Latest / Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago / Ezra 8 (Part 2) Bible Study (Fasting & Prayer for Protection/Priests to Guard Offerings) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Book of Ezra Series)

Transcript

Ezra 8 (Part 2) Bible Study (Fasting & Prayer for Protection/Priests to Guard Offerings) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Book of Ezra Series) · Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago

• 0:00
  Let's turn to Ezra chapter 8. And in case you weren't with us
• 0:05
  last week, Ezra chapter 8 is a detailed account of Ezra's
• 0:11
  movements from Babylonia to Jerusalem, as he is, under God's
• 0:15
  direction, called to lead the second wave of Jewish exiles
• 0:20
  back to their homeland. And what we find here in the
• 0:24
  beginning of chapter 8 is Ezra in Babylonia.
• 0:28
  When we come to the end of the chapter, we'll find him finally
• 0:31
  in Jerusalem. But the middle of this passage,
• 0:36
  which will be the focus tonight, is Ezra and his thinking and
• 0:42
  planning and doing at a place called Ahava.
• 0:47
  If you remember in our last study, it was in Ahava where
• 0:51
  Ezra took those who followed him and camped for three days, and
• 0:56
  he made inventory and learned that there were zero Levites who
• 1:00
  had committed to this journey with them.
• 1:04
  And so he finds leading men, he sends them back, and he asked
• 1:10
  them to persuade the Levites to partner with them in this
• 1:13
  expedition of faith. And we discovered that there
• 1:17
  were a total of 38 Levites who joined them.
• 1:22
  But the chapter is not over yet, and in the rest of this chapter
• 1:26
  we're going to see that what takes place at a hava is not
• 1:31
  over yet either. There are still things that Ezra
• 1:34
  wants to accomplish before they resume on this track back to the
• 1:39
  promised land. And where we're going to begin
• 1:42
  tonight is in verse 21. And we'll read down to verse 23,
• 1:46
  and then we'll pause and pray and ask for God's help as we
• 1:48
  always do. Ezra 821 Then I proclaimed the
• 1:54
  fast there at the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves
• 1:59
  before our God to seek from Him a safe journey for ourselves,
• 2:03
  our children, and all our goods. For I was ashamed to ask the
• 2:08
  king for a band of soldiers and horsemen to protect us against
• 2:12
  the enemy on our way, since we had told the king The hand of
• 2:16
  our God is for good on all who seek him, and the power of His
• 2:20
  wrath is against all who forsake him.
• 2:23
  So we faceted and implored our God for this, and he listened to
• 2:28
  our entreaty. Father, as we just read, you
• 2:33
  listen to the entreaty of Ezra and the families with him.
• 2:39
  Now as a family here, we ask that you would hear us, and we
• 2:44
  pray that you would guide us through these passages.
• 2:47
  And we ask that every verse that we unlock would be a force to
• 2:52
  our hearts that would drain out all sin and pride and envy and
• 2:57
  doubt, anything that would grieve the Holy Spirit.
• 3:01
  We pray that you would use this study to relinquish it, to
• 3:06
  destroy it, and to replace it with that which pleases you.
• 3:10
  Lord, change us. We pray that the delivery of
• 3:13
  this study would be empowered by Your Holy Spirit.
• 3:17
  We pray that the power of the Holy Spirit would rest on each
• 3:19
  heart in this place to receive everything that is said here
• 3:24
  with humility and eagerness. And so, Lord, we do not rest on
• 3:28
  eloquence, We do not rest on human ingenuity.
• 3:31
  We rest on the truth of Your Word and the power of the Spirit
• 3:34
  that makes it real to us. Help us, Lord, see Jesus Christ
• 3:38
  even in these verses. We pray these things in His
• 3:41
  name, Amen. Amen.
• 3:46
  We remember hopefully that in Ezra Chapter 7, we were
• 3:50
  introduced to this man as a man of the word.
• 3:55
  It is in that chapter where he is famously recognized as one
• 3:58
  who set his heart to study the law, to do it, to obey it, and
• 4:03
  to teach others about it. And now we continue to chapter
• 4:07
  8, and we learned that Ezra was more than just a man of the
• 4:10
  word. We find out that man, this man
• 4:13
  Ezra, was also one of prayer. Ezra was a man who sought the
• 4:18
  Lord as there was a man who knew how to seek God.
• 4:22
  And I think it's important to consider what has transpired up
• 4:25
  to this point in this expedition.
• 4:27
  Ezra has received incredible favor and wonderful financial
• 4:32
  support from the King of Persia. Ezra has the priestly and the
• 4:36
  royal lines with him. He has many families who have
• 4:40
  chosen to trust in his leadership and follow him.
• 4:43
  And recently there are now Levites who have been added to
• 4:47
  the convoy. So from a human standpoint,
• 4:51
  everything that Ezra needed to go to Jerusalem, he had.
• 4:56
  All the bases are covered. But before they continue, in the
• 5:03
  verses that we just read, we see that this man refused to move
• 5:08
  forward unless he knew that God himself would go with him.
• 5:14
  So again, in Ezra 7, you and I are to be persuaded and
• 5:19
  convinced that this man was a man who was saturated in the
• 5:22
  Scriptures. He was immersed in them.
• 5:25
  He studied diligently. He had the Word of Christ
• 5:28
  dwelling in his heart richly. But I believe chapter 8 and what
• 5:34
  we see here is the fruit of that.
• 5:37
  In other words, one of the ways that you know that you can
• 5:40
  determine if the Word of God is truly at work in you is that it
• 5:45
  will cause you to be a man or a woman of prayer.
• 5:49
  Because studying the Bible is not an end in itself.
• 5:53
  It is a means to relate to God and to seek Him regularly in
• 5:59
  order for Him to move in and through your life.
• 6:05
  And so this man who was swollen with the Scriptures shows us
• 6:09
  what that should produce, and that is a sense of dependency on
• 6:13
  God. That is one who would seek God.
• 6:18
  Again, a word that's very important, Ezra 7, especially
• 6:22
  verse 10, is that Ezra set his heart to study, to study.
• 6:28
  In some translations it means to seek, but the SV renders it as
• 6:33
  study. And then you come to chapter 8,
• 6:35
  and what do you find? That this man who studied sought
• 6:39
  God diligently as well. He was diligent in his studies
• 6:44
  and it made him desperate for God.
• 6:48
  And so if you wanted, if you want to really measure, is the
• 6:50
  word of God working in my life? One thing that you have to ask
• 6:55
  yourself is am I being drawn to the Lord in the place of prayer?
• 7:00
  Am I becoming more sensitive and aware of my neediness of Him?
• 7:05
  Do I just look at Him as I would look at a Petri dish and pick
• 7:09
  apart doctrines and know how to put certain things and files in
• 7:12
  my mind, Or does it melt me and soften me to actually draw near
• 7:16
  to the Lord on a personal level? And this is what we have to
• 7:20
  consider here with Ezra's example.
