WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:06.080 Let me ask you to open your Bibles tonight to Ezra chapter 5. 00:00:07.280 --> 00:00:14.160 Ezra chapter 5, which in many ways is a chapter, as I referenced earlier today, about government bureaucracy. 00:00:14.240 --> 00:00:18.079 Speaking of those bending under life's weary load. 00:00:20.719 --> 00:00:22.320 Ezra chapter 5. 00:00:26.000 --> 00:00:28.559 It picks up where we left off last week. 00:00:28.800 --> 00:00:30.879 Let's go to the Lord together one more time in prayer. 00:00:31.199 --> 00:00:37.679 Father, we do pray for your grace, mercy, wisdom, a work of your spirit to take place in our life. 00:00:38.159 --> 00:00:44.399 We do seek to conform our minds not to the worlds, which so vis for our attention. 00:00:45.280 --> 00:00:47.200 So vise for our conformity. 00:00:48.000 --> 00:00:52.960 We know the only hope of us not being conformed to the world is for our minds to be transformed. 00:00:53.439 --> 00:01:03.280 And so we pray tonight that you would use the time in your word to transform our minds from darkness to light, from the shape of this world to the shape of Jesus Christ. 00:01:03.759 --> 00:01:11.439 That can only happen when our minds are renewed, when they learn to discern the difference between good and evil, between this world and holiness. 00:01:11.599 --> 00:01:20.400 And so help us see your perfect will, your good will, your pleasing will through your word tonight and use it to transform our minds. 00:01:20.480 --> 00:01:22.400 We ask this in the name of Christ. 00:01:22.799 --> 00:01:23.439 Amen. 00:01:24.799 --> 00:01:28.480 Well, tonight we pick up a story that we left last week. 00:01:28.640 --> 00:01:32.879 Last week, if you recall, the Israelites had started building their temple. 00:01:33.120 --> 00:01:35.439 They had been kicked out of the land. 00:01:35.519 --> 00:01:47.760 They had lost the ability to worship God, they lost the ability to sacrifice, they had lost the ability to celebrate their feasts, and in their minds, they had lost the ability to approach God with boldness and confidence. 00:01:48.640 --> 00:01:50.959 That's something that we as believers take for granted. 00:01:51.359 --> 00:02:15.520 Through faith in Jesus Christ, we understand that we have the ability to approach the eternal throne, that we can approach the throne with boldness, because we have a mediator there in the person of Jesus Christ who hears us and who receives us, that the sinner, the one with unclean hands and an impure heart, is not able to approach God and ask for forgiveness, is not able to approach God and ask for anything really because of our own sin. 00:02:15.599 --> 00:02:17.759 And yet God has given us a mediator. 00:02:18.000 --> 00:02:24.719 And that mediator makes our way clear for us and leads us into the presence of our Heavenly Father. 00:02:24.879 --> 00:02:30.400 We know that we have confidence to approach the eternal throne because of the finished work of Jesus Christ. 00:02:30.719 --> 00:02:36.319 No, we don't approach the throne of God based upon our own efforts or our own standing, even. 00:02:36.479 --> 00:02:42.960 We approach the throne of God based upon the standing of Jesus Christ, and we come in Him, adopted into His family. 00:02:43.039 --> 00:02:47.520 And so we have boldness in how we worship God and a freeness in how we worship Him. 00:02:47.680 --> 00:02:50.960 We have confidence that when we pray to Him, He hears our prayers. 00:02:51.439 --> 00:03:05.680 This is very different than the Israelites who approached God through this idea that the Spirit Himself dwelled in the temple, and I'm sure the Spirit had left by the life of Manasseh, at least, if not earlier. 00:03:05.759 --> 00:03:11.520 And so the Israelites saw their nation peeled away, tribe by tribe, they lost their land. 00:03:11.759 --> 00:03:18.960 Tribe by tribe, family by family, block by block, really starting in the north where Dan should have been, but never really took up residence. 00:03:19.120 --> 00:03:21.599 They saw their land peeled away by the Assyrians. 00:03:21.759 --> 00:03:23.919 Eventually Samaria fell. 00:03:24.159 --> 00:03:28.719 Eventually the whole valley of Armageddon fell to the Assyrians. 00:03:28.800 --> 00:03:32.719 Eventually Galilee became Syrian. 00:03:33.120 --> 00:03:39.439 As the Assyrians took over the coast and the Philistines held on to the Mediterranean basin, the land was peeled away. 00:03:39.520 --> 00:03:44.000 And then the tribe of Judah and Benjamin held out for another hundred, hundred and fifty years. 00:03:44.479 --> 00:03:52.000 And finally they too were peeled out of the land, the temple taken apart brick by brick, and the people scattered into exile. 00:03:52.080 --> 00:03:55.439 And from that point on, there was this depression. 