WEBVTT 00:00:01.280 --> 00:00:04.080 Hello and welcome to the Redemption Church Podcast. 00:00:04.240 --> 00:00:12.480 We're a church in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada that exists to glorify God through the fulfillment of the Great Commission and the spirit of the Great Commandment. 00:00:12.720 --> 00:00:14.560 Thanks for joining us today. 00:00:14.960 --> 00:00:17.199 Alright, well we're in Ezra 4 this morning. 00:00:17.280 --> 00:00:18.079 I don't know about you. 00:00:18.239 --> 00:00:19.440 Maybe we can do a show of hands. 00:00:19.679 --> 00:00:24.000 I know typically our church isn't a big show of hands church, but let's work on it, okay? 00:00:24.239 --> 00:00:28.960 Well, Earl's here, the director of GCC Canada, maybe we can, you know, prove something for him. 00:00:29.120 --> 00:00:32.880 Can you put your hand up if you are like a time travel sort of like fanatic? 00:00:33.039 --> 00:00:34.719 You you're interested in time travel. 00:00:34.880 --> 00:00:35.600 Okay, two people. 00:00:35.679 --> 00:00:36.079 That's great. 00:00:36.159 --> 00:00:37.439 We're still not a church. 00:00:37.679 --> 00:00:43.600 Either church completely disgusted with the fact that time travel is being brought up, or a church not interested at all. 00:00:43.759 --> 00:00:49.600 However, this is the introduction of this sermon, so for the sake of your pastor, would you give me your interest for a moment? 00:00:49.920 --> 00:00:54.000 As a culture, a society, we are increasingly interested in time travel. 00:00:54.159 --> 00:01:00.240 What would it be like if someone could come from the future and tell us about the future in the present? 00:01:00.399 --> 00:01:03.600 What kind of warnings would they might have? 00:01:04.239 --> 00:01:08.560 Now, what we have in Ezra 4 is very much like that. 00:01:08.719 --> 00:01:12.319 The first three chapters of Ezra have been chronological. 00:01:12.560 --> 00:01:24.319 Ezra has been telling us the history of God's people when they were in exile in Babylon, being sent by the Spirit of God from Babylon back to Jerusalem to build the temple of God. 00:01:24.480 --> 00:01:27.280 It's all happened very chronologically. 00:01:29.359 --> 00:01:33.599 You and I, as 21st century people, have grown to love chronological history. 00:01:33.760 --> 00:01:44.560 It hasn't always been like this throughout history, and as different cultures and societies have told their stories, we look across history and find that not everyone organizes it chronologically. 00:01:44.640 --> 00:01:54.079 Now, the Bible most of the time does, but Ezra is gonna hit the pause button on chronological history for a moment, and he's gonna organize everything systematically. 00:01:54.319 --> 00:02:04.159 What he's gonna do is he's gonna look to the future of Israel here, to the next 100 years, and he's going to pull from history a lesson for us. 00:02:04.640 --> 00:02:06.799 Ezra is a master historian. 00:02:07.040 --> 00:02:08.479 This is what historians do. 00:02:08.719 --> 00:02:21.759 Historians look at history and they compile from history lessons that are relevant and applicable to us today, and that's what exactly what Ezra is doing it, but he's doing it in a unique way to teach us an important lesson. 00:02:21.840 --> 00:02:31.520 And the lesson is this whenever God's people respond to God's call, they will always face opposition. 00:02:32.240 --> 00:02:44.800 You cannot respond to God's calling on your life in any degree without, to some degree, facing some sort of challenge because you've decided to take that step of obedience. 00:02:45.120 --> 00:02:56.159 What Ezra wants to do in Ezra chapter 4, then, is show us that extraordinary challenge, facing extraordinary challenge as a Christian is actually what's ordinary. 00:02:57.280 --> 00:02:59.599 It's not really extraordinary at all. 00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:13.520 And so he'll do this then by compiling really four different historical events over the span of a hundred years, where Israel will face opposition in the work that they're seeking to do to build the temple in Jerusalem. 00:03:13.759 --> 00:03:15.199 It really begins in verse one. 00:03:15.599 --> 00:03:17.680 Look at what Ezra says there in verse one. 00:03:18.240 --> 00:03:27.759 He says, Now, when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the returned exiles were building a temple to the Lord, the God of Israel. 00:03:28.000 --> 00:03:29.360 I want to stop there. 00:03:29.840 --> 00:03:43.840 Now, from here on, what Ezra is going to do is introduce us to different adversaries, different opposition, different challenges that Israel would face as they try to build this temple in Jerusalem. 00:03:44.080 --> 00:03:46.159 In fact, I just want to sort of take a bird's eye view. 00:03:46.240 --> 00:03:55.439 We're not going to read through this passage in whole this morning, but I want to take a bird's eye view as we begin to wrap our mind around what history, what Ezra's doing here as a historian. 00:03:55.680 --> 00:03:56.639 Take a look on the screen. 00:03:56.719 --> 00:03:59.759 You're going to find here a sort of a timeline. 00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:09.439 I want you to notice that Ezra is very willing to reach here 100 years in the future to show us what opposition would look like for Israel. 00:04:09.680 --> 00:04:24.800 First, we see in this passage the opposition in the days of Cyrus, and then a new opposition in the days of Darius, a new opposition in the days of Ahazarus, and a new opposition, the fourth and final, in the days of Artaxerxes. 00:04:25.040 --> 00:04:27.439 And here is what Ezra wants us to know. 00:04:27.519 --> 00:04:34.000 We're going to keep this up on the screen as we sort of talk briefly through them to get an understanding of what happened in each of these oppositions. 00:04:34.160 --> 00:04:39.600 But Ezra in this chapter is really gonna be like the football coach at halftime. 00:04:39.839 --> 00:04:40.959 Any football fans here? 00:04:41.120 --> 00:04:42.319 Put your hand up, put your hand up. 00:04:42.480 --> 00:04:46.720 Just about as many as time travel fans, but again, I know, I know there are more football fans. 00:04:46.800 --> 00:04:50.560 There are some a little more willing to admit to football than time travel. 