24:52
  He attacks the quality and the effectiveness of the work.
• 24:54
  Even if you were to build it, if a little fox walked on this
• 24:57
  wall, it would just crumble. So I want to suggest to you that
• 25:03
  these seeds of doubt by these men are no different from the
• 25:06
  thoughts that frequently arise in the hearts of servants of God
• 25:12
  today. You're too weak to accomplish
• 25:17
  anything. You're now you're not going to
• 25:20
  be able to achieve anything significant or realistic amount
• 25:22
  of time anyway. You're too old, you got saved
• 25:25
  too late, you wasted most of your life.
• 25:29
  Oh you have these big dreams to serve God, huh?
• 25:32
  Be realistic. You don't have the resources to
• 25:36
  even do anything. Where?
• 25:40
  Where are your partners? Who's going to support you?
• 25:46
  And even if you do, is it really even going to matter?
• 25:51
  Is it going to have an impact? Is it going to bless people?
• 25:56
  Nobody knows your name. But Nehemiah here shows us at
• 26:02
  least one thing that we have to do in order to prevent these
• 26:04
  seeds from taking root in our hearts.
• 26:06
  Look at verse 4 of Nehemiah 4. In the middle of this journal
• 26:09
  entry. He he breaks out into prayer.
• 26:12
  Hear, O our God, for we are despised.
• 26:16
  Turn back their taunt on their own heads and give them up to be
• 26:19
  plundered in a land where they are captives.
• 26:24
  What an example, what an instruction for us that when
• 26:29
  voices internally, even externally ambush your faith,
• 26:34
  you take every threat, every criticism, and you go to the
• 26:37
  Lord and you lay it at his feet and say, Lord, you do something
• 26:40
  with this. There are times where you have
• 26:43
  to respond to people and there are other times you give it to
• 26:45
  God and let him respond to them. And you have to develop a
• 26:49
  discernment to know when. There are times where Paul spoke
• 26:51
  up in defense of his credentials as an apostle, and there are
• 26:54
  other times where you don't say anything because it's a waste of
• 26:56
  time and energy. Nehemiah, at this point, he
• 26:59
  comes straight into the presence of God and he says, Lord, you
• 27:02
  deal with these lies. I refuse to believe them.
• 27:07
  Be aware, believer, that discouragement is one of Satan's
• 27:11
  favorite weapons to deflate us in our faithfulness.
• 27:15
  Let's come back to our main tanks and look at the third
• 27:17
  scheme that Satan will employ to stop us from building something
• 27:21
  for God. It's in the same.
• 27:23
  Verse Verse 4 The people of the land discouraged the people of
• 27:26
  Judah and made them. Afraid.
• 27:28
  That's point #3 fear. Satan loves fear.
• 27:35
  And again, like the discouragement, we aren't given
• 27:36
  the exact details of his fearful tactics.
• 27:39
  But what is clear is that if the enemy cannot discourage you, he
• 27:43
  will seek to intimidate you, to frighten you, to make you second
• 27:49
  guess, to make you reconsider. And if you and I want to be a
• 27:54
  church that is prepared to make a difference, we also have to be
• 27:58
  prepared that Satan has his vessels, his instruments, his
• 28:03
  tools to threaten you. If you dare to expand or you
• 28:10
  dare to reach out and do greater things for God.
• 28:15
  Many years ago, I knew of a church that wanted to equip the
• 28:20
  members of how to defend and how to evangelize Muslims.
• 28:28
  And so they just started, if my memory serves me right, they did
• 28:31
  one evening service. They had evening services and
• 28:36
  then the second one came along the second week and I was told
• 28:41
  this that they had received, I don't remember if it was an
• 28:45
  e-mail or a YouTube comment from an anonymous individual that
• 28:48
  said because you were speaking against Islam, I will come and
• 28:51
  bomb this church. What do you think that church
• 28:55
  did? They didn't delete the comment.
• 28:59
  They deleted their videos and they stopped that series of
• 29:04
  teachings in Islam. What did it take?
• 29:07
  All it took was an anonymous comment from somebody
• 29:11
  threatening them to snuff out that light that could have built
• 29:15
  up the church and even opened the eyes of those in.