• 7:24
  But he's doing more than just praying.
• 7:26
  Is that what we see in verse 21? He was fasting.
• 7:30
  He called for a fast at a hava. Now, we don't have time in this
• 7:33
  Bible study to look at what the Bible teaches about fasting,
• 7:37
  what it is, what it does, how to do it.
• 7:40
  But what we do see here is a familiar pattern that what
• 7:44
  you'll see throughout the Bible is that fasting is often coupled
• 7:48
  with prayer. And the reason for that is
• 7:51
  because fasting is a means to pray.
• 7:55
  In other words, fasting is the discipline to eliminate
• 7:59
  distractions, namely that of consuming food, preparing food
• 8:05
  so that you can reserve your energy and your time to pressing
• 8:09
  into the Lord. And so if one is fasting and
• 8:14
  they are not praying, they are missing one of the major points
• 8:16
  of fasting. There are some people who fast
• 8:18
  and really it's just a concealed diet.
• 8:23
  Fasting is not about losing weight.
• 8:25
  Fasting is not about just not eating.
• 8:27
  Fasting is about making a way for you to give yourself over to
• 8:30
  seeking the Lord more intensely. And that's how we know they're
• 8:34
  doing this right? Because in verse 23 says so, We
• 8:37
  fasted and implored our God, we sought God.
• 8:42
  But my question is why now? Why call for a fast at the canal
• 8:48
  Ahava? Well, we don't have the gas.
• 8:50
  Verse 21 lets us know to seek Him for a safe journey for
• 8:55
  ourselves, our children, and all our goods.
• 9:01
  This is one of the strongest biblical examples of where the
• 9:06
  frequent requests of traveling mercies come from.
• 9:10
  Maybe you've asked somebody to pray for what travelling mercies
• 9:13
  or somebody's asks you, hey, can you ask the Lord to give us
• 9:15
  travelling mercies, right? Does that term sound familiar to
• 9:18
  us? I think this is where it might
• 9:21
  come from because Ezra prayed for it, which shows us that you
• 9:24
  and I have the right to ask God for a safe journey no matter how
• 9:27
  far along it is. So the main focus of this time
• 9:31
  released to seek the Lord for safety.
• 9:34
  It became a desperate plea. And when you understand the
• 9:36
  context, you can see why. Consider a few things.
• 9:40
  When we studied Chapter 7, we learned and calculated that from
• 9:45
  Babylonia to Jerusalem, it would take about four months.
• 9:48
  Four months by foot, we're talking about 900 miles.
• 9:54
  That's grueling. These are not just men who are
• 9:56
  making their way back to Jerusalem.
• 9:58
  You have women, you have children, you have the elderly,
• 10:01
  presumably. So you can see why this is going
• 10:05
  to be a difficult task. Just naturally speaking.
• 10:07
  It's been very demanding. So we need God to help us.
• 10:11
  Secondly, Ezra was aware that even in his day there were
• 10:16
  people who hated the Jews. Now there was already a first
• 10:21
  wave of Jews many decades before this that had been restored to
• 10:26
  Jerusalem and had begin begun to really rebuild the House of God.
• 10:29
  They they brought it to completion and that.
• 10:32
  Irked. The nations around them, many of
• 10:34
  them. And so to see just another
• 10:37
  transition, another accumulation of Jews going back to the
• 10:40
  promised land. Ezra mentions here that he is
• 10:43
  worried that the enemy on the way will try to stop them.
• 10:47
  So there are real threats, real dangers.
• 10:51
  Consider a third thing. Is Ezra leading this expedition
• 10:54
  with just clothes on their back? No, they are not going empty
• 10:59
  handed. In fact, they're going back with
• 11:02
  caravans filled with supplies. Peek over to verse 26 of Ezra.
• 11:08
  Notice what it said here. I weighed out into their hands
• 11:11
  650 talents of silver. Now that may not mean much to
• 11:15
  you because you think talent. We don't use that measurement
• 11:17
  today. One talent is approximately 75
• 11:21
  to 80 pounds. 650 talents of silver and silver vessels worth
• 11:29
  200 talents and 100 talents of gold, 20 bowls of gold worth
• 11:34
  1000 derricks, and two vessels of fine bright bronze as
• 11:38
  precious as gold. So you can imagine how just the
• 11:43
  resources alone that they're taking with them would make Ezra
• 11:45
  very nervous. And you can imagine even at this
• 11:49
  time, how war would get around, that some of the Jews are making
• 11:52
  their way back to Jerusalem and look at all the stuff that
• 11:54
  they're bringing with them. It wouldn't take very much for
• 11:58
  robbers and bandits to take advantage of this, especially
• 12:01
  when they are helpless Jews and as we're about to discover, have
• 12:04
  no bodyguards, no soldiers, no battalion going with them.
• 12:08
  They're exposed. And Ezra knows this.
• 12:12
  So he says, listen, before we leave Ahava, we have to seek
• 12:15
  God. We have to ask the Lord for
• 12:18
  help. And so we find here that there's
• 12:22
  potential fear on Ezra's part, natural fear.
• 12:26
  Wisdom is being employed, There's caution.
• 12:30
  And so he seeks God. But look what happens in verse
• 12:33
  31. Look what he testifies about.
• 12:36
  Ezra goes on to say later, Then we departed from the river Ahava
• 12:40
  on the 12th day of the first month to go to Jerusalem.
• 12:43
  The hand of our God was on us, and he delivered us from the
• 12:46
  hand of the enemy and from ambushes.
• 12:51
  By the way, prayer works, and more than prayer working,
• 12:59
  sincere prayer invites God's protection against any threat.
• 13:06
  And the Lord's blessing can extend to anyone or to anything
• 13:10
  that you would commit to His care.
• 13:14
  That includes your children, and that includes your possessions.
• 13:22
  One of my favorite examples of this is how David responded when
• 13:27
  he learned that one of his greatest advisors chose to side
• 13:31
  with his rebellious son, Absalom.
• 13:33
  Do you remember what he did? What was his knee jerk reaction?
• 13:38
  According to Second Samuel 15, verse 31, he sighed a prayer and
• 13:44
  his prayer was very brief, very short, very simple.
• 13:47
  He said, O Lord, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into
• 13:50
  foolishness. So I thoughtful who was one of
• 13:55
  David's greatest assets. The Bible says that his wisdom
• 13:58
  was like the wisdom of God. People revered this man when he
• 14:02
  came up with a plan. People listen intently and they
• 14:05
  trusted him. And overnight, David learns one
• 14:10
  of your closest confidants has now conspired against you and
• 14:14
  joined your son to kill you. So one of his greatest assets
• 14:20
  now becomes one of his greatest threats.
• 14:22
  And what does he do? He prays.
• 14:25
  He seeks God. And if you were with us in
• 14:27
  Second Samuel when we studied it, you remember that God
• 14:30
  answered that prayer, did he not?
• 14:31
  And he actually went above and beyond what David asked.