00:03:56.719 --> 00:03:59.520 How could they dare approach God? 00:03:59.680 --> 00:04:02.639 And there really is no similar American analogy to this. 00:04:02.719 --> 00:04:11.280 It would be as if the United States were defeated in war and we watched our enemies burn the White House and tear down the Washington monument brick by brick. 00:04:11.599 --> 00:04:14.560 But even that doesn't cut at the idea of messianic hope. 00:04:14.639 --> 00:04:19.439 You know, our White House was burned before, and it was simply rebuilt. 00:04:25.279 --> 00:04:26.480 If not more so. 00:04:26.639 --> 00:04:31.839 And yet God showed them mercy and grace, allowed them back into the land, allowed them to rebuild the temple. 00:04:32.000 --> 00:04:33.279 They did so with fanfare. 00:04:33.360 --> 00:04:35.920 We read about that in Ezra chapter 3. 00:04:36.000 --> 00:04:37.360 They did so with rejoicing. 00:04:37.519 --> 00:04:38.639 There was now confidence. 00:04:39.040 --> 00:04:41.360 God even gave them Zerubbabel to be their leader. 00:04:41.439 --> 00:04:43.360 They had somebody from the line of David. 00:04:43.439 --> 00:04:45.199 He was grafted in, as we learned this morning. 00:04:45.279 --> 00:04:50.720 He was a his father, he was adopted into the line of David, but there he was, a representative from the line of David. 00:04:50.800 --> 00:04:57.439 He wasn't their king, but he had the Persian government's approval to be there and to be kind of their governor. 00:04:57.680 --> 00:04:58.959 And there he was. 00:04:59.439 --> 00:05:05.920 But then in chapter 4, we saw that the building was stopped, that opponents rose up against what God was doing. 00:05:06.000 --> 00:05:09.199 They wouldn't tolerate God's people making a place there. 00:05:09.279 --> 00:05:11.040 And remember, it was all about exclusivity. 00:05:11.120 --> 00:05:12.000 We saw that last week. 00:05:12.160 --> 00:05:14.879 The Israelites were saying they had to worship God through the temple. 00:05:15.040 --> 00:05:20.319 The Samaritans, those who had been taken captive by the Assyrians who had managed to stay in the land. 00:05:21.439 --> 00:05:23.120 They were syncretists. 00:05:23.199 --> 00:05:29.199 They worshiped their own gods and said that the God of Israel could be one of their gods, and they wanted to worship with the temple also. 00:05:29.519 --> 00:05:30.879 They wanted to partner with the temple. 00:05:30.959 --> 00:05:34.959 The Israelites told them no, and so their building projects got shut down. 00:05:35.920 --> 00:05:36.800 Shut down. 00:05:38.079 --> 00:05:40.800 And you could see the hope starting to erode. 00:05:41.600 --> 00:05:44.079 And decades went by. 00:05:44.399 --> 00:05:49.519 Well, at least 16 years went by, and the Israelites did not restart the building process. 00:05:49.680 --> 00:05:54.720 Remember, at the end of chapter 4, it was just saying that it would the work on the house of God in Jerusalem stopped. 00:05:54.879 --> 00:05:56.240 Chapter 4, verse 24 says. 00:05:56.399 --> 00:05:59.600 It ceased until the second year of the reign of Darius, king of Persia. 00:05:59.680 --> 00:06:03.040 And so there was quite a period of time that went by here. 00:06:04.800 --> 00:06:07.439 The Israelites, it seemed, had lost their focus. 00:06:07.680 --> 00:06:12.560 New arrivals came back to the land, and instead of working on the temple, they worked on their houses. 00:06:12.639 --> 00:06:18.560 They began to build suburbs to Jerusalem when the temple was just still in scaffolding. 00:06:18.879 --> 00:06:20.720 And so God had sent them prophets. 00:06:20.879 --> 00:06:21.759 Prophets in exile. 00:06:21.839 --> 00:06:24.399 They had Ezekiel in exile, they had Daniel in exile. 00:06:24.560 --> 00:06:26.720 Ezekiel prophesied a new and glorious temple. 00:06:26.879 --> 00:06:32.160 Ezekiel 40 through 48 is about a new and glorious temple that will come, bigger than the old temple. 00:06:32.480 --> 00:06:37.279 It's described even the ocean as coming from it, the sea coming from it, a river coming from it. 00:06:37.519 --> 00:06:42.079 Obviously, taking you mind back to the river of life, and it says it will flow from the temple again. 00:06:42.240 --> 00:06:46.560 It will be like a new world order coming from Jerusalem when their new temple is made. 00:06:46.639 --> 00:06:48.399 That's Ezekiel's promise. 00:06:49.040 --> 00:06:54.959 As a side note, because people often ask about this, I think the Ezekiel temple that's described is still future. 00:06:55.279 --> 00:07:07.199 It's not uh even going to be a temple that is gonna, there's gonna be another temple rebuilt that the Antichrist will uh be unveiled in in Jerusalem, and he'll sign a uh a peace treaty there bringing peace to the world. 00:07:07.279 --> 00:07:10.879 He'll break it and he'll um worship idols in the temple. 00:07:11.040 --> 00:07:24.560 It's not even that temple, but it will be a different temple the Lord will make in the millennial kingdom and in the millennial reign there will be sacrifices there again, sacrifices not for the forgiveness of sins, but sacrifices that point backwards towards Christ. 