• 29:17
  Darkness. That's all it took.
• 29:21
  You know, for other ministers, it doesn't even take that much.
• 29:23
  Sometimes it just takes some bad Google reviews to reconsider
• 29:26
  their biblical methods. That's all.
• 29:29
  It takes a thumbs down on your Facebook page for them to have a
• 29:33
  meeting. Well, what do we do?
• 29:36
  You can't, you can't even entertain the thought of doing
• 29:40
  something significant for the Kingdom of God if you are a
• 29:42
  fearful Christian. Yes, I understand that there is
• 29:46
  wisdom, but a lot of things that people say is wisdom is actually
• 29:49
  cowardly fear. And you and I have to decide
• 29:55
  we're either going to be a ministry that's going to
• 29:57
  interpret things like I just gave as an example to say we
• 30:00
  must be doing something right, or allow fear to convince us
• 30:05
  that the work is not worth the risk.
• 30:08
  I refuse the latter. I refuse the latter because if
• 30:13
  you understand how the enemy operates, that you are better
• 30:16
  prepared when fear comes knocking in your pursuit of
• 30:21
  obedience to Christ. Fear.
• 30:25
  I wonder what they said to them. We're not told, but we come to
• 30:28
  the fourth point here in verse 5 of Ezra 4.
• 30:33
  And bribed counselors against them to frustrate their purpose.
• 30:39
  All the days of Cyrus, king of Persia, even until the reign of
• 30:42
  Darius, king of. Persia, Frustrate, frustration.
• 30:50
  This phrase really struck me as I was meditating on it because
• 30:53
  the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin went so far as to
• 30:56
  actually hire people to actually pay.
• 31:03
  People to counsel against the remnant from building the
• 31:11
  temple. This could have been done by
• 31:14
  people actually going into the community of faith and advising
• 31:18
  them why it's not smart and and maybe they should reconsider.
• 31:21
  It could have been sowing discord among the group, but
• 31:24
  what's even more likely is that they went out to those who
• 31:28
  partnered with the Exiles and tried to persuade them to
• 31:32
  reconsider their investments. So you remember back in Ezra 3
• 31:37
  seven that this same group received a grant from Cyrus to
• 31:42
  do what? Hire the Lebanese workers and
• 31:48
  and cedar from Lebanon to build a temple.
• 31:52
  And it could be that these same counselors that were bribed even
• 31:55
  went out to the Persian courts and spoke to officials and
• 31:59
  governors and leaders to maybe change the amount of money that
• 32:04
  they're giving to put into different use or to even just
• 32:07
  stop the flow of funds altogether.
• 32:09
  We don't know. But all we do know is that,
• 32:12
  listen, they were so filled with hatred that they were willing to
• 32:16
  to reach into their pockets and actually make expenses in order
• 32:22
  to stop what God was doing. That should convict us.
• 32:29
  These, these were so opposed to righteousness that they were
• 32:34
  willing to spend their own resources to stop this thing
• 32:39
  being built for God. They bribed these counselors.
• 32:44
  How much do you have to despise something or someone to do that?
• 32:48
  People love money. They're willing to hold on to
• 32:50
  every penny if they could. But for these adversaries to
• 32:55
  actually make payments says volumes about their passion.
• 33:03
  And on the other hand, you have some Christians who love money
• 33:05
  in their possessions more than fulfilling their part to support
• 33:08
  God's work. It's a convicting thought.
• 33:13
  Here you have Satan's representatives willing to
• 33:16
  spend, to hinder, I don't know, just talking about money.
• 33:21
  I'm talking about our time, our energy, our efforts.
• 33:24
  This is just another illustration, at least for me as
• 33:27
  I read it, of how it's possible for those who serve darkness to
• 33:34
  outshine those who serve the light in their commitment and
• 33:37
  determination for their 'cause God forbid.
• 33:43
  Frustration. They they try to make things
• 33:45
  more difficult, they try to actually hinder and divide this
• 33:48
  group. Whispers from inside, whispering
• 33:51
  outside, and now we come to our fifth tactic and it really takes
• 33:56
  up most of this chapter. And I labeled it defamation.
• 34:01
  Defamation. Look at verse 6.