• 14:37
  So over and over we have examples that when you and I
• 14:40
  pray, there is not one person nor is there any problem that
• 14:44
  God is not willing to confront and bring a solution to.
• 14:50
  In this case, there are many things that Ezra was worried
• 14:53
  about. He asked for God's protection
• 14:55
  over himself and others, their children and their possessions,
• 14:59
  and God was faithful with every single thing that they brought
• 15:01
  to him. Is there a person causing a
• 15:05
  problem in your life? Do you pray about it?
• 15:07
  Do you actually believe that God will do something about it?
• 15:10
  He did it for David. Are you worried about your
• 15:13
  finances? Are you worried about your
• 15:14
  resources? Are you worried about how you're
• 15:15
  going to pay rent? Are you worried about how you're
• 15:17
  going to pay for your children's education?
• 15:18
  Do you pray about it, Ezra? This man filled with the Word
• 15:22
  teaches us that prayer works. With all that said, we see
• 15:29
  another reason why he was so desperate to pray, and I already
• 15:32
  alluded to it. He mentions here that he refused
• 15:36
  armed security, that when the king of Persia learned of his
• 15:41
  journey, he offered help because even the king understood how
• 15:46
  dangerous it would be for them. And Ezra refused.
• 15:51
  He denied it. Why did he deny it?
• 15:55
  Well, he seems to have a relationship with the king.
• 15:57
  And throughout his relationship with the king, he was constantly
• 16:01
  testifying of the greatness of God, that he actually helps.
• 16:05
  He's a real God. He actually interferes with our
• 16:10
  lives and invests and invades intercepts.
• 16:17
  He's tangible. And he thought to himself, if
• 16:21
  I'm going to say this to the king and at the same time ask
• 16:24
  him for help, that might weaken my testimony.
• 16:30
  Worse, it might contradict my testimony.
• 16:33
  And so Ezra refuses this, and it made him all the more aware of
• 16:38
  his neediness for God to come through.
• 16:43
  Now, here's what's interesting. If we're not careful, we can
• 16:45
  take a text like this and teach ourselves and others that if we
• 16:49
  really have faith, it's unnecessary to implement safety
• 16:54
  measures or to take precautions to protect ourselves.
• 17:00
  Is that what this text is teaching?
• 17:03
  If you're inclined to believe that, let me remind you what
• 17:06
  Nehemiah does when it was his turn to make his way back to
• 17:09
  Jerusalem. Go to chapter 2 of Nehemiah.
• 17:11
  It's just the next book over and notice what he says in Nehemiah
• 17:16
  chapter 2 beginning in verse 7. This is how you know that what
• 17:22
  Ezra is demonstrating is not teaching something about
• 17:26
  self-defense and if Christians should pursue it or not.
• 17:30
  Look at Nehemiah 2 verse seven. He says, And I said to the king,
• 17:35
  If it pleases the king, let letters be given me to the
• 17:39
  governors of the province beyond the river, that they may let me
• 17:42
  pass through until I come to Judah, and a letter to Asaph,
• 17:46
  the keeper of the King's forest. Then he may give me timber to
• 17:49
  make beams for the gates of the fortress of the temple, and for
• 17:52
  the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall occupy.
• 17:56
  And the king granted me what I asked for.
• 17:59
  The good hand of my God was upon me.
• 18:02
  So notice a similar phrase here. He says God's hand was upon me.
• 18:06
  That's why the king did this. But notice the connection.
• 18:09
  He goes on to say in verse 9. Then I came to the governors of
• 18:12
  the province beyond the river and gave them the King's
• 18:15
  letters. Now the king had sent with me
• 18:19
  officers of the army and horsemen.
• 18:24
  Ezra refused. Nehemiah welcomed this kind of
• 18:30
  protection. And the question we have to ask
• 18:32
  then, was Nehemiah less godly or faithful because of it?
• 18:39
  Was he less spiritual? Did he display weaker faith?
• 18:46
  Here's my answer. It depends.
• 18:50
  If Nehemiah goes on to show that he had put his ultimate trust in
• 18:56
  the arm of the flesh, then absolutely this could be a sign
• 18:59
  of weak faith. But if you've studied Nehemiah,
• 19:02
  then you know that that is not the case.
• 19:05
  That he was a man of fervent prayer himself, that he was a
• 19:08
  man who took practical means but never failed to seek the Lord
• 19:13
  because he showed that God was ultimately his success, his
• 19:17
  security. And so who's right here?
• 19:23
  Who's the greater model to follow?
• 19:24
  Follow. Who's more godly?
• 19:28
  I don't think it's a contest. I think it's worth comparing.
• 19:32
  And the reason why is because Ezra is in a unique position,
• 19:36
  because Ezra has been witnessing to the King of Persia and Ezra
• 19:42
  made a bold witness about who God is and what he is able to
• 19:46
  do. That's what's at stake.
• 19:48
  Here, and so with his situation, Ezra wanted to ensure that
• 19:54
  nothing that he would do, nothing that he would say,
• 19:57
  nothing that he would accept would cause a problem to what he
• 20:01
  had told the King about his God. So this is.
• 20:05
  Far less about Ezra's beliefs about self-defense.
• 20:08
  And you can't use a text like this to make a case for why or
• 20:12
  why not believers should implement a certain measure of
• 20:16
  protection over themselves, their family, or their
• 20:18
  ministries. That's not what's being targeted
• 20:20
  here. There's a different lesson
• 20:23
  before us, and the lesson is this.
• 20:27
  Ezra is exemplifying to us that what we say should be backed up
• 20:31
  by what we do. That we have to be.
• 20:35
  Extremely careful about what we say about God to others,
• 20:39
  especially unbelievers. And then showing them with our.
• 20:43
  Lives that we actually believe it.
• 20:46
  Because people. Are much more willing to believe
• 20:49
  by what you live than by what you say.
• 20:53
  There's no way around that, and that could be to a greater good
• 20:58
  or that can be to our detriment. So understand Ezra.
• 21:02
  'S thinking here. I've been telling this king
• 21:05
  about how awesome God is, but I also understand that the king
• 21:10
  has more than just ears, he has eyes.
• 21:13
  And he's going to watch how? I'm going to move forward from
• 21:15
  here. Can I actually back up the
• 21:18
  greatness of God? Can I actually prove it?
• 21:23
  And this man is extremely wise. He understood that this could
• 21:26
  actually hinder his witness, and so he refuses the protection
• 21:32
  that the king offered. Believer, understand very
• 21:36
  carefully there are people who are watching more closely than
• 21:39
  you think they are. They may not be telling you
• 21:43
  that, but people are taking into consideration that you have a
• 21:49
  Bible verse on your social media account.
• 21:53
  And they want to see that. Bible verse matches with the
• 21:55
  posts. When I had social.
• 21:59
  Media and I had others say this as well.
• 22:01
  I don't know if this is still the case.
• 22:02
  I've been off social media. I recommend it.
• 22:07
  And I remember back. Then that people would like
• 22:09
  certain things and what they would like would pop up on your
• 22:12
  feet. Is that still the case?