00:07:24.800 --> 00:07:30.319 Just like our communion points backwards to Christ, the Jews will have some form of sacrifices that do the same thing. 00:07:30.480 --> 00:07:33.199 That's Ezekiel 40 through 48 describes that. 00:07:33.360 --> 00:07:36.720 You know, the Jews here in Ezra's lifetime, they didn't have a full picture of that. 00:07:36.879 --> 00:07:50.399 They didn't understand a future millennial kingdom or anything, but they had this promise in their mind that God would build this massive temple, and all they have is this lame concrete foundation, so to speak, and they're weeping about how small it is. 00:07:50.560 --> 00:07:56.240 They're excited that it's back, but it's so small, nothing at all like Ezekiel described. 00:07:56.639 --> 00:07:58.560 And so they just stop. 00:07:59.600 --> 00:08:00.639 They just stop. 00:08:02.079 --> 00:08:05.279 And that's where Ezra and Nehemiah, the books, come in. 00:08:05.439 --> 00:08:11.040 The Persian king Cyrus gave an edict for them to go back and rebuild the temple, which was not easy. 00:08:11.279 --> 00:08:16.639 As I mentioned, they began it in Ezra III and then they stopped when persecution came. 00:08:17.120 --> 00:08:21.040 We learned last week that while the wicked may win for a while, they won't win forever. 00:08:21.199 --> 00:08:26.399 The wicked got the building project stopped temporarily, but they couldn't get it stopped permanently. 00:08:26.879 --> 00:08:32.960 Tonight we see how the building returned, and we see how God was going to move his promises forward. 00:08:33.120 --> 00:08:34.879 There's a line used in this chapter. 00:08:35.039 --> 00:08:37.840 I took it as the sermon title, sort of He Sees You and You're Sleeping. 00:08:37.919 --> 00:08:40.240 It's a you know a little bit of an advent series right there. 00:08:41.200 --> 00:08:44.639 Um Santa Claus or God, I don't know. 00:08:45.519 --> 00:08:54.159 But there's this line in Ezra chapter 5 that the eye of their God, look at Ezra 5, verse 5, the eye of their God was on the elders and the Jews. 00:08:54.720 --> 00:08:56.879 That's just a wonderful promise right there. 00:08:56.960 --> 00:08:58.559 The eye of their God was on them. 00:08:58.720 --> 00:09:01.840 If I got to title Bible books, I wouldn't have titled this as Ezra. 00:09:02.159 --> 00:09:03.360 Ezra's not even here yet. 00:09:03.440 --> 00:09:05.279 We're not going to see him until chapter 7. 00:09:05.679 --> 00:09:08.799 The book is named after him, but he doesn't step in for another few chapters. 00:09:08.960 --> 00:09:14.320 And yet, this is, if I was in charge of giving this book of a title, I would choose this title, The Eye of the Lord. 00:09:14.559 --> 00:09:30.399 This is a book about how God's eye is on his people at all times, even when they have stopped working, even when 16 years have gone by, with no evidence of obedience in his people's life, just apathy, God's eye is still on them. 00:09:30.559 --> 00:09:33.600 And God is going to minister to his people in four different ways. 00:09:33.759 --> 00:09:35.519 And that'll be your outline tonight. 00:09:35.600 --> 00:09:38.399 You have it in your little booklet, but I'll put it on the screen for you as well. 00:09:38.559 --> 00:09:41.600 Four ways in which Yahweh keeps watch on his people. 00:09:41.840 --> 00:09:44.559 Four ways in which you see the eye of the Lord in your life. 00:09:44.720 --> 00:09:53.519 God's covenant-keeping eye is on his people, and you see four different very practical manifestations of it tonight in this passage. 00:09:53.679 --> 00:09:56.879 The first way God keeps watching his people is through his prophets. 00:09:57.200 --> 00:09:59.440 Through his prophets, look at chapter 5, verse 1. 00:09:59.600 --> 00:10:11.600 The prophets Haggai and Zechariah, the son of Edeh, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel who is over them. 00:10:11.919 --> 00:10:18.480 God sent his people to prophets, and these prophets stand out because they had not had prophets in a long time. 00:10:19.360 --> 00:10:24.720 They had not, and the prophets in Acts, I mean, Daniel, is he even a prophet, or is he in one of the history books? 00:10:24.879 --> 00:10:27.200 The Jews are divided on that. 00:10:27.759 --> 00:10:31.840 But God had not sent them a real, you know, authentic prophet in a while. 00:10:32.000 --> 00:10:37.360 And here, interstage, right, comes two together, Haggai and Zechariah. 00:10:37.440 --> 00:10:41.440 God sends both of them to restart the building process. 00:10:41.679 --> 00:10:44.399 There's a huge break between verses one and verse two. 00:10:44.799 --> 00:10:52.000 Verse two, then Zerubbabel, the son of Shiltiel, and Jeshua, the son of Jehosedak, rose and began to rebuild the house of God that was in Jerusalem. 