WEBVTT 00:00:00.880 --> 00:00:04.320 Church, we are in Ezra chapter 1 this morning. 00:00:04.639 --> 00:00:08.240 We did an overview last week of Ezra and Nehemiah. 00:00:08.400 --> 00:00:10.320 We're going to begin in chapter 1. 00:00:10.560 --> 00:00:14.800 So we will again this morning read Ezra chapter 1. 00:00:16.079 --> 00:00:32.399 In the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, King of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing. 00:00:32.640 --> 00:00:43.920 Thus says Cyrus, King of Persia, that the Lord the God of heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judea. 00:00:44.079 --> 00:00:55.439 Whoever is among you of all his people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judea, and rebuild the house of the Lord, the God of Israel. 00:00:55.759 --> 00:00:57.840 He is the God who is in Jerusalem. 00:00:58.000 --> 00:01:11.359 And let each survivor in whatever place he sojourns be assisted by the men of his place with silver and gold, with goods and with beasts, besides free will offerings for the house of God that is in Jerusalem. 00:01:11.840 --> 00:01:24.239 Then rose up the heads of the fathers, houses of Judah of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, and everyone whose spirit God had stirred to go up to rebuild the house of the Lord that is in Jerusalem. 00:01:24.480 --> 00:01:36.640 And all who were about them aided them with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, with beasts, with costly wares, besides all that was freely offered. 00:01:37.120 --> 00:01:46.640 Cyrus the king also brought up the vessels of the house of the Lord that Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and placed in the house of the gods. 00:01:46.959 --> 00:01:55.840 Cyrus, king of Persia, brought these out in the charge of Mithred, the treasurer, who counted them out to Shezhbazar, the prince of Judah. 00:01:56.000 --> 00:02:08.800 And this was the number of them: thirty basins of gold, one thousand basins of silver, twenty-nine censers, thirty bowls of gold, four hundred and ten bowls of silver, and one thousand other vessels. 00:02:08.960 --> 00:02:12.800 And all vessels of gold and silver were five thousand four hundred. 00:02:13.199 --> 00:02:19.039 And these did Sheshbazar Bazar bring up with the exiles. 00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:24.000 When the exiles were brought up from Babylonia to Jerusalem. 00:02:24.319 --> 00:02:26.240 This is the word of the Lord. 00:02:27.840 --> 00:02:51.599 In his book, God in the Wasteland, Professor David Wells, Professor of Theology at Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary, wrote, There was a time when in America evangelicals prized and cultivated biblically chaste Christian thought and an analysis of this culture from that perspective. 00:02:51.919 --> 00:03:09.680 But the past few decades have seen an erosion of the old distinctions, a gradual descent into the self-movement, a psychologizing of the faith and an adaptation of Christian belief to a therapeutic culture. 00:03:10.080 --> 00:03:18.879 Distracted by the blandishments of modern culture, we have lost our focus as biblical people and seeking biblical truth. 00:03:19.039 --> 00:03:29.039 We have been beguiled by the efficiency of our culture's technique, the sheer effectiveness of its strategies, and we have begun to play by these rules. 00:03:30.080 --> 00:03:43.919 Now we blithely speak of marketing the gospel like any other commodity, oblivious to the fact that such rhetoric betrays a vast intrusion of worldliness into the church. 00:03:44.400 --> 00:03:45.360 Is he right? 00:03:46.000 --> 00:03:48.800 This was written 30 years ago. 00:03:49.280 --> 00:03:52.159 The church needs renewal. 00:03:52.400 --> 00:04:01.840 The church needs to identify and acknowledge just how ingrained we are with the culture around us. 00:04:02.319 --> 00:04:10.879 American Christians once prized and pursued pure Christian doctrine and thought and analyzed the world from that position. 