• 22:14
  OK. You know, years and years.
• 22:17
  Ago, obviously I was still believer then.
• 22:21
  I was I've been a believer for quite a few years now and so
• 22:25
  most of my friends online were were Christians.
• 22:29
  But you know what? Sometimes.
• 22:29
  I would see what they would like and it would pop up and it was
• 22:32
  super questionable. Now I'm a believer and I know.
• 22:36
  Some of these people, or at least I've met them here or
• 22:38
  there, but I would always think, what do non believers think
• 22:41
  about what you're liking When you like something?
• 22:43
  You're essentially saying I'm agreeing with this, I approve of
• 22:47
  this, I enjoy this. And for what I know.
• 22:51
  What I know for some people, they mindlessly just click on
• 22:53
  anything, not considering what Ezra is showing us here.
• 22:57
  People are watching you, people are leaning in, people are
• 23:03
  studying you and they're hearing one thing and they want to see,
• 23:06
  is it consistent? So that's just one way that.
• 23:09
  We might have oversight, the things that we choose, the
• 23:13
  things that we respond to, the things that we let out.
• 23:19
  And not thinking. Others are analyzing me.
• 23:25
  While we're on the subject of witness, there is something else
• 23:28
  here that we have to appreciate about Ezra in this area.
• 23:30
  Did you notice that when he reflects on his testifying
• 23:34
  before the king, he did not leave out warning?
• 23:41
  Look again what I mean here. He didn't just stop.
• 23:45
  After saying the hand of our God is for good on all who seek him.
• 23:50
  He goes on to add. What?
• 23:52
  And the power of his wrath is against all who forsake him.
• 23:57
  That's bold. Would he have been right if he
• 24:01
  said that God's good hand rests on those who seek him?
• 24:04
  Yes. But Ezra understood.
• 24:07
  That that is an incomplete message.
• 24:10
  And he understood that I. May never see this king again.
• 24:13
  And So what does he do? He he includes the full message.
• 24:16
  And what is the full message? Yes.
• 24:18
  If you seek him, there's a blessing.
• 24:20
  If you forsake him, if you turn your back on him, there's wrath.
• 24:25
  This is bold you're. Speaking to a king.
• 24:29
  But it's more than just bold. It's loving.
• 24:32
  Because love warns, and we have to be wise in how we warn.
• 24:40
  But there's some people who. Think it's wise never to warn?
• 24:44
  Well, you're out of step. With the ministry in the message
• 24:46
  of Jesus Christ, the Apostles and any sincere Christian.
• 24:51
  The Bible warns. Because the Bible is a book that
• 24:53
  reveals a God who is love and love warns.
• 24:59
  So King, I want to let. You know that God.
• 25:03
  He shows favor to. Those who live for him, who seek
• 25:05
  him. But he's also willing.
• 25:08
  To show wrath to those who despise him and deny him.
• 25:14
  You know what I wondered When? I heard this.
• 25:17
  Looking at these words. In Ezra's life, I wondered, did
• 25:20
  that make any impact on the king?
• 25:22
  That was my question. Did that make any impact on this
• 25:25
  king? And then I reflected on the
• 25:28
  King's own words when he had given Ezra the letter of
• 25:31
  approval to allow him to take the Jews back to Jerusalem.
• 25:34
  Let me remind you. One of the things that the king.
• 25:37
  Says back in Ezra 7. Look at verse 23.
• 25:40
  This is in the letter of the King.
• 25:43
  That grants. Ezra permission to do what he's
• 25:45
  doing here in Ezra chapter 8. The King writes.
• 25:50
  Whatever is decreed by the God of heaven, let it be done in
• 25:54
  full for the House of the God of heaven, lest his wrath be
• 26:00
  against the realm of the king and his sons.
• 26:02
  I wonder where you got that idea from?
• 26:07
  Well, Ezra's been telling. Him, I'm sure, since he's known
• 26:10
  him. Listen, King.
• 26:13
  You don't want to. Invoke God's wrath by forsaking
• 26:16
  Him. And I believe based on this,
• 26:19
  that Ezra planted the seed and it's still in seed form because
• 26:23
  we learn from this chapter in this text that there are some
• 26:26
  who are only motivated to serve God out of fear, and that's not
• 26:29
  the way to do it. But that doesn't mean that
• 26:32
  there. Isn't an understanding of fear
• 26:35
  in how we view God? And this king shows.
• 26:40
  That he got it. And I hope that it.
• 26:43
  Germinated to a more complete understanding of the nature and
• 26:46
  character of God. We don't know.
• 26:49
  But we will continue now. Let's come back to Ezra 8 and
• 26:53
  let's read on in verse 24 down to verse 29.
• 26:58
  Then I set a part. 12 of the leading priest Sheribaya
• 27:02
  Hashabaya, and 10 other kinsmen with them.
• 27:07
  And I weighed out to them the silver and the gold and the
• 27:09
  vessels, the offering for the House of our God that the King
• 27:13
  and his counselors and his Lords, and all Israel their
• 27:16
  present had offered. I weighed out into their hands
• 27:19
  650 talents of silver and silver vessels worth 200 talents and
• 27:24
  100 talents of gold, 20 bowls of gold worth 1000 derricks and
• 27:28
  two. 1002. Vessels of fine bright bronze,
• 27:30
  as precious as gold. And I said to them, You are holy
• 27:34
  to the Lord, and the vessels are holy, and the silver and the
• 27:38
  gold are free will offering to the Lord, the God of your
• 27:41
  Father's. Guard them and keep them until
• 27:45
  you weigh them before the chief priests and the Levites and the
• 27:48
  heads of Father's houses in Israel, at Jerusalem, within the
• 27:52
  chambers of the House of the Lord.
• 27:55
  What's going on here? Well, Ezra did more than.
• 27:58
  Just pray about the protection of himself and others.
• 28:02
  The children and his goods he also prepared.
• 28:06
  He planned. He strategized.
• 28:12
  And right away we learned something.
• 28:14
  Is Ezra a spiritual man? He's a very spiritual man.
• 28:17
  Did he study God's Word? He did.
• 28:19
  Did he fast and pray? Absolutely.
• 28:22
  But those practices, those disciplines did not negate or
• 28:28
  cancel out practical life. Ezra understood that we should
• 28:36
  commit things to the Lord, but he also understood that we have
• 28:39
  to do some calculation on our part.
• 28:43
  And so for those who think. That being spiritual means
• 28:45
  you're unorganized or constantly spontaneous or never thinking
• 28:49
  ahead. You're wrong.
• 28:52
  Ezra here shows. Us that a man who is going to
• 28:54
  bring revival to his generation was also a man who stepped back
• 28:58
  and thought how can we do this the most efficient way?
• 29:02
  How can we do this the? Safest way?
• 29:04
  How can we make our journey that much more gracious?
• 29:09
  And so he actually. Delegated responsibility.