00:10:52.159 --> 00:10:53.279 There's a huge break there. 00:10:53.440 --> 00:10:55.360 The end of verse two tells you why there was a break. 00:10:55.440 --> 00:10:57.679 The prophets of God were with them, supporting them. 00:10:57.840 --> 00:11:02.240 It took several years for what happened in verse 1 to impact what happened in verse 2. 00:11:02.320 --> 00:11:06.879 It took several years for the prophets to light a fire under the people's feet, so to speak. 00:11:07.360 --> 00:11:11.039 Those two prophets, if you're familiar with them, they're contemporaneous with each other. 00:11:11.360 --> 00:11:12.799 They preached together. 00:11:13.039 --> 00:11:13.919 Very, very different. 00:11:14.080 --> 00:11:16.159 Zechariah was younger, Haggai was older. 00:11:16.320 --> 00:11:18.960 Haggai likely had seen the first temple that was destroyed. 00:11:19.039 --> 00:11:19.840 He was in his 80s. 00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:22.720 Haggai preached over a period of four months. 00:11:23.039 --> 00:11:24.799 He preached from one holiday to another. 00:11:24.879 --> 00:11:26.240 You know exactly when he was preaching. 00:11:26.320 --> 00:11:30.159 He dates his book, Haggai chapter 1 and Haggai chapter 2, four months apart. 00:11:30.240 --> 00:11:30.639 That's it. 00:11:30.720 --> 00:11:34.639 That's all we know about him is that preaching right there, and then what you see here in Ezra chapter 5. 00:11:34.960 --> 00:11:38.480 Haggai was very practical, very confrontational. 00:11:38.639 --> 00:11:41.360 Zechariah, on the other hand, preached for a long time. 00:11:42.159 --> 00:11:44.000 He had longer sermons. 00:11:44.240 --> 00:11:46.559 More my style, I think, Zechariah. 00:11:48.000 --> 00:11:50.720 He had profound imagery. 00:11:51.360 --> 00:11:56.320 Somebody told me that recently they thought the book of Revelation was the hardest book in the Bible to interpret. 00:11:56.399 --> 00:11:58.080 And my response to that was, no way. 00:11:58.240 --> 00:12:03.200 The book of Revelation is easy to interpret if you've already gone through the book of Zechariah. 00:12:03.440 --> 00:12:08.240 Zechariah is where the action, everything that's difficult in the book of Revelation, is coming from the prophet Zechariah. 00:12:08.480 --> 00:12:13.679 You know, if you're stumbling over the four horsemen in the book of Revelation, and you're like, well, what are these going on? 00:12:13.759 --> 00:12:14.559 What do these represent? 00:12:14.639 --> 00:12:18.320 Well, just stop for a little bit and think, have I seen these people before? 00:12:18.559 --> 00:12:18.879 Yes. 00:12:19.120 --> 00:12:20.000 Zechariah. 00:12:20.159 --> 00:12:21.120 Go back to Zechariah. 00:12:21.200 --> 00:12:23.440 Now, Zechariah is tough to interpret, I'll grant you that. 00:12:23.600 --> 00:12:26.480 I mean, you need the MacArthur Study Bible or something to help you out. 00:12:27.360 --> 00:12:29.679 Zechariah is a harder book to interpret. 00:12:29.919 --> 00:12:34.159 Zechariah is this grandiose language, and it is a prophecy for all time. 00:12:34.320 --> 00:12:39.919 From that moment forward, all the way through the kingdom, all the way about the coming Savior, he covers. 00:12:40.159 --> 00:12:44.159 He covers the final conversion of Israel, the final rebellion of the Antichrist. 00:12:44.320 --> 00:12:45.200 He has all of that in there. 00:12:45.279 --> 00:12:47.600 It's the book of Revelation condensed down. 00:12:48.639 --> 00:12:50.720 Whereas Haggai, much more direct. 00:12:50.799 --> 00:12:51.759 And you can remember it this way. 00:12:51.919 --> 00:12:57.679 Zechariah, lofty and prophetic, and Haggai is more like, hey guy. 00:13:01.600 --> 00:13:03.360 It's a seminary joke, you know. 00:13:03.519 --> 00:13:05.200 I'm sorry, I thought it would work here. 00:13:07.039 --> 00:13:08.559 Steve Hawley's giving me the look. 00:13:08.639 --> 00:13:09.600 I'm fired. 00:13:11.120 --> 00:13:14.799 But Haggai is very direct and in your face. 00:13:15.519 --> 00:13:19.600 As I mentioned, Haggai steps in the scene, work had stopped for 16 years. 00:13:20.240 --> 00:13:23.679 And the people were building their own houses, and Haggai confronts them for it. 00:13:23.919 --> 00:13:33.360 Zechariah confronts them with imagery of the robes that angels wear, but Haggai comes to them and he says, Look at your houses. 00:13:33.759 --> 00:13:36.000 You're living in paneled houses. 00:13:45.360 --> 00:13:47.679 We'll get in trouble with the building inspector. 00:13:48.080 --> 00:13:52.559 And Haggai says, Okay, but you're building your houses. 00:13:53.120 --> 00:13:54.960 Don't you see the contradiction there? 00:13:55.120 --> 00:13:57.120 You don't want to build God's house. 00:13:57.440 --> 00:14:00.399 It's the person that says, you know, I can't give to church. 00:14:00.480 --> 00:14:01.679 I can't support missionaries. 