00:04:11.599 --> 00:04:26.000 But now we've been marketed to, we've been charmed, we've been persuaded and pursued, persuaded to pursue the American dream or some variation of it, and to be faithful Christians. 00:04:27.360 --> 00:04:30.319 We want to be citizens of this world. 00:04:39.199 --> 00:04:42.399 We want to have a foot in both worlds. 00:04:43.040 --> 00:04:45.920 A people of the world and a people of God. 00:04:46.319 --> 00:04:54.319 Furthermore, we're convinced that we're good gospel witnesses because we have a good confession as Christians. 00:04:54.560 --> 00:05:01.839 From time to time, maybe even once a week or once a month, if we're really good Christians, we pray for a lost person we know. 00:05:02.079 --> 00:05:12.800 Someone who has rebelled against God, someone who's dead in their sin, their life is empty, they're hopeless, they're destined for hell, and if we think about it, we pray for them. 00:05:13.199 --> 00:05:14.399 Because we're Christians. 00:05:14.480 --> 00:05:15.759 That's what we do. 00:05:16.480 --> 00:05:20.639 So we struggle with this tension of living in this world. 00:05:20.800 --> 00:05:27.759 We do life here, we raise our kids here, we have to have houses to live in, we have to have cars to drive, we need jobs to work. 00:05:27.839 --> 00:05:29.519 These are all good things. 00:05:30.879 --> 00:05:42.639 The tension in our hearts is obeying the command of Christ, belonging to Him, being His people, not being people of the world. 00:05:43.439 --> 00:05:49.920 The book of Ezra is about God's faithfulness, that God is faithful to restore and renew his people. 00:05:50.160 --> 00:06:01.199 God's people were in captivity, undergoing God's discipline, because they kept trying to serve both God and the world. 00:06:01.360 --> 00:06:03.920 They wanted to be like the other nations. 00:06:04.879 --> 00:06:06.879 They just kind of wanted to fit in. 00:06:07.120 --> 00:06:09.040 We want to be like them. 00:06:09.279 --> 00:06:11.759 But we still kind of want to be God's people. 00:06:12.240 --> 00:06:20.800 This is a tension we feel in our own hearts as we are trying to follow the Lord, be God's people, be obedient. 00:06:20.959 --> 00:06:22.319 But again, we live here. 00:06:22.399 --> 00:06:24.160 We have to do life here. 00:06:25.680 --> 00:06:27.920 Work, friends, family. 00:06:29.680 --> 00:06:35.120 In Ezra chapter 1, we see that God fulfills his promises. 00:06:35.519 --> 00:06:40.160 God fulfills his promises and God provides for his people. 00:06:40.399 --> 00:06:42.959 God is trustworthy and reliable. 00:06:44.160 --> 00:06:51.439 As we think about this, how do we kind of understand our culture and how we're so ingrained in our culture? 00:06:51.680 --> 00:06:52.000 Right? 00:06:52.160 --> 00:06:54.399 How do we begin to trust God? 00:06:55.040 --> 00:06:58.560 Not trust kind of the way of things around us. 00:06:58.879 --> 00:07:01.120 Be dependent and rely on Him. 00:07:01.279 --> 00:07:10.800 Not on our own understanding, not on our own wit, our own ability to make things happen or to make money or to get things going for us. 00:07:11.519 --> 00:07:13.120 We rely on God. 00:07:14.079 --> 00:07:16.480 We can trust God when He makes these promises. 00:07:16.879 --> 00:07:20.480 We can rely on Him with our needs. 00:07:21.040 --> 00:07:22.879 God fulfills His promises. 00:07:23.040 --> 00:07:25.439 Look here in the first verse, Ezra 1. 00:07:25.600 --> 00:07:32.639 In the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled. 00:07:33.040 --> 00:07:35.120 We looked at this a couple last week. 00:07:35.279 --> 00:07:42.800 Turn with me again to Jeremiah, which is to the right, past Isaiah, past Proverbs and Psalms, Isaiah. 00:07:43.040 --> 00:07:44.079 You're gonna hit Jeremiah. 