00:04:50.800 --> 00:04:55.680 But there's something about the halftime speech that a coach gives, isn't there? 00:04:56.000 --> 00:05:06.639 There's something, you know, passionate about it where the coach is kind of screaming at the players, you gotta fight for every inch because you know that that other team is coming out and they wanna win this game. 00:05:06.720 --> 00:05:11.040 And so you gotta hold your ground, fight for every inch, every inch is important. 00:05:11.199 --> 00:05:18.800 He's trying to motivate his team to face the opposition he knows that's coming, and that's exactly what Ezra is doing here. 00:05:19.839 --> 00:05:23.519 First, he wants to point out the opposition in the days of Cyrus. 00:05:23.600 --> 00:05:26.399 You'll notice this from verse 1 to 5a. 00:05:27.439 --> 00:05:36.560 In these days, we're told that adversaries would come from Samaria and uh and they would offer sort of this insincere help to Israel. 00:05:36.800 --> 00:05:40.319 Israel had just begun the construction of the temple. 00:05:40.399 --> 00:05:47.680 They had finished the foundation, and the Samaritans now come and they say, Hey, let us help, let us let us worship your God. 00:05:47.839 --> 00:06:02.560 But but what we find, you know, I'm uh I'm one of the youngest of three boys in my family, and so you know this about your youngest sibling, or about yourself if you are the youngest sibling, that you kind of uh accumulate these pretty pesky habits, right, as a youngest sibling. 00:06:02.800 --> 00:06:09.519 One of the things I love to do is whenever someone was building a puzzle in my house, I would take three of the pieces and hide them for myself. 00:06:10.160 --> 00:06:17.680 Because I would want to come at the very end when they're looking under the couch for those pieces and slap those pieces in, and you get all the glory. 00:06:18.160 --> 00:06:22.480 And you get a lot of uh punishment as well from your older brothers for doing things like that. 00:06:22.639 --> 00:06:25.279 That's exactly what the Samaritans wanted to do. 00:06:25.680 --> 00:06:31.360 It was infuriating, but the opposition wouldn't stop there, it would continue in the days of Darius. 00:06:31.759 --> 00:06:33.360 Imagine uh, you know, you know, a fly. 00:06:33.439 --> 00:06:35.600 It can be so little, but it can be so annoying. 00:06:35.680 --> 00:06:37.839 This is what Israel's opposition is like. 00:06:38.079 --> 00:06:40.399 Not necessarily always the strongest attack. 00:06:40.480 --> 00:06:46.639 This isn't like Babylon coming in and exiling the smartest and strongest and burning down the temple. 00:06:48.000 --> 00:07:01.759 But in the days of Darius, they would continue to frustrate Israel's attempt to build the temple until we find in verse 24, after verse 6, that the construction of the temple has come to a grinding halt. 00:07:01.920 --> 00:07:05.839 Now, from this point on, uh it's no longer chronological. 00:07:06.079 --> 00:07:23.839 You could actually sort of, if in your Bible you put brackets around at the beginning of verse 6 and at the end of verse 23, you will sort of have a good modern-day grammatical snapshot of how Ezra's reaching into the future to teach us that as Christians we will always face challenges in opposition. 00:07:25.279 --> 00:07:29.920 Now, Ezra continues, that there would be opposition in the days of Ahazarus. 00:07:30.319 --> 00:07:38.879 Here, the people were told quite briefly would write letters of accusation that would convince the king that he needed to distrust Israel. 00:07:39.120 --> 00:07:42.959 And lastly, he would face a very similar opposition with Artaxerxes. 00:07:43.759 --> 00:07:47.839 Israel's adversaries had done everything they could to destroy Israel. 00:07:47.920 --> 00:08:04.240 And again, they would write sort of this accusative letter to Artaxerxes, causing him to think that if he allows Israel to build this temple and to settle in Jerusalem, that Israel is going to form some sort of like absurd attack and take over the whole entire world. 00:08:06.240 --> 00:08:09.600 Israel's adversaries were persistent. 00:08:10.160 --> 00:08:13.279 They would not stop coming against Israel. 00:08:13.439 --> 00:08:14.959 They hated Israel. 00:08:15.040 --> 00:08:17.920 I don't know about you, you've ever had a bad experience at a business. 00:08:18.160 --> 00:08:24.000 I've had a bad experience at a business before, and what you and I would do as normal people is probably you might leave a Google review. 00:08:24.319 --> 00:08:26.560 You know, I'm gonna leave this person one star review. 00:08:26.639 --> 00:08:27.279 This was horrible. 00:08:27.439 --> 00:08:29.519 Often I say that, I storm out of the place mad. 00:08:29.600 --> 00:08:33.600 I don't ever even leave a Google review, I only have like one in the whole history of my life. 00:08:33.919 --> 00:08:35.200 Well, these people are persistent. 00:08:35.279 --> 00:08:38.639 They've gone to TripAdvisor, they've left bad reviews of Israel there. 00:08:38.879 --> 00:08:41.039 These people have even gone to Yahoo. 00:08:41.200 --> 00:08:49.519 In case anyone goes to Yahoo and wants to check out what's Israel like, they've gone to Yahoo and they've said, Israel's horrible, stop them at all costs. 00:08:50.399 --> 00:08:51.759 They will not stop. 00:08:52.399 --> 00:08:54.799 Now, here's our question for Ezra. 00:08:55.600 --> 00:08:57.200 Why are you doing this? 00:08:57.519 --> 00:09:09.679 Why are you compiling a hundred years of history to show us that life is going to be incredibly difficult because everything you do will be faced by opposition and challenge? 00:09:10.559 --> 00:09:11.600 The question's why? 00:09:11.840 --> 00:09:20.000 It'd be the same question if a random person came up to you and in a hundred words or less told you that the rest of your life is going to be miserable and hard and filled with challenge and difficulty. 00:09:20.159 --> 00:09:23.039 Why are you telling me this? 00:09:23.679 --> 00:09:26.000 Well, Ezra has a purpose for us this morning. 