00:14:01.759 --> 00:14:05.440 I can't give offerings to the Lord because things are just too financially tight right now. 00:14:05.600 --> 00:14:08.879 Meanwhile, they're putting on an extra bedroom in their house. 00:14:09.120 --> 00:14:11.200 That's that's Haggai's image. 00:14:11.519 --> 00:14:12.639 Are you kidding? 00:14:12.960 --> 00:14:15.600 And Haggai says, put your hands in your pockets. 00:14:15.759 --> 00:14:18.240 You don't have any money there because you've got holes in them. 00:14:18.320 --> 00:14:21.360 You put money in your pockets, and the money just falls right out. 00:14:21.440 --> 00:14:22.960 So the more you want, the less you have. 00:14:23.039 --> 00:14:24.559 That's Haggai's principle. 00:14:24.960 --> 00:14:27.519 And because of that, they were in a deplorable situation. 00:14:27.679 --> 00:14:29.600 There were housing shortages in Jerusalem. 00:14:29.679 --> 00:14:30.879 There were disappointing harvests. 00:14:30.960 --> 00:14:32.480 God wasn't blessing their harvest. 00:14:34.480 --> 00:14:37.279 They had a shortage of supplies. 00:14:38.320 --> 00:14:40.399 Their livestock was dying. 00:14:40.799 --> 00:14:42.240 Inadequate funds. 00:14:42.480 --> 00:14:46.399 Perhaps as a result of inflation, is what many commentaries and haggis said. 00:14:46.480 --> 00:14:54.159 They were just dumping money into, uh, you know, building out their houses and the driving up inflation, and meanwhile, nothing of value is happening. 00:14:54.320 --> 00:14:56.320 And that is just the lie of materialism. 00:14:57.200 --> 00:14:58.799 The more you have, the happier you'll be. 00:14:58.879 --> 00:15:00.960 But of course, the more you have, the more you want. 00:15:01.200 --> 00:15:03.519 And you never cross the finish line. 00:15:03.840 --> 00:15:04.960 You never do. 00:15:06.080 --> 00:15:10.559 And so God gives his people prophets to confront them on this. 00:15:11.440 --> 00:15:13.600 And the prophets do come and they do confront. 00:15:13.679 --> 00:15:16.399 They do acknowledge there's a time to sow and a time to reap. 00:15:16.639 --> 00:15:18.480 There's a time to fight and a time for peace. 00:15:18.639 --> 00:15:20.960 There's a time to build and a time to refrain from building. 00:15:21.039 --> 00:15:21.440 That's true. 00:15:21.600 --> 00:15:22.720 Solomon said that, by the way. 00:15:22.879 --> 00:15:24.080 Solomon's the one who wrote that. 00:15:24.240 --> 00:15:26.159 There is a time to build and a time to not build. 00:15:26.240 --> 00:15:29.360 And Solomon wrote that right after he built the temple. 00:15:30.159 --> 00:15:36.080 And so there's a bit of an irony for the Israelites to quote that verse to justify why they're not building the temple. 00:15:36.320 --> 00:15:37.679 Saying, oh, we can't build a temple. 00:15:37.759 --> 00:15:39.519 Now now's not the time to build the temple. 00:15:39.679 --> 00:15:41.679 Look at Ecclesiastes 3. 00:15:42.559 --> 00:15:46.799 Well, Solomon wrote that after he finished the temple, and Haggai lets them know that. 00:15:47.919 --> 00:15:54.879 There are obviously seasons of life and seasons of plenty and seasons that are leaner, and all that's from God's providence. 00:15:55.440 --> 00:16:00.559 And God gives his people prophets to energize them through those seasons. 00:16:01.440 --> 00:16:04.720 God sends them Haggai and Zechariah and they confront the people. 00:16:05.360 --> 00:16:06.240 They confront the people. 00:16:06.399 --> 00:16:07.919 Haggai comes with yelling. 00:16:08.159 --> 00:16:13.440 You're telling me it's not the time to build a house for God, but it's time to you for you to live in a two-camel garage? 00:16:13.519 --> 00:16:14.559 Are you kidding me? 00:16:16.720 --> 00:16:18.879 And the prophets confront the people. 00:16:19.279 --> 00:16:25.519 They don't just confront them for sin, but they use their confrontation to encourage them towards obedience. 00:16:25.679 --> 00:16:26.960 Haggai 2, verse 4. 00:16:27.120 --> 00:16:30.879 Haggai says, Be strong, Zerubbabel, declares Yahweh. 00:16:31.039 --> 00:16:33.919 Be strong, Joshua, son of Jehosedak, the high priest. 00:16:34.080 --> 00:16:36.799 Be strong, all ye people of the land, declares Yahweh. 00:16:37.039 --> 00:16:43.440 Work, for I am with you, declares Yahweh of hosts, according to the covenant I made with you when you were coming out of Egypt. 00:16:43.600 --> 00:16:45.279 My spear remains in your midst. 00:16:45.440 --> 00:16:46.000 Fear not. 00:16:46.159 --> 00:16:47.840 I mean, that's the crux of Haggai's preaching. 00:16:47.919 --> 00:16:50.480 He confronts him on sin in chapter 1, chapter 2. 00:16:50.639 --> 00:16:55.360 He says, Be courageous, don't be afraid. 00:16:57.279 --> 00:17:04.640 And I hope you see how God encourages his people through sending them prophets in the Old Testament. 00:17:04.720 --> 00:17:07.039 And the New Testament, this is the role of preaching. 