• 34:04
  Now remember Ezra now is fast forwarding in time.
• 34:09
  This is a parenthetical part of Ezra chapter 4.
• 34:12
  He stops the chronology. And he now inserts something
• 34:17
  from the future because again, he's trying to present and
• 34:19
  emphasize a theme. The theme is opposition.
• 34:21
  Look what God's people had to go through.
• 34:24
  And so he goes to what? Look at verse 6.
• 34:26
  And in the reign of Asuras, in the beginning of his reign, they
• 34:29
  wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and
• 34:34
  Jerusalem. So now they're slandering.
• 34:38
  Now they're actually putting together letters and and
• 34:42
  arguments, and they're trying to compile evidence to try to put
• 34:45
  an end to this endeavor. And so they reach out to the
• 34:50
  Asuras. This is the same Asuras, by the
• 34:52
  way, who is ruling and reigning. The world at the time?
• 34:56
  In the days of who? Does anybody remember Esther the
• 35:00
  same as Asuras and Esther? And doesn't seem like he gave
• 35:03
  any attention to it. But it didn't stop this group.
• 35:06
  The resilience of these foes is evident in verse 7.
• 35:10
  So what did they do? They sent another letter in the
• 35:12
  days of Arctic Xerxes showing us that they were not deterred all
• 35:18
  again, all that believers would have this kind of commitment
• 35:21
  assures didn't answer them. So what do they do?
• 35:24
  I just let him build it. No, we're going to wait for the
• 35:27
  next king to come up and this is a new opportunity and we're
• 35:30
  going to jump on it because he's a fresh mind.
• 35:33
  He's removed from the actual historical elements of it, and
• 35:36
  we can inform him so that we can actually gain what we're trying
• 35:41
  to accomplish. So he's giving us a glimpse of
• 35:45
  the future and he's showing us here that even after the temple
• 35:48
  was completed, opposition didn't end.
• 35:51
  The Samaritans continue to harass and to.
• 35:54
  Prick this remnant even as they sought to rebuild the city and
• 35:59
  the walls. And as we read this letter, now
• 36:04
  we're going to notice some features of satanic slander, how
• 36:11
  the devil will actually malign our reputation.
• 36:15
  If you're able to overcome compromise and you're able to
• 36:18
  conquer discouragement, and you're not given to fear.
• 36:23
  And you're not easily agitated by circumstances when there's
• 36:26
  things happening in the background that are trying to
• 36:29
  frustrate your commitment to the things of God.
• 36:33
  Be ready. Listen carefully.
• 36:36
  Be ready for your reputation to be dragged.
• 36:42
  And to be bruised by those who hate what you do for God.
• 36:49
  Let's begin. I want us to rehear verse 7 down
• 36:51
  to verse 12. In the days of Artaxerxes,
• 36:55
  Bishlam and Mithridath and Tabil and the rest of their associates
• 37:00
  wrote to Artaxerxes, king of Persia.
• 37:02
  The letter was written Aramaic and translated.
• 37:05
  Rehab the commander and Shimshi the scribe wrote a letter
• 37:08
  against Jerusalem to Artaxerxes the king as follows.
• 37:13
  Rehab the commander, Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of
• 37:15
  their associates, the judges, the governors, the officials,
• 37:18
  the Persians, the men of Iraq, the Babylonians, the men of
• 37:20
  Susa, that is the Elamites. Wow.
• 37:23
  Pause there. Like who's left?
• 37:27
  Everybody you can think of is behind this letter.
• 37:31
  Let's go on. And the men of Susa, that is,
• 37:34
  the Elamites and the rest of the nations, whom the great noble
• 37:38
  Asanapar deported and settled in the cities of Samaria, and in
• 37:42
  the rest of the province beyond the river.
• 37:44
  This is a copy of the letter that they sent to Arctic Xerxes.
• 37:47
  The king, your servants, the men of the province beyond the
• 37:51
  river, send greeting. And now, being known to the king
• 37:54
  that the Jews who came up from you to us have gone to
• 37:58
  Jerusalem, they are rebuilding that rebellious and wicked city.
• 38:05
  They're finishing the walls and repairing the foundations.
• 38:10
  See how they call? Jerusalem, what they call
• 38:12
  Jerusalem, a rebellious and wicked city.