00:07:44.160 --> 00:07:46.240 You're gonna go to Jeremiah 29. 00:07:46.959 --> 00:07:49.680 So keep flipping Jeremiah 29. 00:07:51.360 --> 00:07:53.759 You get into Ezekiel, you've gone too far. 00:07:56.319 --> 00:08:00.000 This again is the word. 00:08:00.639 --> 00:08:03.920 This is what God stirred up in Cyrus. 00:08:04.399 --> 00:08:13.439 I don't know exactly how, if he was reading or what was going on, but but these words out of Jeremiah 29, beginning in verse 10. 00:08:14.240 --> 00:08:27.199 For thus says the Lord, when seventy years are completed for Babylon for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise, and bring you back to this place. 00:08:27.439 --> 00:08:30.240 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. 00:08:30.480 --> 00:08:38.240 Plans for welfare, not for evil, not to give you a future, excuse me, not for evil, but to give you a future and a hope. 00:08:38.799 --> 00:08:40.000 Future and hope. 00:08:40.240 --> 00:08:44.879 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. 00:08:45.120 --> 00:08:49.600 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 00:08:49.840 --> 00:09:00.960 I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes, gathering you from all the nations and all places where I have driven you, declares the Lord. 00:09:01.120 --> 00:09:06.000 And I will bring you back to this place from which I sent you into exile. 00:09:06.399 --> 00:09:11.039 So we again we know that God sent his people into exile. 00:09:11.200 --> 00:09:13.440 This wasn't by happenstance, this wasn't a mistake. 00:09:13.519 --> 00:09:14.639 God didn't kind of like blow it. 00:09:14.799 --> 00:09:17.120 Man, I lost my people, somehow they got carried away. 00:09:17.200 --> 00:09:18.240 We gotta figure this out. 00:09:18.480 --> 00:09:24.320 He sent them into exile, he disciplined them lovingly, graciously disciplined them. 00:09:24.480 --> 00:09:28.879 And then he promised that he would bring them back again. 00:09:29.840 --> 00:09:32.480 God will bring his people back. 00:09:32.799 --> 00:09:37.440 Now we know as Christians in the New Covenant, Christ has come and Christ has died for our sins. 00:09:37.519 --> 00:09:38.720 He's paid the price for those things. 00:09:38.879 --> 00:09:40.399 We're adopted into his family. 00:09:40.480 --> 00:09:42.240 We're in the new covenant. 00:09:43.039 --> 00:09:52.000 So there's a parallel here, there's a similarity here in that God will again, Christ will again come and he will again gather his people together. 00:09:52.960 --> 00:10:00.960 From all the nations, from every tongue and tribe, scripture says, He will gather his people together. 00:10:01.840 --> 00:10:05.840 We will praise him, we will worship him for eternity. 00:10:06.639 --> 00:10:12.080 But God is fulfilling his promise to his people right here in Jeremiah chapter 29. 00:10:12.159 --> 00:10:14.240 We see this being fulfilled in Ezra 1. 00:10:14.480 --> 00:10:16.000 God's fulfilling this. 00:10:16.240 --> 00:10:19.440 So then King Cyrus, he issues this decree. 00:10:20.720 --> 00:10:22.960 God has given me all the lands of the earth. 00:10:23.039 --> 00:10:26.480 And to be fair, he dominated most of the earth at this point. 00:10:26.799 --> 00:10:27.840 Very powerful guy. 00:10:28.080 --> 00:10:33.039 Lots of nations did he kind of subdue and bring under his authority and his reign. 00:10:33.120 --> 00:10:41.840 And he says, I'm going to send them back that they may worship their God and build the temple to their God in Jerusalem. 00:10:42.320 --> 00:10:44.240 God fulfills his promises. 00:10:44.399 --> 00:10:50.000 So two things I just want to see here is that God fulfills his promises with worldly leaders. 00:10:50.960 --> 00:10:54.639 Cyrus, King Cyrus, it appears, is a polytheist. 