00:17:07.119 --> 00:17:11.119 And I know that I am preaching not to the actual choir, to the Sunday night choir. 00:17:11.759 --> 00:17:20.640 You are those that come back on Sunday nights because you love worshiping with God's people and you want to hear the word of the Lord preached, and so you understand this. 00:17:20.720 --> 00:17:25.839 But I hope from this you just take a little reason why you like hearing the Bible preached. 00:17:26.160 --> 00:17:29.759 You like it because that is one of the ways God energizes you. 00:17:29.920 --> 00:17:33.039 God confronts sin in your life, but he also energizes you through it. 00:17:33.119 --> 00:17:37.839 And I hope you come away from hearing the word preached with this idea that you should not be timid. 00:17:38.400 --> 00:17:40.960 You should not be kind of mambi-pambi in the world. 00:17:41.039 --> 00:17:43.440 There's no room for half-hearted Christians. 00:17:43.839 --> 00:17:53.119 And the word of God, no matter what chapter it is, Ezra 5 or wherever, should inspire you to be strong and courageous because you know the Lord is watching out for you. 00:17:53.599 --> 00:17:56.480 Haggai T verse 5 applies to you as well. 00:17:56.720 --> 00:17:58.559 My spirit remains in your midst. 00:17:58.720 --> 00:17:59.680 Fear not. 00:18:00.240 --> 00:18:01.200 Fear not. 00:18:01.599 --> 00:18:08.720 So one way God works through his people is through sending them prophets, or in the New Testament time, pastors who teach the word of the Lord. 00:18:08.960 --> 00:18:10.160 That's a main theme in Ezra. 00:18:10.319 --> 00:18:18.400 We're going to see again in chapter 7 when Ezra himself shows up and he devotes himself to preaching and teaching Ezra 7, verse 10. 00:18:18.559 --> 00:18:23.759 Ezra sets his heart to study the law of Yahweh, to do it, and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel. 00:18:23.839 --> 00:18:26.240 That's going to be a pattern that is repeated in the New Testament. 00:18:26.319 --> 00:18:33.279 That God sends prophets who study the Word of God, who preach it, and then the people apply it. 00:18:33.680 --> 00:18:38.720 Big difference between Ezra and the earlier prophets, between Haggai and Zechariah, even in Ezra. 00:18:38.960 --> 00:18:45.839 Haggai and Zechariah are giving new revelation, whereas Ezra is taking revelation, studying it, and preaching it. 00:18:46.079 --> 00:18:48.480 And that becomes our model in the New Testament as well. 00:18:48.640 --> 00:18:56.400 This is why it's so misplaced for in the New Testament era for people to call themselves prophets and say, Oh, I'm a prophet, I have new revelation. 00:18:56.480 --> 00:18:58.559 No, that was of an earlier time. 00:18:59.119 --> 00:19:06.160 The way God inspires people today is not through new revelation, but through people like Ezra who preach and teach old revelation. 00:19:06.720 --> 00:19:09.599 One way God ministers to his people is through prophets. 00:19:09.680 --> 00:19:11.920 A second way is through punishment. 00:19:12.319 --> 00:19:13.759 It's through punishment. 00:19:14.240 --> 00:19:18.799 The prophets of God were supporting them, but then persecution rises up. 00:19:18.960 --> 00:19:23.359 At the same time, verse 3, Tetzaneah, the governor of the province of Beyond the River. 00:19:23.519 --> 00:19:25.359 Remember, that's just the fancy name. 00:19:25.519 --> 00:19:30.480 And Beyond the River doesn't sound like a good name for a state, but maybe in Aramaic it flowed better. 00:19:30.559 --> 00:19:31.039 I don't know. 00:19:31.599 --> 00:19:32.960 We have similar states like that. 00:19:33.039 --> 00:19:36.480 You know, North Carolina, like I say, you know, it's Carolina, the north one of the two. 00:19:36.559 --> 00:19:40.720 It's it's to a non-English speaker, it's a weird name for a place, but we just roll with it. 00:19:40.880 --> 00:19:42.000 Beyond the river is like that. 00:19:42.079 --> 00:19:44.640 It's the state that's on the other side of the Euphrates River. 00:19:44.720 --> 00:19:46.480 It's the state that Israel is part of. 00:19:46.640 --> 00:19:47.920 Their governor. 00:19:48.240 --> 00:19:52.880 And Sethrabenzai, and so I'm going to say that word, and I'm never going to say it again. 00:19:53.119 --> 00:19:55.359 And their associates came to them and spoke to them. 00:19:55.519 --> 00:19:59.920 Who gave you a decree to build this house and to finish this structure? 00:20:00.079 --> 00:20:01.119 That's what they want to know. 00:20:01.279 --> 00:20:04.079 Who's allowing you to do this work? 00:20:04.880 --> 00:20:06.799 Persecutions rising up. 00:20:07.039 --> 00:20:09.440 Remember, we saw that last week in chapter 4. 00:20:09.599 --> 00:20:13.039 And God is using this to purify his people. 00:20:13.279 --> 00:20:17.279 God uses persecution to purify people's hearts. 