00:09:26.960 --> 00:09:31.039 He wants us to understand there's there's purpose in the challenges that you face. 00:09:32.399 --> 00:09:38.080 There is a purpose in God's Spirit, moving Israel from Babylon to Jerusalem to build the temple. 00:09:38.559 --> 00:09:45.039 And there would be a purpose in all of these challenges they would face as they sought to do that. 00:09:45.279 --> 00:09:55.440 God was not only sovereign in moving his people to mission, he was also sovereign over the challenges that they would face along the way. 00:09:56.159 --> 00:09:58.320 In other words, we could say this. 00:09:59.039 --> 00:10:02.240 God is strong enough to make everything easy in your life. 00:10:02.960 --> 00:10:03.840 We believe that, don't we? 00:10:03.919 --> 00:10:04.159 Don't we? 00:10:04.240 --> 00:10:05.919 Often our prayers kind of show this belief. 00:10:06.240 --> 00:10:09.360 You know, we want God to move to make things easier. 00:10:11.919 --> 00:10:14.879 But God loves you too much to do that. 00:10:15.679 --> 00:10:24.960 And God is seeking a particular glory from your life that can only come if you face opposition and challenge. 00:10:25.519 --> 00:10:37.440 There is a glory that will come from your life that can come no other way than to face opponents that are larger than the strength that you possess to overcome them. 00:10:38.399 --> 00:10:40.159 We understand this about life, don't we? 00:10:40.879 --> 00:10:49.440 Have you ever met a person and you kind of walk away from the conversation just thinking, like, that person has not faced enough adversity in their life, you know? 00:10:50.080 --> 00:11:03.039 There's a certain softness that comes to life if you if you sort of live this life of comfort that's completely free to adversity and challenge, it leaves you with this sort of softness. 00:11:03.120 --> 00:11:10.000 You don't have the calloused hands of life to be able to handle difficult problems. 00:11:10.879 --> 00:11:12.240 I feel like, aren't you honest? 00:11:12.320 --> 00:11:19.039 Like some of the culture wars we're having is just that people have lived in too much comfort, so that things that shouldn't be hard are incredibly difficult. 00:11:20.399 --> 00:11:30.720 This is why parents work so hard to sort of in a controlled way expose their kids to adversity, to challenge, because that they understand that it's necessary. 00:11:43.919 --> 00:11:54.639 And God loves you so much that He is sort of your personal spiritual trainer, putting the necessary challenges in your path so that you can become a strong child of God. 00:11:57.919 --> 00:11:59.039 I want you to understand this. 00:11:59.200 --> 00:12:05.279 Your life and the challenges you face are in the hands of a perfect father. 00:12:05.840 --> 00:12:08.879 Now, I don't know what challenges you're facing this morning. 00:12:08.960 --> 00:12:09.279 I don't know. 00:12:09.360 --> 00:12:10.320 They might be in your own family. 00:12:10.480 --> 00:12:13.200 The challenges you face might be sitting right beside you. 00:12:13.759 --> 00:12:16.720 Might be financial, it might be overwhelmingly spiritual. 00:12:16.879 --> 00:12:21.360 Maybe you're a high school student here, and the challenges you face are in your school with your friend group. 00:12:21.519 --> 00:12:24.320 I don't know what challenges you're facing, but here's what I do know. 00:12:24.559 --> 00:12:27.919 I do know that God this morning wants to speak to you. 00:12:28.159 --> 00:12:36.000 He wants to speak to the heart of the difficult thing that you're facing, the difficult opposition you feel is resisting your life. 00:12:36.159 --> 00:12:38.559 He wants to speak right to the heart of it. 00:12:39.360 --> 00:12:42.240 He wants to show us how challenge can be glorious. 00:12:42.879 --> 00:12:44.480 Well, he's gonna do that three ways in Ezra. 00:12:44.639 --> 00:12:47.279 He's gonna show us how challenge in our life can be glorious. 00:12:47.360 --> 00:12:52.399 The first thing I want you to see is this challenge is glorious if I confront whatever opposes God. 00:12:53.279 --> 00:12:57.840 Challenge is glorious if I confront whatever opposes God. 00:12:58.399 --> 00:13:01.840 Here's really the heart of Ezra's history in chapter four. 00:13:02.000 --> 00:13:03.919 The heart of what he's getting at. 00:13:04.080 --> 00:13:17.679 That the greatest joy of our life is when you and I, we we sort of play this spiritual whack-a-mole in our life where we clobber to death anything in life that opposes God's glory. 00:13:18.159 --> 00:13:27.919 It shows up everywhere, whether it's external, whether it's internal, life is really filled with constant opposition, constant things trying to drag us away from God's will. 00:13:28.320 --> 00:13:34.720 And the Christian life is really this relentless assault on anything that therefore opposes God. 00:13:35.120 --> 00:13:37.120 Notice how Ezra begins this. 00:13:37.279 --> 00:13:50.639 He says now in verse 1, now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin, and we can stop right there because this is instructive, Ezra doesn't really need to introduce these people any other way than adversaries. 00:13:50.960 --> 00:13:57.200 Ezra is not going to take any time here to try to convince you that these truly are the enemies of Israel. 00:13:57.440 --> 00:14:09.679 Instead, he's gonna assume that you understand that as Israel comes to Jerusalem, there are going to be people that are opposing them, establishing and building the temple, because there's always been people opposing God's plan. 00:14:11.679 --> 00:14:24.799 Ezra assumes this because he's a historian and he looks back over the history of Israel and he asks this question Has there any ever been a time where Israel has not faced constant opposition? 00:14:27.919 --> 00:14:29.519 There's never been a moment. 00:14:30.480 --> 00:14:33.360 It all started with the serpent in the garden, didn't it? 00:14:34.399 --> 00:14:45.200 And from there it was promised by God that he would continue this cosmic warfare when he said to the serpent in Genesis 3:15 that I will crush your head and you will bruise my heel. 00:14:45.440 --> 00:14:51.600 From that moment on, what Ezra sees is all history explodes out of this cosmic conflict. 