00:10:54.799 --> 00:10:56.399 He believes in many gods. 00:10:56.559 --> 00:10:58.480 He believes that there's multiple gods. 00:10:58.559 --> 00:11:05.360 And you can kind of worship your God and you worship your God, I'll worship my God, and we'll just kind of do our thing, you build your temple, and it's all gonna work out. 00:11:05.440 --> 00:11:06.879 That's his view. 00:11:13.679 --> 00:11:21.360 Ezra one says, to make a declaration, to make a declaration that I'm going to return, let you return to your people. 00:11:21.600 --> 00:11:29.759 Now it's interesting, about 150 years ago, so the second half of the 1800s, they discovered something called the Cyrus Cylinder. 00:11:29.840 --> 00:11:39.440 It's a clay cylinder, it's in the museum, British Museum right now, and on that there is an inscription that is very, very similar to what we read in Ezra 1. 00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:46.960 But how King Cyrus was kind of sending people back to their homelands, being gracious to them. 00:11:48.000 --> 00:11:56.320 Even this wicked guy who doesn't fear God, he doesn't really care about God, but the Lord worked in his heart, stirred his spirit. 00:11:56.639 --> 00:12:01.039 Doesn't say he became a believer, but the Lord worked. 00:12:01.759 --> 00:12:04.960 He was unaware that God was stirring his spirit. 00:12:05.519 --> 00:12:09.039 So likewise, the Lord is over all things. 00:12:09.360 --> 00:12:12.320 We say that God's sovereign, the Lord's over this. 00:12:12.480 --> 00:12:13.519 We trust the Lord. 00:12:13.679 --> 00:12:15.200 But do we believe it? 00:12:15.440 --> 00:12:26.639 We live in a day and age where there's war, there's rumors of war, people are kind of coming out unhinged, and most political leaders are not fearful of the God of the Bible. 00:12:26.720 --> 00:12:28.639 They're not desiring to worship him. 00:12:29.200 --> 00:12:32.559 But God is over all leaders. 00:12:33.200 --> 00:12:38.000 From Joe Biden to Vladimir Putin, the Lord is over them. 00:12:38.320 --> 00:12:41.759 Listen, there are no rogue leaders out there. 00:12:41.919 --> 00:12:48.720 There's no world leader who just kind of go and rogue and somehow he just kind of slipped out of God's control and he's just out there doing his thing. 00:12:48.879 --> 00:12:53.279 Now, listen, I'm not saying that there's they all they're being good leaders. 00:12:53.440 --> 00:12:55.440 I'm not saying that they're not against God. 00:12:56.080 --> 00:12:58.879 Most of them are doing wicked, evil things. 00:12:59.519 --> 00:13:01.759 But make no mistake about it. 00:13:02.240 --> 00:13:06.000 They are under God's sovereign rule. 00:13:06.799 --> 00:13:10.879 So, Christian, brother, sister, sleep well. 00:13:11.600 --> 00:13:13.840 God is sovereign. 00:13:14.320 --> 00:13:19.919 God fulfills his promise even with worldly leaders and worldly people. 00:13:20.639 --> 00:13:24.000 God fulfills his promise on his timeline. 00:13:24.159 --> 00:13:25.759 This is something we struggle with. 00:13:26.000 --> 00:13:28.000 My time, when's this gonna work out? 00:13:28.080 --> 00:13:29.120 These are my plans. 00:13:29.279 --> 00:13:33.600 I want to honor the Lord, but I do have my plans, so God, can you honor that? 00:13:33.840 --> 00:13:35.840 Because this is important to me. 00:13:36.639 --> 00:13:41.279 God works at his own pace, and it's perfect. 00:13:41.600 --> 00:13:42.639 It's so basic. 00:13:42.799 --> 00:13:44.639 It's so basic, it's so simple. 00:13:44.960 --> 00:13:47.600 You can grab anyone, anyone you want. 00:13:47.759 --> 00:13:55.759 Grab someone, someone who doesn't even believe in God, and ask them this question: Is God's timeline dependent on your schedule? 00:13:56.720 --> 00:14:01.120 Is God's plan for all things kind of hitched up to your agenda? 00:14:01.360 --> 00:14:03.679 And the answer is no, it's not. 00:14:03.840 --> 00:14:08.320 It's in his time that he fulfills his promises. 