00:20:17.440 --> 00:20:21.599 It causes you to refine your focus about what matters in life. 00:20:21.839 --> 00:20:24.720 Again, Haggai is so important as background for this. 00:20:24.880 --> 00:20:30.720 What mattered to the Israelites, very similar to the United States today, the Israelites were pursuing materialism. 00:20:30.799 --> 00:20:32.480 They were pursuing wealth. 00:20:32.720 --> 00:20:34.559 And they thought it would make them happy. 00:20:34.720 --> 00:20:39.440 And so God gives persecution to purge you of that kind of mindset. 00:20:40.799 --> 00:20:48.000 Remember the lie of materialism, that you materialism lies to you and says if you have what you want, you will have enough. 00:20:48.559 --> 00:20:50.640 But it is feeding money into a black hole. 00:20:50.799 --> 00:20:52.400 You never have enough. 00:20:52.880 --> 00:20:57.119 The person who makes$20,000 a year says, I'm just barely putting food on my table. 00:20:57.359 --> 00:21:00.720 $30,000 a year says I've got to pay for the kids' soccer team. 00:21:00.880 --> 00:21:02.880 $50,000 a year, oh I can't give. 00:21:02.960 --> 00:21:04.079 I've only got one car. 00:21:04.319 --> 00:21:06.079 $80,000, oh, I can't give. 00:21:06.160 --> 00:21:07.359 Have you seen the house I'm living in? 00:21:07.440 --> 00:21:08.720 I need a better neighborhood. 00:21:09.039 --> 00:21:12.240 $100,000 a year, you've got to put oil in your airplane. 00:21:14.559 --> 00:21:22.000 And so Haggai tells the people turn around and look at the empty houses you're living in and be broken by it. 00:21:22.400 --> 00:21:24.079 And people don't do that though. 00:21:24.160 --> 00:21:31.119 They don't look at how they're using their resources until difficulty comes in their life. 00:21:31.200 --> 00:21:33.440 And that's where the next paragraph in Ezra comes in. 00:21:33.599 --> 00:21:39.839 As persecution rises up, listen, abandoning the work didn't stop the persecution. 00:21:41.359 --> 00:21:44.160 Working on their houses just drew more attention. 00:21:44.480 --> 00:21:47.839 Finally, God gives them leaders, they start working, they get more persecution. 00:21:48.000 --> 00:21:49.759 It's forcing them to choose sides here. 00:21:49.920 --> 00:21:51.759 Listen, are you gonna get pushed around? 00:21:52.160 --> 00:21:57.839 Are you gonna say, oh, I'm not gonna, I can't witness to this person because what if they complain about this or that or the other thing? 00:21:57.920 --> 00:21:59.759 There's so many excuses to keep from doing. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:02.000 The Lord's will in your life. 00:22:02.480 --> 00:22:09.359 And that's why the New Testament tells you you have to conform your mind to the image of God, not to this world. 00:22:09.440 --> 00:22:11.200 You have to be transformed. 00:22:11.920 --> 00:22:15.920 And you have to use discernment to know what is the will of the Lord. 00:22:16.079 --> 00:22:18.720 And it's you have to test yourself, is actually Paul's word. 00:22:18.880 --> 00:22:25.759 You have to test yourself through discernment to know what is good and what is wicked, what is worldly and what is pleasing to God. 00:22:25.920 --> 00:22:29.759 And persecution has a powerful ability to make you do that. 00:22:31.200 --> 00:22:39.599 The Lord disciplines those who he loves, and when he disciplines his children, the important things come into focus. 00:22:40.160 --> 00:22:42.720 I've told you this before, but I want to put it on the screen again. 00:22:42.799 --> 00:22:44.720 There's the big three lies of materialism. 00:22:44.799 --> 00:22:48.000 Again, this is in your book if you have it, so you don't need to write it down. 00:22:48.079 --> 00:22:54.559 But the big three lies of materialism here is that you have it, your possessions, you have them, and so you've earned them. 00:22:54.720 --> 00:22:57.680 Remember, that is just a that is the American dream right there. 00:22:57.759 --> 00:23:01.759 That is the Protestant work ethic, and there is good parts of the Protestant work ethic. 00:23:01.920 --> 00:23:06.960 You know, if you do work hard, it's the part of the Protestant work ethic is described in the book of Proverbs. 00:23:07.119 --> 00:23:09.119 When you work hard, you can provide for your family. 00:23:09.279 --> 00:23:14.000 You're a blessing for your family, you're a blessing for the needy, you're a blessing for those in your life. 00:23:14.079 --> 00:23:17.359 That's a benefit of the so-called Protestant work ethic. 00:23:17.440 --> 00:23:18.400 That's the good part of it. 00:23:18.640 --> 00:23:23.200 But the negative side of it is this idea that what you have, you deserve. 00:23:24.000 --> 00:23:27.119 Which is just often the case, not true. 00:23:27.359 --> 00:23:29.039 We live in a land of plenty. 00:23:29.200 --> 00:23:36.640 It's not that we deserve more by virtue of being in this country than somebody who is working just as hard, if not harder, than you are in Rwanda. 