• 38:18
  That might have been true of their past, but this is a
• 38:22
  chastened, renewed, redeemed generation.
• 38:26
  It no longer applies to them. And yet they were characterized
• 38:32
  as evil even in their obedience. Be prepared to be deemed evil,
• 38:39
  unrighteous, unloving. Fill in the blank
• 38:45
  mischaracterized for doing what was right.
• 38:51
  But look at the second part of verse 12.
• 38:53
  There might be an element of exaggeration here since they
• 38:56
  mentioned how they were finishing the walls and
• 38:58
  repairing the foundations. If this letter was put together
• 39:03
  before Nehemiah, which is likely the case, then these reports
• 39:09
  were likely overstatements. They were inflated.
• 39:16
  To make the situation seem more dire and urgent.
• 39:19
  O king, did you not realize they're almost done?
• 39:22
  They have the walls up the city, the foundations are there.
• 39:26
  It's about to get very ugly for you, Artaxerxes.
• 39:31
  So there might be exaggeration here.
• 39:33
  In order to make their case more convincing, more dramatic.
• 39:38
  Be prepared, servant of Christ, for others to exaggerate about
• 39:41
  your shortcomings or suppose it flaws.
• 39:46
  Or situations or circumstances that make you look bad, that
• 39:52
  make you look unfair, make you look unwise.
• 39:57
  We all. Have this, humans have this,
• 39:59
  that when we want to try to persuade or to convey something,
• 40:05
  we rely on exaggeration, not even realize it.
• 40:10
  You might have seen this too. You might have heard this where
• 40:12
  there might be even a complaint of the church or somebody might
• 40:13
  be saying something and they say, well, many are saying when
• 40:15
  you actually ask, OK, who? It's like one or two people, but
• 40:19
  it sounded like a multitude. Many, many.
• 40:22
  Well, what do you mean many? Like who?
• 40:26
  Exaggeration. This is what we find here
• 40:28
  potentially. But look at verse 13.
• 40:30
  What do they say here? They go on from there to say now
• 40:34
  be it known to the king that if this city is rebuilt and the
• 40:37
  walls finished, they will not pay tribute, custom or toll and
• 40:42
  the royal revenue will be impaired.
• 40:47
  You're assuming now these are just now plain lies.
• 40:51
  This is speculation. There is.
• 40:53
  No evidence whatsoever that if the people had restored
• 40:57
  themselves that they would refrain from giving their
• 41:01
  tribute to the king. In fact, you actually see the
• 41:04
  opposite in Nehemiah. Nehemiah, as a leader maintained
• 41:08
  honor and respect to their overseers and their rulers as
• 41:13
  they continue to do what God called them to do.
• 41:17
  But at this point, they're just now just accusing they're,
• 41:19
  they're actually assuming the motives of this remnant and then
• 41:26
  projecting it as fact. And I said this earlier about
• 41:33
  Paul, that he had to face that more than one occasion in his
• 41:38
  letters, we see that the Corinthians, the Corinthians
• 41:41
  were being seduced by false teachers.
• 41:44
  And one of the accusations that they were making against Paul
• 41:46
  was, you know, this man Paul, he's just preaching for money.
• 41:52
  He wants financial gain. He's taking advantage of you.
• 41:55
  And Paul had to lower himself and say, I can't believe I'm
• 41:59
  doing this. I feel like a fool.
• 42:00
  Let me tell you how I'm not doing this for money.
• 42:02
  Let me remind you how it came freely to you.
• 42:04
  Let me remind you that I actually had to reserve my
• 42:06
  Apostolic right to win you and to free myself from any
• 42:10
  potential accusation. So you find this.
• 42:14
  You find this consistently. So be prepared to be lied about
• 42:18
  as you serve God. Be prepared to have words
• 42:21
  falsely put in your mouth, to have your intentions misjudged
• 42:27
  by those who are determined to smear you.
• 42:31
  It is very, very common. Well, there's more that we can
• 42:35
  say, but let's go over and finish this in verses 14 to
• 42:37
  verse 16 and the rest of this letter we read now because we
• 42:42
  eat the salt of the palace and it is not fitting for us to
• 42:46
  witness the kings dishonor. Therefore we send and inform the
• 42:50
  king, Oh, how pious we're doing this.