00:14:10.080 --> 00:14:15.679 God's timing is unknown to us as believers, but we're never left in the dark. 00:14:16.320 --> 00:14:19.039 God always tells his people what he's doing. 00:14:19.279 --> 00:14:24.639 Before he sent them into exile, he told them, hey, listen, you keep rebelling, you're gonna go to exile. 00:14:24.720 --> 00:14:28.399 They kept rebelling, he said, okay, listen, to the prophets, you're gonna go to exile. 00:14:28.639 --> 00:14:30.480 He's always up front with his people. 00:14:30.639 --> 00:14:31.759 This is what you need to do. 00:14:31.919 --> 00:14:36.879 He did this with Abraham, he said, Abraham, this is what I'm gonna do, I'm gonna make you into money nation, this is how it's gonna go. 00:14:36.960 --> 00:14:39.919 He did this with David, with Saul, with the nation. 00:14:40.159 --> 00:14:45.360 When they were crying out for a king, he said, Okay, I'll give you a king, and this is what's gonna happen. 00:14:45.519 --> 00:14:47.679 Just he's always up front with his people. 00:14:47.840 --> 00:14:48.320 Always. 00:14:48.559 --> 00:14:49.919 We're never left in the dark. 00:14:50.080 --> 00:14:54.240 We don't know his timeline, but we know what he is doing. 00:14:54.720 --> 00:14:56.480 Same way in the new covenant. 00:14:56.720 --> 00:15:00.000 Christ comes, he tells the disciples what's gonna happen. 00:15:00.159 --> 00:15:05.679 He's gonna be crucified, he's gonna be buried, he's gonna be dead for three days, and then raised from the dead. 00:15:05.919 --> 00:15:08.240 He tells them again and again and again. 00:15:08.480 --> 00:15:17.279 Then he, the church age comes, he we're given the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, and the church begins to spread, and we're we're told what the church is supposed to do. 00:15:17.519 --> 00:15:19.279 The church is given the instruction. 00:15:19.440 --> 00:15:23.120 It's always clear what God wants us to do. 00:15:24.240 --> 00:15:29.279 We don't know God's timeline, but we do know what he wants us to do. 00:15:29.600 --> 00:15:32.320 He's never left us in the dark. 00:15:32.799 --> 00:15:38.559 Now we don't know, we just finished 1 and 2 Thessalonians, all about the return of Christ. 00:15:38.879 --> 00:15:41.039 We do not know when he will return. 00:15:41.200 --> 00:15:42.080 But guess what? 00:15:42.320 --> 00:15:44.559 We know he will return, right? 00:15:44.799 --> 00:15:47.120 We don't know when, and it's not for us to know. 00:15:47.200 --> 00:15:52.159 We're to be faithful to him because we know he will return. 00:15:53.440 --> 00:15:55.200 God is clear with his people. 00:15:55.360 --> 00:15:56.879 What a gracious thing. 00:15:58.000 --> 00:15:59.519 He doesn't have to be. 00:16:00.159 --> 00:16:04.240 He lovingly, graciously is clear with us. 00:16:06.080 --> 00:16:09.120 And God's timing is happening. 00:16:10.320 --> 00:16:21.360 What's going on right now, what's going on in your life, the Lord's working in you, what's going on with the nations, God's timeline is happening now. 00:16:22.799 --> 00:16:29.039 John 16, 33 says, I have said these things to you that in me you may have peace. 00:16:29.679 --> 00:16:36.000 In the world you will have tribulation, but take heart, I have overcome the world. 00:16:36.320 --> 00:16:42.879 So even in the midst of God doing his timeline and where we know what he's doing, our hearts are quick to be troubled. 00:16:43.039 --> 00:16:44.480 We're concerned. 00:16:45.840 --> 00:16:47.600 Some of that's understandable. 00:16:47.759 --> 00:16:49.440 There's a lot going on. 00:16:50.159 --> 00:16:55.679 But we trust in him because he has overcome the world. 00:16:56.320 --> 00:16:58.240 Psalm 27, 14. 00:16:58.480 --> 00:17:05.839 I love this verse, it says, wait for the Lord, be strong, let your heart take courage and wait for the Lord. 00:17:06.079 --> 00:17:12.480 So even in the midst of the unknown, even in the midst of the trial, the situation we're going through, the instruction is clear. 