00:23:37.519 --> 00:23:40.880 But our mind gets colored by thinking, I have it, so I deserve it. 00:23:41.039 --> 00:23:43.200 Well, that's not so I earn it. 00:23:43.440 --> 00:23:45.599 That's not really the way the world works. 00:23:45.920 --> 00:23:48.559 It is true that when you work hard, you can provide for your family. 00:23:48.640 --> 00:23:49.759 That's great. 00:23:50.079 --> 00:23:55.759 But just notice the seed of the lie in there, that it's about what you have earned, which is about what you deserve. 00:23:56.160 --> 00:23:57.680 And notice where that feeds. 00:23:57.839 --> 00:24:02.799 If you think that you earned it and you deserve it, therefore you can do whatever you want to with it. 00:24:03.759 --> 00:24:05.920 Well, not really. 00:24:06.960 --> 00:24:14.720 Because remember, the Bible says that you are a steward, that everything you have is not really yours. 00:24:15.039 --> 00:24:20.240 Whereas materialism teaches that if you get enough, that's the key to happiness. 00:24:21.359 --> 00:24:28.720 And so God uses persecution, he uses punishment to purge his people of that mindset. 00:24:29.359 --> 00:24:33.119 As Haggai says, Haggai just confronts them and says, Consider your ways. 00:24:33.359 --> 00:24:35.279 Consider how you're living your life. 00:24:35.519 --> 00:24:36.720 And that's often effective. 00:24:36.799 --> 00:24:40.160 Well, the third way God keeps watch on his people is through providence. 00:24:40.720 --> 00:24:41.680 Through providence. 00:24:41.839 --> 00:24:43.839 And that comes out in verse 5. 00:24:44.000 --> 00:24:56.400 The eye of their God was on the elders of the Jews, and they did not stop them until the report should reach Darius, and his answer be returned by letter concerning it. 00:24:56.559 --> 00:24:59.359 God, through providence, is ordering all things in the world. 00:24:59.519 --> 00:25:03.440 Now, providence, remember, is different than a miracle. 00:25:03.680 --> 00:25:12.240 A miracle is where God sets aside the natural course of the way the world works, interrupts the world's affairs to change something, to produce something supernatural. 00:25:12.319 --> 00:25:13.200 That's a miracle. 00:25:13.519 --> 00:25:20.480 Providence is the way God manages every detail of everything in life. 00:25:21.519 --> 00:25:24.480 Both of them are examples of sovereignty. 00:25:25.039 --> 00:25:41.920 You know, you leave here and you, you know, the car in front of you is too slow coming out of the parking lot, and so you miss your window and the whole light cycle goes by, and then you go to turn into the Starbucks parking lot, and you know, a car just flies by that would have killed you had that other car not slowed down in front of you earlier. 00:25:42.079 --> 00:25:42.880 You know what I'm talking about? 00:25:42.960 --> 00:25:44.000 That kind of scenario. 00:25:44.240 --> 00:25:46.480 And you think, oh, it's a miracle I didn't get hit by that truck. 00:25:46.640 --> 00:25:47.920 No, not a miracle. 00:25:48.079 --> 00:25:49.440 It's providence. 00:25:49.839 --> 00:25:53.440 But that doesn't mean it's any less cause for thanksgiving to God. 00:25:53.599 --> 00:25:58.559 God is equally sovereign over providential things as he is over the miraculous. 00:25:58.640 --> 00:25:59.680 That's the main point here. 00:25:59.839 --> 00:26:04.880 And the way Scripture describes God's providence, here it's in the eye of the Lord. 00:26:05.119 --> 00:26:07.039 The Lord's eye is on you. 00:26:07.759 --> 00:26:19.920 Last night I was talking to my daughters about the, you know, the three omnis, that God is omniscient, he knows everything, he's omnipresent, he's everywhere, and he's omnipotent, he can do anything. 00:26:20.160 --> 00:26:26.400 And one of them asked the question: what is really the difference between omniscience and omnipresence? 00:26:27.039 --> 00:26:31.359 And honestly, there's not really a difference when you're dealing with God. 00:26:31.680 --> 00:26:35.519 That God is everywhere because he knows everything. 00:26:35.680 --> 00:26:38.559 In other words, he is everywhere through his knowledge. 00:26:38.720 --> 00:26:40.480 He's not physically everywhere. 00:26:40.640 --> 00:26:47.839 And this is important when you're explaining omnipresence to kids, because if you don't make this clear, they think, you know, God is physically everywhere. 00:26:47.920 --> 00:26:50.960 You know, if omnipresence is true, is God in my sandwich? 00:26:51.200 --> 00:26:52.319 Am I eating God? 00:26:52.559 --> 00:26:54.400 You know, that's where a kid's mind goes. 00:26:54.480 --> 00:26:57.039 And so you need very clear lines with omnipresence. 00:26:57.839 --> 00:27:00.960 God being everywhere doesn't mean he's physically everywhere. 00:27:01.119 --> 00:27:04.400 It means all things are before him in his knowledge. 00:27:04.559 --> 00:27:09.680 There's nowhere you can hide from him because his knowledge is exhaustive. 00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:21.759