00:14:51.679 --> 00:14:57.759 And what God wants you to understand is that your life today is a part of that cosmic conflict. 00:14:57.919 --> 00:15:07.200 There will always be opponents because what God did in Genesis 3.15 is he took a giant metaphorical stick and he swatted a hornet's nest. 00:15:08.000 --> 00:15:15.600 Ever since that day, Satan has been enraged against the kingdom of God, and there has been this cosmic warfare going on. 00:15:15.759 --> 00:15:20.320 The kingdom of God versus the kingdom of Satan and self battling each other. 00:15:21.279 --> 00:15:41.440 This is why when Jesus comes, Matthew chapter 4, the very first thing when Jesus begins his ministry and he's baptized, it says in Matthew that he's taken out to the desert by the Spirit of God, and there for 40 days and 40 nights he faces the finest onslaught of temptations from Satan. 00:15:41.519 --> 00:15:55.440 Because from the very beginning of Jesus' ministry and for the very duration of your life, you are in cosmic warfare, conflict, spiritual conflict. 00:15:55.840 --> 00:16:10.320 You see, as we look at the Christian worldview, as we look at what the Bible has to tell us about life and this life that we live, what we find is that the Bible actually accounts for why things are difficult. 00:16:11.039 --> 00:16:16.480 You know, the Bible and the Christian worldview, it gives us a reason for my wife and I, as we look at our garden. 00:16:16.639 --> 00:16:20.960 It seems like everything and their grandma is trying to kill our garden. 00:16:21.360 --> 00:16:22.799 Anyone like that as a gardener? 00:16:22.879 --> 00:16:29.759 It's like there's weeds, but then there's bugs, but then there's birds, but then there's rabbits, and I have been told that I could buy a gun to get rid of these rabbits. 00:16:29.840 --> 00:16:31.759 It's a serious enemy. 00:16:34.000 --> 00:16:38.080 Does your Christian worldview account for how hard life is? 00:16:38.320 --> 00:16:41.039 And that it seemingly just gets harder and harder. 00:16:42.080 --> 00:16:51.840 Does your worldview account for why your phone rings every day with someone who's trying to scam you to get money out of your bank account? 00:16:52.159 --> 00:16:54.960 Does it account for the evil in the world that we face? 00:16:56.799 --> 00:17:04.000 God's call has always been for his people to confront the opposition, to stand strong in the faith. 00:17:04.240 --> 00:17:08.240 This is what Paul says to the church in Ephesians chapter 6, verse 10 and 12. 00:17:08.400 --> 00:17:09.200 This will come up on the screen. 00:17:09.359 --> 00:17:14.319 He says, This, stand strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 00:17:14.640 --> 00:17:30.079 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 00:17:32.240 --> 00:17:35.440 You know, this loved one that you are in a wrestling match right now. 00:17:36.079 --> 00:17:37.200 You are in a fight. 00:17:37.599 --> 00:17:50.720 You know, and I last week I shared some pretty troubling information about my, you know, growing up in a youth group that was filled with paintball guns and being shot by paintball guns, and some of you have the framework now to explain why that I am the way that I am. 00:17:50.880 --> 00:17:52.720 But I left out something last week. 00:17:52.880 --> 00:17:59.440 There is also a culture that had developed in my youth group that couldn't exist, I think, today without someone going to jail. 00:17:59.599 --> 00:18:10.160 But the first thing you did when you got to youth group was you you made a circle of chairs, as big as you could, as many chairs as would be allowed to fit into that circle, and you immediately started wrestling everyone. 00:18:10.400 --> 00:18:18.079 And didn't matter what you were wearing that day as a boy, didn't matter what you were wearing, you were going to be involved in a wrestling match as soon as you got there. 00:18:18.240 --> 00:18:21.680 And so I'd be going to youth, I'd be stretching, I'd be limbering out, like there's no choice. 00:18:21.920 --> 00:18:22.480 There's just nothing. 00:18:22.640 --> 00:18:27.759 If you if you try not to be a part of it, you're gonna get headlocked, thrown in the ring, and you will be a part of it. 00:18:30.079 --> 00:18:32.240 You fought for your life at youth. 00:18:33.119 --> 00:18:37.839 And you know that you are in a spiritual wrestling match, fighting for your life. 00:18:37.920 --> 00:18:41.200 Do you know that your life is spiritual warfare? 00:18:42.240 --> 00:18:53.119 And let me ask you this question: are you right now spiritually gritting your teeth as you fight against sin that wages war within you? 00:18:54.000 --> 00:18:56.240 Are you, does this describe your life? 00:18:56.319 --> 00:19:04.960 Like right now, you are swimming to the top of the water, gasping for air as you feel like circumstances and trials are weighing you down. 00:19:05.119 --> 00:19:07.200 Are you fighting for that air? 00:19:08.319 --> 00:19:20.880 Are you dodging the constant arrows of temptation that Satan hurls your way, understanding that this is enemy territory, you are in warfare, this is a wrestling match. 00:19:21.200 --> 00:19:23.279 Are you wrestling with sin right now? 00:19:23.759 --> 00:19:26.960 Until we get to heaven, this will be our call to wrestle. 00:19:27.279 --> 00:19:30.079 And I want you to understand that if you're doing this, you're in good company. 00:19:30.160 --> 00:19:31.680 This has always been the call of God's people. 00:19:32.240 --> 00:19:33.759 They always have faced opposition. 00:19:33.920 --> 00:19:36.400 They've always wrestled with challenge. 00:19:36.960 --> 00:19:48.400 Now, if that doesn't describe your life right now, if there's no wrestling match, this sort of spiritual wrestling match going on, I need you to understand that it's not because like Satan's taking his eyes on you, it's because he's really got a hold of you. 00:19:48.480 --> 00:19:51.359 He's got you in a rear-naked choke and you just don't know it. 00:19:52.079 --> 00:19:54.640 This is the reality of our condition. 00:19:54.960 --> 00:19:59.759 We are in this age of conflict, there's constant warfare going on. 00:20:00.160 --> 00:20:02.720 Now, notice in Ezra what these adversaries do. 00:20:03.039 --> 00:20:07.839 They oppose God's work by asking to be a part of it in verse 2 and 3. 