00:17:12.720 --> 00:17:17.359 Wait for the Lord, he will rescue you, he will not abandon you. 00:17:17.519 --> 00:17:21.519 Wait for him, be strong, let your heart take courage. 00:17:21.839 --> 00:17:23.440 Wait for the Lord. 00:17:24.319 --> 00:17:26.880 God fulfills his promises. 00:17:27.359 --> 00:17:31.920 As his covenant people, we know we can depend on him. 00:17:32.400 --> 00:17:37.200 We don't need to be like the world who's kind of depending on the God, but kind of hedging our bets. 00:17:37.359 --> 00:17:40.559 If that doesn't pan out for me, well, at least I have this. 00:17:40.799 --> 00:17:47.119 If this thing kind of flakes out, well, at least I've I've kind of planned and I've prepared well, so I'm gonna be okay. 00:17:48.079 --> 00:17:53.039 Christ, he calls us all in, everything. 00:17:53.200 --> 00:18:00.319 Push all the chips in on him, nothing else, no one else but Jesus Christ. 00:18:01.039 --> 00:18:03.680 For he has overcome the world. 00:18:04.559 --> 00:18:09.279 God fulfills his promises to his people, and God provides for his people. 00:18:09.680 --> 00:18:10.799 Verse 5. 00:18:11.039 --> 00:18:22.960 Then rose up the heads of the fathers' houses of Judah, and Benjamin, and the priests, and the Levites, and everyone whose spirit God had stirred to go up to rebuild the house of the Lord that is in Jerusalem. 00:18:24.319 --> 00:18:26.480 So he begins to call these people. 00:18:26.640 --> 00:18:34.000 This this language that God's stirring the spirit of those is the same language as verse 1 and Cyrus. 00:18:34.160 --> 00:18:40.480 God is prompting, he's calling, he's working, he's having his way, fulfilling his plan. 00:18:40.960 --> 00:18:46.480 And we see that God provides community for his people, he provides camaraderie. 00:18:46.640 --> 00:18:49.839 There's a group that's going with them together. 00:18:51.039 --> 00:18:52.720 There's a group that actually stays behind. 00:18:52.880 --> 00:18:59.519 So they think about 50,000 people went with his first wave back to Jerusalem. 00:18:59.680 --> 00:19:05.440 50,000 strong, leaving Persia, going back to rebuild the temple. 00:19:06.480 --> 00:19:08.880 God stirs up their spirit. 00:19:09.279 --> 00:19:10.400 It's interesting. 00:19:11.039 --> 00:19:18.720 Some people I was reading were commenting, like, like, man, those people who God's spirit, they didn't stir, they were being disobedient. 00:19:19.680 --> 00:19:21.839 God didn't stir their spirit. 00:19:22.160 --> 00:19:27.759 This is something as Christians, we need to be mindful that God has called us to be faithful to Him. 00:19:28.000 --> 00:19:33.599 And what God calls us to is the way we walk that out is different for different people. 00:19:33.759 --> 00:19:35.599 We're in different situations. 00:19:37.279 --> 00:19:39.039 Some people have kids, some people don't have kids. 00:19:39.119 --> 00:19:44.559 Some people kind of their careers is easy for them to fulfill a vocational ministry. 00:19:44.640 --> 00:19:47.440 For some people, it's they're just in the trenches with the children. 00:19:47.680 --> 00:19:49.440 Like, what am I supposed to do? 00:19:49.680 --> 00:19:51.279 I just have kids all the time. 00:19:51.440 --> 00:19:53.279 I can't serve the Lord. 00:19:53.599 --> 00:20:00.799 God places us where he does, he calls us, stirs in our spirit to be obedient to him. 00:20:01.599 --> 00:20:05.839 Now, we don't want to be confused because he calls us to obedience and to faithfulness. 00:20:06.000 --> 00:20:13.519 So though, although God has called me to one thing and he's called Ron to something else, he's called Dave to something else, we're all called to something. 00:20:13.839 --> 00:20:23.039 We're to be obedient to God, we're to honor God the same way, we're to fulfill the commands of Christ, we're to obey Scripture to do what He has called us to do. 00:20:24.079 --> 00:20:31.039 But this is a reveals the Lord has called some of the people to come and go out to Jerusalem. 