• 29:11
  And he put numbers together and he divided things.
• 29:15
  Because Christianity is actually practical.
• 29:18
  And I say this from time to time because you have some people who
• 29:20
  think that Christianity is about being as mystical as possible.
• 29:25
  Well, you can't get. That from here and it also shows
• 29:29
  that Ezra as a man of God was responsible over his resources.
• 29:35
  And this is this is a reminder again that though we are called
• 29:41
  to be heavenly minded, we're also called to do earthly good.
• 29:47
  Can I ask you a question? When is the first time the word
• 29:53
  elder in connection to leadership in the local church?
• 29:59
  When does the first time? That word elder appear in the
• 30:01
  book of Acts. You can answer if you.
• 30:03
  Know or if you think you. Know any idea who thinks it's?
• 30:16
  Very, very early in the book. Who thinks it's very late?
• 30:20
  In the book. Who's just waiting for me?
• 30:23
  To tell you the chapter to go to Acts Chapter 11.
• 30:27
  This is the first time the word elder appears in the narrative
• 30:32
  of the book of Acts that explains the early movements and
• 30:36
  formations of the bride of Christ.
• 30:39
  Look at Acts 11 verse 20 and I'll wait for you to get there.
• 30:42
  Acts 11 verse. 28. And one of the name.
• 30:49
  Agabus stood up and foretold by the spirit that there would be a
• 30:54
  great famine over all the world. This took place in the days of
• 30:59
  Claudius. So the disciples determined
• 31:02
  everyone according to his ability to send relief to the
• 31:06
  brothers living in Judea, and they did so sending it to the
• 31:11
  elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.
• 31:15
  That's the first time you encountered the word elders in
• 31:18
  connection to leadership in the in the local church.
• 31:21
  And I find it interesting that the first time it appears it
• 31:25
  deals with financial responsibility.
• 31:30
  That one of the first things. You find with the elders in the
• 31:33
  Church of the book of Acts is the distribution of aid to those
• 31:36
  who are in need. What does that tell you?
• 31:41
  Well it tells you that part of the elders responsibility is
• 31:45
  faithful stewardship over the church's resources.
• 31:51
  This is why. When you look at the Maranatha
• 31:53
  Bible Church Membership covenant, one of the things that
• 31:56
  the elders promised to the members of the church is that by
• 31:59
  God's help, we will faithfully steward God's resources
• 32:03
  according to the principles and the wisdom of His Word.
• 32:08
  The elders here. Show us that.
• 32:10
  And that requires integrity, that requires wisdom, that
• 32:14
  requires transparency and accountability.
• 32:19
  And it should be no. Surprise to us, then, that one
• 32:21
  of the qualifications for a pastor according to First
• 32:24
  Timothy 33 is that he cannot be a lover of money.
• 32:30
  Because you're going to deal. With money in the ministry.
• 32:36
  And so we find here. An excellent example in Ezra of
• 32:38
  a spiritual leader. Who takes great?
• 32:41
  Pains of avoiding mismanaging God's funds.
• 32:47
  And so he comes up with. A plan.
• 32:48
  And what's his plan? I'm going to assign the
• 32:51
  responsibility of oversight of these resources to the priests
• 32:56
  and the Levites. That's what we see in verse 24,
• 33:00
  right? Look again.
• 33:01
  Then I set apart 12 of the leading priests share abaya and
• 33:05
  hashabaya, and 10 of their kinsmen with them.
• 33:07
  So he sets apart 12 priests, and then he sets apart 12 Levites
• 33:12
  who are with them. Now here's another question.
• 33:14
  Why did Ezra think it was important that the priests and
• 33:17
  the Levites take on this responsibility?
• 33:21
  The immediate response might. Be well, it's obvious they're
• 33:24
  they're spiritual leaders, so they will be more trustworthy
• 33:28
  for such a task. And that is certainly true to
• 33:30
  some extent, but there's a deeper reason.
• 33:34
  Ezra was a man who. Studied the law.
• 33:37
  And what you discover. In the law, especially in the
• 33:39
  Book of Numbers chapter 4, is that in the movements of the
• 33:42
  nation Israel from Egypt to the Promised Land, God had told him
• 33:47
  to build a house for him. It was portable, a Tabernacle, a
• 33:51
  tent. This is where God would meet
• 33:53
  with the people. But that tent needed to.
• 33:57
  Be transported from time to time.
• 34:00
  It had furnishings, it had different materials.
• 34:04
  It had bases and posts and links.
• 34:07
  And so numbers 4. What you discover is that God
• 34:10
  assigned the Levitical tribe to be responsible for
• 34:16
  disassembling, transporting, and then reassembling the tent.
• 34:24
  And So what we see. Ezra doing here now as they are
• 34:27
  in their own unique exile, making their way back to what
• 34:30
  God had given to them. He wants to imitate.
• 34:33
  This law as closely as possible because this is a unique
• 34:38
  situation. They're not transporting the
• 34:40
  House of God. They don't have the same items
• 34:43
  like the original people did. But do you see Ezra's?
• 34:47
  Heart here. It's a beautiful thing to
• 34:49
  witness. That he is trying.
• 34:52
  To get the spirit of the law, he is trying to get the heart of
• 34:55
  the law, the principles and the wisdom of God's law and apply it
• 34:59
  to his situation. He wants to apply.
• 35:02
  It as faithfully as he can. They don't have.
• 35:06
  The Tabernacle, they have a temple now.
• 35:09
  But again, he's looking at what God had said in the past, and
• 35:12
  he's thinking to myself, how can I get this crowd to obey and to
• 35:16
  adhere to God's law as closely as possible?
• 35:23
  You know, if you really love God.
• 35:24
  'S word, that's what you'll do with your own life, that you'll
• 35:26
  look at the practices and the decisions that you have to make.
• 35:28
  And there may not be a chapter or verse that addresses it, but
• 35:31
  what you'll seek to do is say, OK, is there anything that can
• 35:33
  inform me how to make the most righteous decision here?
• 35:39
  I'm building this, I'm pursuing this, I have to invest in this.
• 35:42
  Is there anything in God's law in 2026?
• 35:46
  That can help me make the. Most Christ honoring decision
• 35:49
  from it. This is what Ezra is showing.
• 35:55
  And he does it well, these spiritual leaders, they agree
• 35:59
  with him, but he does more. He doesn't just get his cues
• 36:05
  from the Book of Numbers, namely, but he now exhorts them
• 36:09
  directly. Oh, this is a true leader.
• 36:11
  Look again at verse 28. What does he say?
• 36:13
  You are holy to the Lord and the vessels are holy.
• 36:20
  So he has this plan, he has instruction from the law, he has
• 36:24
  his men. Now he wants to inspire them.
• 36:28
  And the first thing that he says is you, you Levites, you
• 36:31
  priests, you are holy. And then he reminds them that
• 36:34
  the vessels are holy, but the order is intentional before.
• 36:38
  Talking about the. Vessels that they're going to
• 36:40
  handle. He talks about them as vessels.