00:20:08.079 --> 00:20:14.240 Now, Ezra, he's already tipped us off to the nature of these opponents by calling them adversaries. 00:20:14.480 --> 00:20:18.319 But I want you to understand that the Israelites who are reading this, they already know that. 00:20:18.559 --> 00:20:28.240 They already had read 2 Kings 17, where the writer there had sort of laid out a history of how these Samaritans had even gotten where they were. 00:20:28.400 --> 00:20:36.000 You see, when Assyria came into conquer Israel, they deported these Samaritans to all sorts of different regions. 00:20:36.319 --> 00:20:42.960 And in order to kill the culture, what they did then was they also imported various other people from other regions into this. 00:20:43.039 --> 00:20:46.000 So it was sort of like the schmorgisborg of cultures. 00:20:46.079 --> 00:20:59.440 And what the Samaritans then did is they started intermarrying with these other people, and they started inviting in all these other different kinds of worship, so that now instead of worshiping the one true God of Israel, they worshipped every God that they could get their hands on. 00:20:59.839 --> 00:21:02.559 This really makes sense of what happens in verse 2. 00:21:02.720 --> 00:21:04.400 Read with me what happens in verse 2. 00:21:04.720 --> 00:21:12.000 These people, these adversaries, approached Zerubbabel and the heads of the fathers' houses and said to them, Let us build with you. 00:21:12.319 --> 00:21:14.559 For we worship your God as you do. 00:21:14.720 --> 00:21:21.200 And we've been sacrificing to him ever since the days of Asharadon, king of Assyria, who brought us here. 00:21:22.480 --> 00:21:25.039 Here's the problem with the Samaritans. 00:21:25.279 --> 00:21:31.200 The problem with the Samaritans is the same problem that all humans have faced for all the history of humanity. 00:21:31.359 --> 00:21:33.200 They're making this about themselves. 00:21:33.440 --> 00:21:40.960 You notice the language there, four times they refer to themselves, and it begs the question here: who are they building this temple for? 00:21:41.200 --> 00:21:48.000 All through Ezra chapter 3, time and time again, it was referred to as the children of God, the temple of the Lord. 00:21:48.240 --> 00:21:49.759 This was for God's glory. 00:21:49.920 --> 00:21:53.039 They were here to proclaim God's praise and exaltation. 00:21:53.119 --> 00:21:57.599 And here are these Samaritans, they're wanting to build this temple, not because of God. 00:21:57.759 --> 00:21:58.400 Did you notice that? 00:21:58.480 --> 00:22:01.759 They won't even call God the Own God, you see what they said in verse 2. 00:22:01.839 --> 00:22:03.200 They actually called God your God. 00:22:03.279 --> 00:22:09.359 Like this is your guy, and we'll kind of sort of help appease your God among all these other gods that we have here. 00:22:11.440 --> 00:22:13.519 They were in this for themselves. 00:22:14.240 --> 00:22:16.799 And here we see there's two kingdoms at war in our life. 00:22:16.880 --> 00:22:19.599 There is the kingdom of God and there is the kingdom of self. 00:22:19.759 --> 00:22:29.440 And these kingdoms have been at war since the fall, and it reached one of its heights in Genesis chapter 11, when the people of the earth actually said, Let us build a name for ourselves. 00:22:29.599 --> 00:22:33.200 They looked at God and they do exactly what you and I do in our lives. 00:22:33.519 --> 00:22:38.960 They thought that they could do something more glorious than God Himself. 00:22:39.839 --> 00:22:41.440 And so they opposed him. 00:22:42.319 --> 00:22:49.680 You need to know that this battle between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of self, it's the same battle that rages on today within us. 00:22:50.319 --> 00:23:00.640 It's the battle that turned away many in Jesus' day when he said to those who would come to him, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself. 00:23:01.920 --> 00:23:05.119 For whoever would save his life will lose it. 00:23:05.440 --> 00:23:10.559 But whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. 00:23:11.119 --> 00:23:17.359 This is how Paul then describes Christians in Galatians 2.20, when he says, I have been crucified with Christ. 00:23:17.519 --> 00:23:25.200 It's no longer I who live, it's no longer the kingdom of self that has reign in my life, but Christ who lives in me. 00:23:26.480 --> 00:23:28.880 This is the battle Jesus won in Philippians 2. 00:23:28.960 --> 00:23:31.200 We're told that he did not live for himself. 00:23:31.599 --> 00:23:44.079 He could have lived to get his own glory, but instead he laid down his life to the point of obedience, even obedience to death on the cross, so that he could give us life. 00:23:45.200 --> 00:23:51.680 And so we pause in this moment as God speaks to us about our challenges to ask this question why are we even here? 00:23:51.839 --> 00:23:55.920 I mean, like in this seat, why are you here this morning? 00:23:56.640 --> 00:24:05.359 Are you, is it possible that you're even here because you want something from God to sort of build up and inflate the kingdom of self that you are seeking? 00:24:05.519 --> 00:24:07.440 Or are you here for God? 00:24:08.319 --> 00:24:13.119 Are you here because God deserves worship and praise? 00:24:14.160 --> 00:24:17.920 Because the best thing that you could do in life is build his kingdom. 00:24:18.720 --> 00:24:28.799 See, when we give into the kingdom of self, we oppose exactly what we saw last week, that God is looking for worshipers who make him the ultimate priority. 00:24:29.119 --> 00:24:34.480 Look then in verse three, how Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the heads of the fathers they stand against this opposition. 00:24:34.640 --> 00:24:53.759 Look at verse three, it says, But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of the fathers' houses in Israel said to them, You have nothing to do with us in building a house with our God, but we alone will build to the Lord, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia, has commanded us. 00:24:54.240 --> 00:24:55.759 Listen, this is what is necessary. 