00:20:31.759 --> 00:20:35.680 He's saying, Listen, I am the one building this house. 00:20:36.240 --> 00:20:42.480 I stirred the spirit of Cyrus on my timeline to fulfill my promise. 00:20:42.640 --> 00:20:49.200 I'm stirring the spirit of 50,000 who are gonna go leave what they've known for 70 years. 00:20:49.440 --> 00:20:51.039 For most of them, that's all they knew. 00:20:51.200 --> 00:20:55.599 They're gonna come and they're gonna go to Babylon, or from Babylon to Jerusalem. 00:20:55.920 --> 00:21:04.799 Psalm 127, 1 says, unless the Lord builds the house, those who labor labor in vain. 00:21:05.119 --> 00:21:07.200 Unless the Lord does the work. 00:21:07.440 --> 00:21:15.279 And so often we kind of we feel a sense from the Lord or calling or something, and we think, okay, I'm just gonna go do this thing. 00:21:15.359 --> 00:21:18.960 I'm gonna go, I gotta be obedient to what God's called me to, so I'm gonna go do this. 00:21:19.200 --> 00:21:32.559 We set out by ourselves, with no counsel, with no people around us, thinking that somehow because the Lord called me, okay, that I'm gonna go build the house. 00:21:32.799 --> 00:21:34.960 And it's not what Scripture says. 00:21:35.759 --> 00:21:40.799 We go with God's people to do God's work. 00:21:42.000 --> 00:21:45.759 We go with God's people to do God's work. 00:21:46.720 --> 00:21:56.480 It's interesting for those who stayed behind, because it's as this narrative lays out through Ezra and Nehemiah, we know that the first wave, Ezra wasn't even there. 00:21:56.799 --> 00:21:59.839 They're led by some guy named Zerubbabel or something, right? 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:01.759 50,000 people. 00:22:01.920 --> 00:22:04.559 Well, who's gonna come 80 years later? 00:22:05.119 --> 00:22:05.680 Ezra. 00:22:06.799 --> 00:22:08.079 He stayed behind. 00:22:08.319 --> 00:22:09.920 His family stayed behind. 00:22:10.160 --> 00:22:13.119 So they then go after all those years. 00:22:13.279 --> 00:22:17.279 That's God's timing, God's plan, God's promises, working itself out. 00:22:17.359 --> 00:22:19.920 So Ezra then brings another wave of people with him. 00:22:20.079 --> 00:22:24.640 Then 10 years after that, Nehemiah brings people back to Jerusalem. 00:22:24.799 --> 00:22:28.799 So even though there's this tension, like, well, why didn't they all just pack up and go? 00:22:28.880 --> 00:22:30.799 Why were there people staying behind? 00:22:31.440 --> 00:22:35.039 Surely those there are people who have that feeling in their heart, like, why aren't you going? 00:22:36.799 --> 00:22:39.759 They were being obedient to what God had called them to. 00:22:40.240 --> 00:22:45.039 And then there's just this list of treasure troves provided for them. 00:22:45.200 --> 00:22:52.000 All these things: gold, these vessels, all the stuff that Nebuchadnezzar had stolen from the temple. 00:22:52.160 --> 00:22:53.519 It's given back. 00:22:54.160 --> 00:22:54.480 Right? 00:22:54.640 --> 00:22:58.000 So God provides a community, and then God provides resources. 00:22:58.559 --> 00:23:01.119 The king Cyrus, he's like, hey, take what you need. 00:23:01.359 --> 00:23:05.359 We know that when Ezra went, um, Darius says, hey, take what you need. 00:23:05.519 --> 00:23:07.839 When Nehemiah went and said, take what you need. 00:23:08.079 --> 00:23:11.519 God provides resources for his people. 00:23:11.759 --> 00:23:13.599 These people are, it's fascinating. 00:23:13.759 --> 00:23:15.839 They're leaving captivity. 00:23:16.160 --> 00:23:18.079 They're slaves, right? 00:23:18.240 --> 00:23:20.319 They're slaves 70 years. 00:23:20.480 --> 00:23:22.640 They're leaving it with great wealth. 00:23:22.799 --> 00:23:27.839 I mean, they're just, they got riches strapped to their back, leaving slavery rich. 00:23:28.640 --> 00:23:30.559 Now imagine for a moment. 