• 36:44
  And he says, hey. You're holy.
• 36:48
  What does that mean for us? Well, it's a wonderful.
• 36:51
  Truth about how in order for us to participate in God's work,
• 36:59
  which is holy. We have to understand that God.
• 37:02
  Calls us to be holy. This becomes even more.
• 37:06
  Helpful when you remember that in the New Testament we are all
• 37:09
  called to be in the priesthood. That we are all a royal.
• 37:14
  Priesthood in the new Covenant. And we all have to consider.
• 37:19
  This that if we're really serious about pursuing the honor
• 37:24
  of doing God's work, whatever that looks like, then we have to
• 37:28
  be serious about personal holiness.
• 37:31
  That's not a popular message today, and it's unfortunate
• 37:35
  because a lot of ministries are getting exposed and shut down
• 37:37
  because of it. You know, there's some people
• 37:41
  who. Think that because we're in the
• 37:42
  gospel. And this gospel is 1.
• 37:45
  Of grace and mercy and amazing forgiveness.
• 37:51
  That holiness is just a peripheral thing.
• 37:54
  Holiness is some old. Testament concept.
• 37:57
  Holiness is irrelevant. Holiness is a little bit
• 38:00
  important, no? If anything, holiness becomes
• 38:06
  more possible, more attractive because of the gospel.
• 38:13
  And so, yes, we do see here that there is a different covenant
• 38:18
  from the old to the new. But God's standard of purity has
• 38:22
  not changed. It hasn't.
• 38:27
  You and I are going to enjoy the privilege of being entrusted
• 38:29
  with holy things. Then you and I have to be.
• 38:33
  Holy. And more specifically.
• 38:36
  We must first be set apart before we're to be invited to
• 38:42
  join God's special work. You are holy and the vessels are
• 38:46
  holy. I must be holy if I want to
• 38:50
  partner with God's holy work. We can go to so many places.
• 38:54
  To confirm this, let me give you one that is very, very, very
• 38:58
  important in connection to this truth.
• 39:00
  It's what the prophet Isaiah says.
• 39:01
  This is worth turning to and Isaiah 52.
• 39:04
  Look at verse 11. He actually addresses the same
• 39:08
  category of people, those who would handle the holy vessels of
• 39:12
  the Lord. And notice what He says to them
• 39:14
  in Isaiah 52, verse 11. Isaiah says depart, depart, go
• 39:26
  out from there, touch no unclean thing.
• 39:31
  And some believe that he is. Actually speaking about those
• 39:35
  who would be in Babylon one day and would be called out of it,
• 39:39
  he says depart, depart, go out from there, touch no unclean
• 39:42
  thing, go out from the midst of her, Purify yourselves, you who
• 39:48
  bear the vessels of the Lord. Is that the same?
• 39:53
  Crowd that Ezra is addressing back in chapter 8, Yes.
• 39:57
  And is the message the? Same.
• 39:59
  Yes. What does Isaiah say?
• 40:01
  Purify yourselves, you who bear the holy vessels of the Lord.
• 40:08
  It's the same order. Here, because you've been called
• 40:11
  to a holy calling, God asks you to be holy.
• 40:16
  You. You cannot effectively pursue
• 40:21
  anything that God asks of you. If you're impure, it can't
• 40:24
  happen. Is God forgiving?
• 40:27
  Yes. Do we sin?
• 40:29
  Yes. Do we justify it?
• 40:32
  Do we tolerate it? Do we enjoy it and conceal it?
• 40:37
  Those are two different things. But to actually ask?
• 40:41
  God continually cleanse me and renew me.
• 40:44
  Why? Because I want to be used by
• 40:46
  you. Do you ever think like that?
• 40:49
  Do you ever have? That as your one of your
• 40:51
  motivations, at least I think the primary one is Lord, I don't
• 40:53
  want to break your heart. But we are permitted.
• 40:57
  To also think and pray and use this truth to combat against
• 41:03
  temptation. I don't want to disqualify
• 41:05
  myself. Let me ask you another question.
• 41:10
  Is there any place in the New Testament where Isaiah 52, verse
• 41:13
  11, the verse that we just read, is referenced or alluded to?
• 41:16
  Are you? Just going to wait for.
• 41:22
  Me to give you the chapter. That's OK, somebody said
• 41:26
  something. First Timothy is a.
• 41:28
  Very strong one, but there is one that I'm thinking about that
• 41:32
  actually references this verse that quotes it.
• 41:39
  Titus. Titus is another place that
• 41:41
  speaks about holiness, purity. 2nd Corinthians let's.
• 41:48
  Turn there, I want you to see it with your own eyes.
• 41:51
  Second Corinthians chapter 6 and place your finger there.
• 41:59
  Verse 16. This is Paul speaking to
• 42:04
  Christians. This is Paul speaking to the
• 42:07
  Corinthians. Who had many?
• 42:10
  Spiritual gifts, but we're living unholy lives.
• 42:15
  And so he wants. To remind them what the Bible
• 42:17
  says, and notice what he says in 2nd Corinthians 616.
• 42:20
  What agreement has the temple of God with idols?
• 42:23
  For we are the temple of the living God, as God said, I will
• 42:27
  make my dwelling among them, and walk among them, and I will be
• 42:30
  their God, and they shall be my people.
• 42:32
  Verse 17 Now therefore go out from their midst, and be
• 42:38
  separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean
• 42:42
  thing. Then I will welcome you.
• 42:48
  So what does Paul do? He.
• 42:49
  Reaches back to Isaiah 52 verse 11 and he applies it to
• 42:53
  believers in the new covenant. God's standard of.
• 42:57
  Holiness has not changed. And this is something.
• 43:04
  That you and I have to take very seriously.
• 43:08
  Again, praise the Lord that He is so forgiving, so ready to
• 43:12
  forgive. But what's the context?
• 43:15
  Of Second Corinthians chapter 6 being unequally yoked with
• 43:18
  unbelievers. How we live with the.
• 43:21
  World How we relate to the world.
• 43:23
  How we embrace the world. And so the call.
• 43:28
  To the priesthood then, because you are going to handle holy
• 43:31
  things. Be holy yourselves is no
• 43:33
  different. Today.
• 43:35
  Whatever ministry you're a part of is holy.
• 43:38
  You may not be wearing a. Garb You may not be limited to
• 43:40
  one holy structure, but the Church is holy, your service to
• 43:46
  the Lord is holy, and God requires holiness for Him to
• 43:49
  bless it. Let's read on.
• 43:55
  Back in Ezra chapter 8, look at verse 30.
• 44:03
  So the priest and the Levites took over the weight of the
• 44:08
  silver and the gold and the vessels to bring them to
• 44:12
  Jerusalem, to the House of our God.
• 44:16
  Then we departed from the river Ahava on the 12th day of the
• 44:19
  first month to go to Jerusalem. The hand of our God was on us,
• 44:24
  and He delivered us from the hand of the enemy and from
• 44:27
  ambushes. By the way, look.