• 42:53
  For you, O king, this is flattery.
• 42:58
  Verse 15 An order that search may be made in the book of the
• 43:01
  records of your father's. You will find in the book of the
• 43:04
  records and learn that this city is a rebellious city, hurtful to
• 43:09
  kings and provinces, and that sedition was stirred up in it
• 43:13
  from OF. Old These guys are good.
• 43:19
  They now encourage art exerses to look back in the Royal
• 43:23
  Archives. And to examine and investigate
• 43:27
  the key highlights of the people of Judah that would reveal that,
• 43:32
  yeah, we've seen it. And 2nd Kings especially, they
• 43:35
  have rebelled and they have resisted and they have refused
• 43:39
  their overseers, which ultimately led to their exile.
• 43:44
  And they're doing this in order to persuade Artaxerxes that the
• 43:47
  same will happen if they regain their autonomy, if they regain
• 43:51
  their sovereignty. Say bye bye to your revenue out
• 43:54
  of Xerxes. And we have the history to prove
• 43:56
  it. Now, listen, some defamation,
• 44:00
  some slander is just out of thin air.
• 44:04
  It's just pure fabrication. The sophisticated ones, though,
• 44:08
  they know how to weave in truth in order to make their case that
• 44:13
  much more believable. And that's what they're doing
• 44:15
  here. This is true.
• 44:16
  They do have that history and it's going to validate their
• 44:20
  lies. And I remember reading this
• 44:26
  months ago when I was just going through Ezra and my personal
• 44:28
  devotions. And when I came to this part, I
• 44:29
  rejoiced. I still remember the feeling to
• 44:32
  this day, reading this and meditating on it, how it stirred
• 44:36
  my heart. It was actually on a Wednesday
• 44:37
  because I remember sharing about it on a Wednesday night.
• 44:40
  And rejoice about what? Well, here's what you have to
• 44:44
  consider. This moment serves as a
• 44:47
  historical example of a spiritual reality.
• 44:50
  Today, Satan is titled many things, including this, The
• 44:55
  Accuser of the Brethren. And he accuses you and I day and
• 45:01
  night before the throne of God. And I'm sure that in his
• 45:07
  accusation he brings up what we have done in the past.
• 45:13
  He showcases and he seeks to remind God all our failures, all
• 45:17
  our defiance, every moment of disobedience.
• 45:22
  Here's the part that's most exciting.
• 45:24
  There's a massive difference, though.
• 45:25
  There's similarity between the accusations here and the spirit
• 45:29
  behind this work. Our king doesn't believe it.
• 45:38
  Our king, more specifically, never holds our past against us,
• 45:43
  unlike Arctic Xerxes. We're going to find out here
• 45:47
  that Arctic Xerxes actually trust these adversaries and
• 45:52
  gives them what they want. And this is where I got so
• 45:56
  excited. Lord, I thank you that you are
• 45:59
  not like the kings of the earth who are blinded, who are easily
• 46:04
  lied to. Who?
• 46:04
  Are who are so lacking in their understanding because here's the
• 46:12
  reality in the gospel, no matter what Satan pulls out of his
• 46:16
  files and no matter what he points to, every single thing
• 46:22
  that we have done in the eyes of Christ is stamped with this
• 46:26
  glorious truth paid in full, and it's never, ever, ever going to
• 46:33
  change. That's the glorious thing about
• 46:35
  the permanency of our salvation. You can't know the joys of the
• 46:42
  New Testament and the New Covenant if you believe that
• 46:44
  that statement, paid in full, can be erased.
• 46:47
  Depending on how God feels about your level of faithfulness.
• 46:52
  But to know that there is a concrete reality to our
• 46:56
  salvation makes us be able to go to sleep so sweetly even though
• 47:01
  Satan is staying up all night accusing you.
• 47:08
  Now, it's important to note as we wrap up that verse 23 is
• 47:13
  going to mark the end of Ezra's parenthetical inclusion of the
• 47:16
  future letter and how its impact was made on the rebuilding of
• 47:20
  the city and the walls. But let's just read it here from
• 47:24
  verse 17 down to verse 23. This is the King's order.