00:24:55.839 --> 00:25:10.480 In light of this conflict that we are in as Christians, it is necessary that you have the leadership of your own life to make a stand and declare what God has said when opposition faces you. 00:25:11.920 --> 00:25:14.880 This is what's always been expected of Christian leaders. 00:25:15.200 --> 00:25:22.160 A few short moments, we'll be installing a leader of our own in Mark McCary as an elder of this church. 00:25:22.400 --> 00:25:31.119 And you need to know that just as Israel needed leaders to stand in the face of opposition, as we install Mark, it's the same thing that we ask of him. 00:25:31.279 --> 00:25:40.240 Mark needs to have the courage, the boldness to stand as a leader in the face of the opposition that the church faces. 00:25:40.559 --> 00:25:42.640 The church is in hostile territory. 00:25:42.960 --> 00:25:55.279 When Jesus installed the first church leader in Peter in Matthew chapter 16, he said, You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. 00:25:55.440 --> 00:26:04.000 And the reason Jesus said that is because he knew for the next 2,000 years this church would be the primary institution that Satan would have his targets on. 00:26:04.160 --> 00:26:09.599 That if Satan wanted to stop the kingdom of God from growing, the very thing he needed to attack was the church. 00:26:09.839 --> 00:26:15.440 This is why you find so many churches in our day that are closing their doors because they've closed God's book. 00:26:15.759 --> 00:26:19.119 Because there is spiritual warfare happening. 00:26:20.079 --> 00:26:21.759 Satan seeks to destroy it. 00:26:22.000 --> 00:26:24.160 And let me speak to you specifically, Mark. 00:26:24.480 --> 00:26:31.599 The calling you're stepping into, to stand for truth and to protect God's children who call this place home. 00:26:32.480 --> 00:26:36.559 This is the calling that God gives to you, to be a leader, to stand against the opposition. 00:26:36.799 --> 00:26:48.000 This is why in coming moments we'll lay hands on you and Beth, because Satan has his eyes on this institution, and now because you're a leader of it, the crosshairs are growing. 00:26:49.440 --> 00:26:54.640 Now, this leader, this leadership isn't required only in the context of elders in the church. 00:26:54.799 --> 00:27:04.559 It's a personal leadership that each of us need over our own lives, because the opponents of God do not just target the leadership, they also target us all. 00:27:04.799 --> 00:27:06.000 Which leads to our next point. 00:27:06.079 --> 00:27:10.640 I want you to see this that challenge is glorious if we expect enemies at every corner. 00:27:11.119 --> 00:27:12.559 Expect enemies at every corner. 00:27:12.640 --> 00:27:18.799 Notice that when the leaders take a stand, the crosshairs now grow larger and larger, and all the people are then targeted. 00:27:18.880 --> 00:27:19.839 Look at verse 4. 00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:27.039 It says, Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to build. 00:27:27.599 --> 00:27:30.319 Now I want you to see something incredibly important here. 00:27:30.640 --> 00:27:38.880 One of the ways that you know that you are waging war is from the way that you feel. 00:27:39.200 --> 00:27:44.160 Ezra's gonna get really intimate with us and sort of zoom into the way that the people of God are feeling right now. 00:27:44.240 --> 00:27:45.920 And you notice that first in verse 4. 00:27:46.160 --> 00:27:47.279 Did you notice the language there? 00:27:47.440 --> 00:27:50.319 That the way that the people are feeling is discouraged. 00:27:50.480 --> 00:27:57.440 Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to build. 00:27:57.680 --> 00:27:59.680 This is one of the enemies that you will face. 00:27:59.839 --> 00:28:04.319 If you are walking on God's path, you will face the enemy of discouragement. 00:28:04.480 --> 00:28:06.240 Every Christian does. 00:28:08.160 --> 00:28:17.039 You see, Satan's primary instrument in order to make you fall off the path that God calls you to walk on. 00:28:17.440 --> 00:28:29.039 Satan's primary instrument is to make the path of obedience look incredibly difficult and hard, and to make the path of disobedience look incredibly easy. 00:28:29.279 --> 00:28:30.480 That's what he loves to do. 00:28:30.720 --> 00:28:39.519 He wants to make the way that you should go look like it's really hard and life's gonna be really miserable if you do that, and make the way that leads to death look incredibly easy. 00:28:39.680 --> 00:28:44.400 Jesus says that the gate the road to the gate of eternal life is narrow. 00:28:45.759 --> 00:28:48.079 This is how Satan works. 00:28:48.319 --> 00:29:00.799 You know, if you read any uh books on habits and installing positive habits in your life, almost every one of the books or talks that I've listened to has talked about something called the friction principle. 00:29:01.599 --> 00:29:02.640 Friction management. 00:29:02.720 --> 00:29:03.759 I wonder if you've heard this before. 00:29:03.839 --> 00:29:07.119 It's this idea that say what you want to do is you want to start running. 00:29:07.279 --> 00:29:10.319 You want to enforce this sort of positive habit in your life. 00:29:10.480 --> 00:29:14.640 Really, it's a habit of punishment, but for whatever reason there are those of us who love to run. 00:29:15.119 --> 00:29:18.160 And you want to enforce this habit in your life. 00:29:18.559 --> 00:29:29.920 Friction management says that you make the things that are positive to building this habit as easy as possible to do, and you make the things that are negative as hard as possible to do. 00:29:30.160 --> 00:29:42.079 And so friction management says that if you want to wake up and run in the morning, then at night when you set your alarm, you take your shoes, you put them on, you tie them as tightly as you can, because when you wake up, you're going running. 00:29:42.480 --> 00:29:48.799 Friction management says that you take the things like your Xbox and you put it in a safe, you lock it and you send it to China. 00:29:48.960 --> 00:29:54.079 Get that thing as far away as you can if you want to install these positive habits. 