• 44:30
  Again at verse 30. One, we departed from the river
• 44:32
  Ahava on the 12th day of the first month.
• 44:37
  You know, Ezra tells us. When they left Babylonia
• 44:39
  altogether back in Chapter 7, look at Chapter 7.
• 44:42
  Look at verse 9. For on the first day of the
• 44:46
  first month he began to go up from Babylonia, and on the first
• 44:51
  day of the 5th month he came to Jerusalem, for the good hand of
• 44:55
  his God was on him. So Ezra remained at a hava for
• 45:00
  12 days. I mean, you have to remember
• 45:02
  that he sent leading men back to get Levites.
• 45:04
  They fasted and prayed for a few days.
• 45:06
  But what moves me is just the meticulous accounting of this
• 45:10
  man. He's very.
• 45:13
  Detailed and it made it made me wonder if this is a reflection
• 45:16
  of just how studious he was and if it showed in his study of
• 45:21
  God's word. He was so so careful, but he
• 45:26
  wasn't just careful in how he recorded things and archived
• 45:30
  moments and historical things. He was also careful to give
• 45:36
  glory to God. What does he do in verse 31 it.
• 45:42
  Says here that the hand of our God was.
• 45:45
  On us and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy and from
• 45:48
  ambushes. By the way, Ezra was very
• 45:55
  diligent to seek the Lord when they left the Hava.
• 45:57
  We're going to fast and pray. It doesn't matter if we have
• 46:00
  the. Funds.
• 46:01
  It doesn't matter if we have all the people in the right places,
• 46:03
  we need God. But when he got.
• 46:08
  There he was just as diligent to give him the credit for it.
• 46:14
  To thank him for. It to praise him for it and to
• 46:16
  point people to him for it. And one of the things.
• 46:24
  That I learned a few years ago just reading this Bible cover to
• 46:27
  cover, is that humanity, especially believers, have a
• 46:31
  tendency to be so fervent to ask God for something and lose that
• 46:34
  fervency when He comes through to thank Him for it.
• 46:39
  Ezra was careful. Ezra was careful.
• 46:43
  Tonight, get so caught. Up in the moment that he failed
• 46:46
  to understand that this is because of God.
• 46:49
  Every step of the way. God's hand was on this man's
• 46:52
  life because he sought God all along.
• 46:59
  Now we see something else here. They rested for three days.
• 47:05
  In verse 32 we came to Jerusalem and there we remained 3 days.
• 47:12
  I'm just moved by the. Fact that Ezra got there.
• 47:17
  Imagine he was. Born in in Babylonia and all the
• 47:20
  things that he read and all the testimonies that he heard, and
• 47:22
  now face to face with the Holy city, there in person his dreams
• 47:29
  come true. And the first order.
• 47:33
  Of business is what we find in verse 33.
• 47:36
  On the 4th day, after relaxing and resting for a few, on the
• 47:40
  4th day within the House of our God, the silver and the gold and
• 47:44
  the vessels were weighed into the hands of Miramoth the priest
• 47:47
  son of Uriah, and with him Eliezer the son of Phineas.
• 47:51
  And with them were the Levites, Joseph Bad, the son of Joshua,
• 47:55
  and Noah, Diya the son of Binui. The whole was counted and
• 47:59
  weighed, and the weight of everything was recorded.
• 48:03
  At that time, those. Who had come from captivity, The
• 48:05
  return exiles offered burnt offering to the God of Israel.
• 48:09
  12 Bulls. For all Israel. 96 Rams, 77
• 48:13
  lambs, and as a sin offering, 12 male goats.
• 48:16
  All this was a burnt offering to the Lord.
• 48:18
  They also delivered the King's commissions to the King's
• 48:20
  satraps and to the governors of the province beyond the river.
• 48:24
  And they aided the people and the House of God.
• 48:28
  You know, Ezra really wants to make sure that you and I
• 48:32
  understand that the money, the silver, the gold, the materials
• 48:35
  that they counted and distributed to certain men made
• 48:38
  its way to Jerusalem and there is no discrepancies.
• 48:43
  The fact I think. Verse 34 is the verse that we
• 48:48
  should be focusing on. The whole was counted and
• 48:51
  weighed, and the weight of everything was recorded.
• 48:56
  That becomes even more. Meaningful.
• 48:58
  When you go back to verse 29 and see what he told the priest,
• 49:01
  look at verse 29 of Ezra 8. He tells them guard them and
• 49:06
  keep them until that word is so important until until you weigh
• 49:12
  them before the chief priests and the Levites and the heads of
• 49:15
  fathers houses in Israel, Jerusalem, within the chambers
• 49:18
  of the House of the Lord. There isn't until for the
• 49:24
  sanctity and the carefulness of these priests and Levites.
• 49:31
  They understood. They were holding what they were
• 49:33
  called to us holy, and they were to guard and keep them until
• 49:37
  they arrive safely to their destination.
• 49:39
  And I want to remind you today that there is an until for Your
• 49:41
  Holiness and mine. The Bible, actually.
• 49:46
  Teaches us even though we are blood bought, even though we are
• 49:51
  freely forgiven, and that we are secure in the salvation.
• 49:56
  There is a day of accounting for each of us.
• 50:00
  There is a day. Where the things that we were
• 50:02
  responsible for that God has called us to will be measured,
• 50:07
  we'll be evaluated, we'll be examined.
• 50:11
  The way I like to put it, without sounding too casual, is
• 50:14
  that there is a time coming where me and the Lord Jesus
• 50:17
  Christ are going to have a conversation about my life,
• 50:22
  thankfully not about my salvation.
• 50:25
  Because that's determined. And that has been set by His
• 50:28
  grace. But we are going to talk about
• 50:30
  what I did with that salvation, and so will you.
• 50:34
  There isn't until for your holiness and mine.
• 50:39
  Paul put it this way in Romans 14 verse 12.
• 50:42
  He tells these. Believers.
• 50:43
  So then each of us. I love that he didn't say each
• 50:46
  of you. He said each of us, including
• 50:48
  the Apostle Paul. So then each of us.
• 50:52
  Will give an account of himself to God.
• 50:54
  Is he talking to non believers here?
• 50:55
  He's talking to Christians. Couple of verses before he.
• 50:59
  Says that we will all stand before the judgement seat of
• 51:01
  God. Wait, I thought that Christ
• 51:02
  absorbed my judgement. He did.
• 51:04
  Concerning your eternal destination.
• 51:07
  But once again, there's going. To be an evaluation of what you
• 51:09
  did with your Christianity. So I take the charge.
• 51:14
  Of Ezra 829 and I apply it to my life now on this Friday night.
• 51:19
  Guard them and keep them guard. Guard your heart.
• 51:24
  You know, if you want to take it a.
• 51:24
  Step further in the New Testament.
• 51:26
  Yes, we're all called to be a priesthood.
• 51:29
  But the Bible also says. That we are holy vessels.