• 47:29
  After receiving this letter, the king.
• 47:31
  Sent an answer in verse 17 To Re Hum the commander, and Shim Shy
• 47:35
  the scribe, and the rest of their associates who lived in
• 47:37
  Samaria, and then the rest of the province beyond the river.
• 47:40
  Greeting. And now the letter that you sent
• 47:44
  to us has been plainly read before me, and I made a decree.
• 47:47
  And search has been made and has been found that the city from
• 47:50
  old has risen against kings, and that rebellion and sedition have
• 47:53
  been made in it. And mighty kings have been over
• 47:56
  Jerusalem who ruled over the whole province beyond the river,
• 47:58
  to whom tribute, custom, and toll were paid.
• 48:00
  Therefore make a decree that these men be made to cease, and
• 48:04
  that the city be not rebuilt until a decree is.
• 48:07
  Made by me. And take care not to be slack in
• 48:11
  this matter. Why should damage grow to the
• 48:13
  hurt of the king and the copy? Rather, when the copy of King
• 48:17
  Artaxercy's letter was read before rehab and Shimshi
• 48:19
  describe and their associates, they went into haste to the Jews
• 48:22
  of Jerusalem by force and power made them cease.
• 48:28
  That's not how this chapter ends.
• 48:29
  This is where the parenthetical comments end.
• 48:34
  And now verse 24 brings us back to the chronology what happens
• 48:38
  in verse 24 and the work on the House of God that is in
• 48:42
  Jerusalem stopped and it ceased until the second year of the
• 48:46
  reign of Darius king of Persia. Do you see how now he now comes
• 48:49
  back to present time. Verse 24, look here carefully is
• 48:53
  connected to verse five of the same chapter.
• 48:55
  Look back at verse 5 and bribe counselors against them to
• 48:58
  frustrate their purpose all the days of Cyrus king of Persia,
• 49:02
  even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.
• 49:05
  So whatever they did with Zerubbabel and the leaders and
• 49:10
  the remnant of their time, it worked.
• 49:12
  It put an end to the building of the House of God, and it wasn't
• 49:17
  for a short amount of time. This time stamp in verse 24
• 49:22
  should remind us of a different part of God's Word.
• 49:24
  Does anybody know where a part of God's Word starts or a book
• 49:30
  rather starts with the same time stamp?
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  Somebody said it. Close, but it is a prophet.
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  No? Well, I won't keep you too long.
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  You got it. Hey Guy, look at Hey Guy chapter
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  1. And this is where we are ending
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  tonight, because it is here where we will find our final
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  scheme that Satan uses against God's people as they seek to
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  build his house, build their faith, build their testimony,
• 50:09
  build their ministry. It's found here in Haggai.
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  Haggai one verse one in the second year of Darius the King
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  in the 6th. Month.
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  On the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the
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  hand of Haggai the prophet, to Zerubbabel the son of Shaltial,
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  governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak the high
• 50:32
  priest. So back in Ezra 4 we learned
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  that the work on the House of God ceased until the second year
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  of the reign of Darius. You come to Haggai, and the book
• 50:45
  opens up with what in the second year of Darius the king Haggai
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  has something to do with the continuation of the building of
• 50:53
  the house. And this is partly why look at
• 50:56
  verse 2. Thus says the Lord of hosts.
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  These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the
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  House of the Lord. Then the word of the Lord came
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  by the hand of Haggai the prophet.
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  Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses,
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  while this house lies in ruins? Now therefore, thus says the
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  Lord of hosts, consider your ways.
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  So there was an effort from the adversaries to delay.
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  The building of the House of God.
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  But because of this and Haggai, we learned that the delay was
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  much longer than it needed to be.
• 51:35
  And Haggai highlights the justification for their
• 51:40
  unwillingness to rebuild. What did he say?
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  These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the
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  House of the Lord. What does that mean?
• 51:50
  Well, when you collect the evidence from Ezra 4, as we've
• 51:53
  been doing, and you merge it with Haggai, here's how this
• 51:56
  makes sense. It could be that because of the
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  opposition, because of the difficulties.