00:29:55.279 --> 00:29:58.400 You know that Satan knows about friction management. 00:29:59.039 --> 00:30:09.279 Satan knows how to use this against you, and in the spiritual realm, he is working to make the good things you need to do challenging. 00:30:09.680 --> 00:30:16.480 There is a reason why it is easy to set the alarm clock, just set it an hour later, and don't worry about spending time with the Lord this morning. 00:30:16.640 --> 00:30:19.440 There is a reason why that comes so naturally. 00:30:19.599 --> 00:30:23.440 There is a reason why these technology companies won't get rid of the snooze button. 00:30:23.839 --> 00:30:26.480 Satan has his grip on Silicon Valley. 00:30:27.200 --> 00:30:31.519 There's a reason why it's easier to live in isolation. 00:30:32.000 --> 00:30:42.559 It's easier to push away other Christians rather than getting involved in what is often the messiness of their lives and pursuing gospel change in their life for the glory of God. 00:30:42.720 --> 00:30:47.200 There's a reason why it's easier to live in isolation and never be vulnerable with people. 00:30:47.920 --> 00:30:53.599 There's a reason why it's easier to not share the gospel with your neighbor, why why it's easier to not invite your neighbor to work. 00:30:53.759 --> 00:30:56.720 There's a reason why the rejection feels so painful. 00:30:59.759 --> 00:31:01.359 It's because of friction management. 00:31:01.920 --> 00:31:07.200 It's because the things that you need to do that will bring most joy in your life will always look like they're the most difficult thing to do. 00:31:07.359 --> 00:31:09.119 But here is what God is saying to us. 00:31:09.279 --> 00:31:11.680 When you take the step of obedience, you know what happens? 00:31:12.240 --> 00:31:12.880 Immediately. 00:31:13.039 --> 00:31:19.440 Like it's it's like as soon as you even think, the first muscle fiber in your body moves to take that step of obedience. 00:31:19.680 --> 00:31:24.480 God's joy is ushered into your life in an overflowing way. 00:31:25.599 --> 00:31:28.000 It gives you all the power you need to press on. 00:31:28.880 --> 00:31:33.119 Discouragement in the face of what God calls you to is the normal feeling of God's people. 00:31:33.680 --> 00:31:36.240 And so we press on, but notice that's not all. 00:31:36.720 --> 00:31:40.079 In verse 5, we're told the people's purpose is frustrated. 00:31:40.160 --> 00:31:43.839 And let me suggest that we've never faced the level of frustration that Israel faced. 00:31:43.920 --> 00:31:45.200 Look at verse 5. 00:31:46.240 --> 00:31:57.839 It says that they bribed counselors against them to frustrate their purpose all the days of Cyrus, king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius, King of Persia. 00:31:58.160 --> 00:32:04.640 Let me suggest that you've never had someone hired whose purpose is just to follow you around and make everything difficult in your life. 00:32:04.799 --> 00:32:08.799 Some of you are saying, my kids, that's exactly the perfect description of them. 00:32:09.119 --> 00:32:14.160 And yet they're just doing it out of the free will of their own heart, but they're not getting paid for it at all. 00:32:15.680 --> 00:32:17.920 And yet, this is what the people did for Israel. 00:32:18.160 --> 00:32:24.079 To frustrate their plans and building the temple, they hired harassers. 00:32:24.400 --> 00:32:26.720 This is sibling level harassment. 00:32:27.119 --> 00:32:29.359 We see this behavior in our house all the time. 00:32:29.599 --> 00:32:34.720 Our littlest one, I've told you before, that she has a nickname in our house, and that nickname is destructo. 00:32:35.839 --> 00:32:38.960 And you will hear something if you're in our house for any length of time. 00:32:39.119 --> 00:32:44.400 When the kids are all playing by themselves, you will hear from another room, destructo's destructoing. 00:32:45.440 --> 00:32:47.519 That's what destructo does. 00:32:47.759 --> 00:32:52.079 And you need to know that there is a spiritual destructo in your life. 00:32:53.200 --> 00:32:54.880 It's the path of kingdom advancement. 00:32:54.960 --> 00:32:57.039 There will always be much frustration. 00:32:57.279 --> 00:33:03.599 Satan will always put in the path of progress every obstacle to make you think you should turn back. 00:33:04.319 --> 00:33:07.759 Maybe you're here and you're questioning Christianity. 00:33:08.000 --> 00:33:11.920 And can I can I just maybe apply this to your life right now? 00:33:12.079 --> 00:33:27.039 Is it possible that the reason that Christianity seems so absurd in our day and age is because there's something bigger going on, a cosmic warfare that is bigger than our little Western society? 00:33:27.200 --> 00:33:44.480 Is it possible that the reason why Christianity seems like such an absurd truth to believe is because from the very day you were born, you were born into this world in which cosmic warfare is happening and every assault is being put on you so that you will not believe the truth when you hear it? 00:33:45.279 --> 00:33:52.559 You know, I was thinking about this this week that we kind of look back on the Egyptians and think like they're pretty ridiculous people, don't we? 00:33:52.799 --> 00:34:08.079 You know, all the Egyptians, they worshiped this god of the sky called Zeus, and they had this other god that they were scared of called Babi, and he was the baboon god, and he did something about eating the insides of people in the underworld or something like that, and everybody believed in these gods. 00:34:08.159 --> 00:34:10.880 And you look back on the Egyptians and you think, man, they're kind of crazy. 00:34:10.960 --> 00:34:14.719 Like, how could a whole culture be swept up in this delusion? 00:34:16.639 --> 00:34:24.079 And yet, what you found was that they were just missing key important details that helped them put together an understanding of what was actually happening in the world. 00:34:24.400 --> 00:34:26.960 And what if that's the same thing that's happening with secularism? 00:34:27.280 --> 00:34:29.280 What if that's the same thing that's happening with evolution? 