• 51:33
  The priests in the old. Testament were holy and they
• 51:35
  handled holy vessels. We are both the priesthood and
• 51:39
  the vessels. There's nothing.
• 51:41
  Holy about this, right? Nothing.
• 51:45
  You're the holy vessel. I'm the holy vessel.
• 51:52
  So guard it. Guard your heart.
• 51:53
  Guard your eyes, guard your ears, guard guard your mind.
• 51:56
  Keep them until until the day we're we give an account.
• 52:05
  So then each of us will give an. Account of himself to God.
• 52:11
  Don't let your guard. Down.
• 52:15
  You know, it's amazing how every.
• 52:16
  Week. These Bible studies end
• 52:18
  differently sometimes. Similarly, sometimes the final
• 52:21
  thought is one of great encouragement that God's
• 52:24
  faithfulness for you is beyond your imagination.
• 52:26
  You can rest in him. And there are other times, like
• 52:28
  tonight, where God wants us to perk up and be reminded that
• 52:32
  holiness is real, Holiness is serious to God.
• 52:36
  Holiness is important to God. You know.
• 52:41
  What's interesting about Paul mentioning this in Romans
• 52:43
  chapter 14? Romans chapter 14 deals with
• 52:45
  disagreements among believers in the church who have different
• 52:48
  kind of convictions. There were some Christians among
• 52:53
  the Romans who said this day is holier than any other day.
• 52:57
  Why aren't you honoring? This day as holy, why aren't you
• 53:00
  honoring the Sabbath like in the Old Testament?
• 53:04
  And Paul says, hey, listen in. The new covenant you may honor
• 53:07
  one day as more holy than the other, but don't judge each
• 53:09
  other for that. Well, what about the food?
• 53:12
  This food is unclean. This food is clean.
• 53:14
  And yet other Christians saying Christ made all things clean.
• 53:19
  And they began to. Judge each other's spirituality
• 53:21
  based on these convictions. And Paul gives them many.
• 53:25
  Many, many, many instructions. And then he warns them.
• 53:27
  Do you understand that one day you you each are going to have
• 53:30
  to give yourself to God and explain your life?
• 53:39
  So God. Looks at each of our convictions
• 53:41
  and and if there's sincere convictions, he'll hold us
• 53:44
  accountable to them. But more than that, God's going
• 53:46
  to hold you and I accountable of how we treat one another.
• 53:52
  So all the backbiting. And the murmuring and the
• 53:54
  unforgiveness. And do you think God's going to
• 53:57
  let believers enter into heaven without reconciliation?
• 54:00
  That would be strange, wouldn't it?
• 54:03
  Is it possible for? Christians to die without
• 54:06
  reconciling with one another? Very possible.
• 54:10
  I think there are going to be some very, very sobering
• 54:12
  conversations before the judgement seat of Christ.
• 54:20
  So guard, keep, how do I guard and keep in the same way that
• 54:25
  these priests and Levites said, until, until you stand before
• 54:27
  the priests and Levites in the chambers of our, of our God.
• 54:30
  And you were able to say, here it is.
• 54:32
  And in the same way. Let me ask you this in closing.
• 54:34
  How often do you think about the judgement seat of Christ?
• 54:41
  When's the last time you thought about?
• 54:42
  It. We think about a lot of.
• 54:45
  Appointments some of us are better than others about how we
• 54:47
  keep our appointments with our calendars and.
• 54:52
  There's one appointment. That you can never forget, that
• 54:54
  you're going to have and you can't change it, can't
• 54:57
  reschedule it. It's set.
• 55:00
  And that's with Christ. And Paul uses the judgement
• 55:05
  seat, the judgement seat of Christ, as a motivating factor
• 55:08
  for holiness. Today, if you and I do.
• 55:14
  Everything that we do in light of the fact that we're going to
• 55:16
  have to talk to Christ about it. One day you're going to think
• 55:20
  twice. I'm going to think twice.
• 55:25
  One day I'm going to have to talk to the Lord about how I
• 55:26
  treated so and so. I might as well deal with it now
• 55:28
  then, then. You know, I had these gifts.
• 55:34
  That I believe God has given to me, but I just.
• 55:37
  Don't feel like really using. Them OK.
• 55:42
  You might get away with it now. But one day the Lord's going to
• 55:43
  say, What did you do with the gifts I've given you?
• 55:51
  Let's sit there and let that truth do its work in our hearts.
• 55:58
  Ezra and his team were able to successfully make it to their
• 56:02
  destination with no need to be embarrassed, no need to be
• 56:08
  ashamed, with no loss. And the New Testament teaches
• 56:15
  that it's possible to gain salvation but suffer loss
• 56:20
  because we didn't take our holiness seriously.
• 56:25
  But if you want to take it seriously, Ezra shows us that
• 56:29
  you can humble yourself and pray for God's hand on your life to
• 56:35
  not just protect you, your children, and your resources
• 56:38
  from thieves and troublemakers, but even to protect your
• 56:42
  holiness. And your purity.
• 56:46
  And your relationships and your witness.
• 56:48
  God is willing to empower us in what seems to be impossible and
• 56:53
  make it possible and give you more reason to rejoice in Him
• 56:57
  that not only because He died for you and forgave your sin,
• 57:01
  but He can now also give you the power to live in victory.
• 57:05
  This is the complete gospel. Let's thank Him for it, but we
• 57:09
  thank you for tonight. We bless you tonight.
• 57:17
  We thank you. How we don't know what to
• 57:21
  expect. With a particular.
• 57:24
  Passage that we are just going through faithfully week by week,
• 57:28
  but we can always expect that you will speak to us.
• 57:32
  And Lord, tonight we've. Heard your word, we are holy and
• 57:38
  what we do for you is holy, so help us live holy.
• 57:43
  Lord, if there's any sin. In our lives that we have
• 57:45
  justified or we have not resisted, in your power, may you
• 57:51
  use the truth tonight to give us victory, to give us real
• 57:55
  victory. And Lord, May 1.
• 57:58
  Of the things that get us moving in that direction is the thought
• 58:02
  that we want your purpose for our lives.
• 58:05
  We want to serve you. We don't want to disqualify
• 58:07
  ourselves. We don't want to throw away
• 58:09
  opportunities. We want to be ready when.
• 58:12
  You're ready to promote someone when you're ready to use someone
• 58:15
  or send someone. Your word tells us that those
• 58:19
  who are clean are ready for the Master's.
• 58:22
  Use so help us be clean. Help us also understand that
• 58:25
  when we splash ourselves with dirt or filth that we can come
• 58:30
  to you freely and you were willing to wash us and cleanse
• 58:34
  us. So that we love you.
• 58:39
  Tonight we thank you for these incredible truths and we pray to
• 58:43
  believe in that. You hear our entreaty.
• 58:45
  In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
• 58:48
  Amen. Let's stand and let's worship
• 58:49
  the Lord together and thank Him. That he's willing to help us.
• 58:52
  In our Holiness.