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  Because of the obstacles the remnant determined, maybe this
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  is not the right time to build God's house.
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  Maybe we should just pull back, ease off a little bit, focus on
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  other things and we can come back to when things.
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  Are a little easier. Here's the problem, if you
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  actually do the history and the numbers from when they began to
• 52:27
  when they resumed, 16 years, 16 years, and it could have been
• 52:35
  more had not God raised up Haggai to step in and say hey,
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  hey, hey, hey, hey, it's time to get back to work.
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  What happened here? This is the final point to
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  consider, Distraction. Distraction.
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  Satan hinders and prevents us from building God's work on
• 52:58
  earth. If he can't discourage you, if
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  he can't frustrate you, if he can't get you to compromise,
• 53:07
  then he can slip in some distraction and that may be
• 53:11
  enough. Is God against renovations for
• 53:15
  homes and building projects and personal hobbies?
• 53:19
  No, What's the issue at hand here?
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  Priorities. You are working on your houses,
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  and God's house is still in ruins.
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  The very reason why I called you out of Babylon into this land is
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  so that you can rebuild my house.
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  And that's been pushed to the side.
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  And we have to be careful because many Christians with
• 53:44
  misplaced priorities will justify them with challenging
• 53:49
  circumstances, just as this generation did.
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  You can imagine the excuses that they had in their minds that
• 53:56
  they shared with one another. Again, what they said was this
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  is a must not be the time. And So what did they do?
• 54:04
  They. Gave no time to God's house.
• 54:07
  Maybe. Maybe there's a more profitable
• 54:09
  time, a more favorable time. We're not there yet, so let's
• 54:12
  just focus elsewhere. And years have gone by.
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  Makes you wonder how much sooner you could have had the House of
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  God if you had just had the same tenacity and holy ambition.
• 54:27
  That's unfortunately exemplified by who?
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  The enemies, The enemies of this people.
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  And when they couldn't get into compromise, they discouraged.
• 54:36
  And when they weren't discouraged, they put fear in
• 54:38
  their hearts. And when the fear didn't have
• 54:39
  its complete control, they sought to frustrate.
• 54:42
  When that didn't really come through, they bribed and they
• 54:45
  start spending money. They send one letter to Axers.
• 54:47
  He didn't answer. Whoa, wait to art exerts they
• 54:48
  sent. What is that and all it took was
• 54:52
  a little bit of frustration, a little bit of persecution and
• 54:54
  one of these guys do they put their hands in the pocket and
• 54:57
  said, I guess it's not time. This is pathetic.
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  And that's why God had to raise up a prophet to confront their
• 55:04
  complacency. Your priorities are not right.
• 55:08
  It's time to go back to God's house.
• 55:11
  It's time to place him first. And if you.
• 55:13
  Read the rest of the chapter, we'll get there.
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  I don't know, I guess a few years from now, but when we come
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  to Haggai, we'll see that. This group wasn't blessed the
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  way they could have been had they prioritized God's house.
• 55:27
  Everything that they sought to do and everything that they
• 55:28
  sought to, to, to grow in and to build for their future never
• 55:33
  reach its full. Potential and God actually says
• 55:36
  that in his own way because their priorities weren't right.
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  Here's my question for you tonight.
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  Do any of these schemes resonate with you?
• 55:47
  I'm I know I'm talking to many here who are servants of Christ.
• 55:51
  Why else would you be here on a Friday night to study the Old
• 55:53
  Testament? Are you tempted to compromise?
• 56:00
  Do you find it difficult to stand for the truth because in
• 56:04
  your understanding, you think that we can be more effective
• 56:07
  as, as Christians and as a church if we just accept others
• 56:10
  who have different views that clearly contradict God's word.
• 56:12
  But they come in the name of God and they, they claim to hold the
• 56:15
  same Bible and, and they seem like they're, they're in the
• 56:18
  right place. Even Jesus looked at the smear
• 56:22
  and says you don't know who you worship and what you worship.
• 56:26
  We do though, and I'm going to tell you what worship means.
• 56:28
  That's Jesus. What about discouragement?
• 56:32
  Are you haunted by discouragement?
• 56:35
  When's the last time you brought it before God and you spilled
• 56:37
  your soul? When's the last time you went to
• 56:38
  a trusted friend said, look, I got to tell you something.