00:34:29.440 --> 00:34:32.000 What if that's the same thing that's happening with materialism? 00:34:32.159 --> 00:34:40.400 It's really that as a culture we've been swept up in this movement, and yes, everyone believes it, but we're just missing one piece that would just that would crumble the whole thing. 00:34:40.480 --> 00:34:44.320 And future societies will look back on us and think, how could they have ever believed that? 00:34:44.480 --> 00:34:46.800 Like all of the evidence was mounted against them. 00:34:47.039 --> 00:34:52.480 What if what's happening in your life is that this delusion is all part of a bigger picture? 00:34:52.639 --> 00:35:07.519 There is an enemy of your soul who has their crosshairs on you, and ever since the beginning of your life, they have done everything to sort sort of convince you this is what your school says, this is what culture says, this is what society says, God could never be true. 00:35:07.760 --> 00:35:09.840 There's too much evidence against it. 00:35:10.880 --> 00:35:16.800 So that this morning you hear the truth of God and and you wrestle with what is actually true. 00:35:18.159 --> 00:35:33.840 The Bible comes to say that your life is a part of a bigger battle, and that the father of lies is deceiving many in darkness, but Jesus came to shine light in the darkness of our hearts so that we could see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 00:35:34.000 --> 00:35:38.719 It's like a light being turned on in a dark room, and all of a sudden everything makes sense. 00:35:39.599 --> 00:35:41.039 That's what Jesus came to do. 00:35:41.760 --> 00:35:43.599 The last thing these enemies do is accuse. 00:35:43.760 --> 00:35:51.119 You see this in verse 6, in this new era of opposition, the enemies accuse Israelite of doing wrong, and this really happens from verse 7 to 23. 00:35:51.360 --> 00:35:52.880 It gets even more specific. 00:35:53.039 --> 00:35:57.119 And again, this is in the future, and we'll visit this time when we get to Nehemiah. 00:35:57.280 --> 00:36:05.119 But the uh the opponents of Israel give Arta Xerxes reason to believe that their progress is a deterrent to Arta Xerxes' power. 00:36:05.760 --> 00:36:19.119 And the message here for Israel is that by not getting on board with the plans of this secular nation, the Israelites are missing out not only on their own life, but they're actually standing in opposition to the desires of the world. 00:36:19.360 --> 00:36:21.440 It really reaches its pinnacle in verse 13. 00:36:21.519 --> 00:36:23.360 Look what happens in verse 13. 00:36:25.360 --> 00:36:29.119 These people accusing Israel are writing this letter and they say this about Israel. 00:36:29.280 --> 00:36:44.480 Now, be it known to the king that if this city is rebuilt, if Jerusalem is rebuilt and the walls are finished, like we said, that won't happen until Nehemiah, they will not pay tribute, custom, or toll, and the royal revenue will be impaired. 00:36:46.000 --> 00:36:58.480 There's this accusation on Christians that because you worship God, you will not be able to do the things that the world does, and because of that you are robbing from the world. 00:36:58.559 --> 00:37:02.159 And in many ways, you need to understand that that is true. 00:37:02.559 --> 00:37:15.599 Much of the weakness of the Christian church in Western culture is that because that instead of trying to live for God, we've tried to pay the tax that the world demands us to pay. 00:37:15.840 --> 00:37:35.440 This tax that the world pays optionally and joyfully, this tax that allows them to put their kids in a certain schedule of sports that's all-consuming, that allows the men of this culture to work 80 hours a week to the neglect of the family, to the neglect of the good of their own culture, communities. 00:37:36.639 --> 00:37:42.559 Allows these people to turn against marriage and pursue divorce. 00:37:42.719 --> 00:37:47.840 And you need to know, as a Christian, the same accusation will be made of you when you pursue Christ. 00:37:48.000 --> 00:37:51.920 Because of Christianity, there is a tax that you must pay. 00:37:53.280 --> 00:37:57.599 Sorry, that you cannot pay, that the world pays optionally and joyfully. 00:37:58.400 --> 00:38:02.639 Christian parents won't be able to raise their kids with the same schedule non-Christians do. 00:38:03.119 --> 00:38:08.159 Christian workers won't be able to devote untold hours a week to the God of work. 00:38:09.039 --> 00:38:16.480 Christian marriages will have to fight through pain, the pain of two human who are sinners trying to do life together. 00:38:17.519 --> 00:38:28.239 Now, up until this point, as we've read in I in Ezra and we find ourselves really coming to the end of the chapter, all that you've really heard is that life is going to be incredibly difficult. 00:38:28.800 --> 00:38:32.159 You're probably sitting here right now and thinking, wow, this has been a really uplifting sermon. 00:38:32.559 --> 00:38:36.400 All I know is that life is hard and challenges expected. 00:38:38.400 --> 00:38:41.039 And in many ways, that's exactly what Ezra wants to do. 00:38:41.920 --> 00:38:44.800 This is such an incredibly honest place to be. 00:38:45.760 --> 00:38:56.719 This place where we recognize that the challenges we face, the opposition that we stand against, we do not have the power to stand against it. 00:38:56.880 --> 00:38:58.880 Look throughout all of history. 00:38:59.199 --> 00:39:03.679 Can you find one person who successfully endured? 00:39:04.480 --> 00:39:15.760 You think about Moses, who was called the most humble man that ever walked the face of the earth, and even Moses wasn't allowed to enter into the promised land because of his sin. 00:39:16.400 --> 00:39:31.199 You think about David, who was a man after God's own heart, and even David, the last days of his life, would sort of be spent in obscurity compared to the prior days of his life because of his sin with Bathsheba. 00:39:31.440 --> 00:39:37.760 There has not been one person who has been able to stand against the opposition that they face in this world. 00:39:37.920 --> 00:39:43.119 And as you sit here, what makes you think that you'll be able to do it either? 00:39:44.719 --> 00:39:46.960