• 56:41
  I've been keeping this inside but I'm hanging by a thread.
• 56:45
  When you, when is the last time? You brought that to the light.
• 56:48
  So that counsel and prayers can strengthen you and fortify you
• 56:52
  so that you're not trapped by Satan's lies and that the
• 56:56
  dejection that that paralyzes you.
• 56:59
  What about fear? Are you fearful?
• 57:01
  Do you love your life? Do you want to just be a
• 57:04
  Christian as long as you don't step on anybody's toes?
• 57:09
  Or do you love the glory of? Christ more than your life?
• 57:14
  What about frustration? Are you easily agitated by
• 57:17
  internal and external problems? Are you ready to quit when
• 57:20
  things get difficult? Maybe it's not your life that
• 57:27
  you love so much, it's your reputation.
• 57:29
  And you have this ungodly addiction to make everybody
• 57:35
  happy, no matter what it costs you.
• 57:39
  That will kill your testimony and your fruitfulness.
• 57:41
  Mark my words, one famous revivalist said one of these old
• 57:48
  men. I placed my reputation where I
• 57:52
  placed my soul in the hands of God.
• 57:58
  I think this final one is more relatable than any of the other,
• 58:02
  I'm sure. Distraction in this day and age,
• 58:09
  it could be that some of you are itching to check your phone
• 58:11
  right now. Throughout this whole study
• 58:14
  distraction, it has sabotaged so many people's potentials.
• 58:21
  I'm not saying that we can't do anything else in life.
• 58:24
  No, no, no. But prioritize God.
• 58:27
  Where is he? Where is he?
• 58:32
  Only you know and only God knows.
• 58:34
  But today, through this Bible study, we've exposed many of
• 58:39
  Satan's favorite devices, and we can now come before the Lord and
• 58:43
  say, oh God, I don't want to be a victim to any of them.
• 58:45
  I don't want to be captive to any of them.
• 58:48
  Help me overcome each of them so that I may thrive for your glory
• 58:53
  and be a part in building your house.
• 58:55
  And that's a cry that he will answer.
• 58:57
  Amen. Let's do it together.
• 59:00
  We thank you, Lord God Almighty. How something like Ezra chapter
• 59:05
  4 can make us ready for spiritual warfare.
• 59:10
  And we ask, O Lord, that everything that we've heard
• 59:14
  would not just be understood, but retained.
• 59:18
  Retained for when it matters the most.
• 59:23
  That we may be able to quench all of the fiery darts of the
• 59:26
  Evil 1. All of them, not just some of
• 59:29
  them. So, Lord, we pray tonight that
• 59:37
  you would help us identify any of these things that are
• 59:39
  beginning to have a foothold and that by your strength and by
• 59:43
  your grace, we would slam that door shut and that we would live
• 59:48
  secure and steadfast in our faithfulness to you.
• 59:55
  And Lord, if there is anybody here who is fearful,
• 59:57
  discouraged, frustrated, who might be even in a place in
• 1:00:01
  their ministry where they're having to make a decision, one
• 1:00:04
  that might be compromising. One that might be costly for
• 1:00:07
  standing for the truth. For those who are hurt by what
• 1:00:10
  others have said about them or saying about them.
• 1:00:12
  This very hour, we pray that you would infuse life.
• 1:00:17
  Into our hearts that we would rise above these things and that
• 1:00:21
  we would soar, knowing that you will vindicate us, that you will
• 1:00:26
  keep us, and that in the end, what matters the most is Your
• 1:00:29
  word and what you ask of us, though we now will stand in
• 1:00:34
  triumph, knowing that you have infused on us.
• 1:00:37
  Truth. To endure another night.
• 1:00:40
  And we pray that it would go beyond this evening that would
• 1:00:43
  remain in us for the days to come.
• 1:00:45
  In Christ's name we pray, Amen and Amen.
• 1:00:50
  All right, soldiers of Christ, let's stand on this Friday
• 1:00:52
  evening. Let's turn our attention to the
• 1:00:55
  captain of our salvation and give him thanks for equipping us
• 1:00:59
  to wage war against the evil. 1 He is a good God.