00:23:31.279 --> 00:23:37.200 You have been hearing for decades and decades and decades that God is going to fulfill his promise to his people. 00:23:37.359 --> 00:23:39.279 You've been hearing these things. 00:23:39.839 --> 00:23:48.720 You've heard the stories about what it used to be like in the temple and how the temple was laid out, and what all the objects and the vessels were and how important they were. 00:23:48.880 --> 00:23:50.799 But you've never seen these things. 00:23:51.119 --> 00:23:53.119 You've never been to these places. 00:23:53.359 --> 00:23:58.480 And after all this time, you see these vessels. 00:23:58.720 --> 00:23:59.839 All these stolen things. 00:23:59.920 --> 00:24:03.759 They're just things, but they they symbolize something. 00:24:03.839 --> 00:24:05.519 They're tools for the temple. 00:24:05.599 --> 00:24:07.119 And you see them being carried out. 00:24:07.680 --> 00:24:10.559 Hey, that's that's that one thing that was for the one thing, you know? 00:24:10.720 --> 00:24:13.039 All this time we're seeing it. 00:24:13.279 --> 00:24:14.799 Like it's becoming real. 00:24:14.960 --> 00:24:16.559 Like the bags are packed. 00:24:16.720 --> 00:24:18.480 They're emptying the treasury. 00:24:19.039 --> 00:24:21.039 I guess we're gonna go to Jerusalem. 00:24:21.279 --> 00:24:24.640 How exciting as followers of God. 00:24:25.440 --> 00:24:36.720 Know that God has provided not just you and your family, 50,000 people in the treasures of Persia to go with you. 00:24:37.759 --> 00:24:40.480 God promised that he would bring his people back. 00:24:40.640 --> 00:24:41.920 He promised it. 00:24:42.319 --> 00:24:46.640 And God preserved those tools that were used in the temple. 00:24:47.039 --> 00:24:50.720 Now, if you will turn with me to Matthew chapter 6. 00:24:51.119 --> 00:24:55.519 Into the first book of the New Testament, Matthew chapter 6. 00:24:57.359 --> 00:25:01.200 It's important that we have perspective on God's provision. 00:25:02.559 --> 00:25:07.680 In Matthew chapter 6, Jesus is giving the instructions. 00:25:07.920 --> 00:25:11.039 This is what it says beginning in verse 24. 00:25:12.480 --> 00:25:21.279 No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. 00:25:21.440 --> 00:25:23.519 You cannot serve God and money. 00:25:23.680 --> 00:25:31.440 Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. 00:25:31.920 --> 00:25:36.640 Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 00:25:36.880 --> 00:25:38.559 Look at the birds of the air. 00:25:38.799 --> 00:25:46.400 They neither sow nor reap, nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly father feeds them. 00:25:46.960 --> 00:25:50.319 Are you not of more value than they? 00:25:51.359 --> 00:25:57.119 And which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to his life? 00:25:57.440 --> 00:25:59.599 And why are you anxious about clothing? 00:25:59.839 --> 00:26:02.640 Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. 00:26:02.880 --> 00:26:05.200 They neither toil nor spin. 00:26:06.480 --> 00:26:11.839 Yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory will not be arrayed like one of these. 00:26:13.119 --> 00:26:24.480 But if God so clothed the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith. 00:26:24.960 --> 00:26:30.400 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or what shall we wear? 00:26:30.640 --> 00:26:34.160 For the Gentiles seek after these things. 00:26:34.640 --> 00:26:38.799 And your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 00:26:39.680 --> 00:26:50.559 But first, verse 33, but first seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness. 00:26:51.759 --> 00:26:54.079 And all these things will be added to you. 00:26:54.880 --> 00:26:58.400 But forsake the kingdom of God and his righteousness. 00:26:58.880 --> 00:27:00.480 But for seek God. 00:27:01.440 --> 00:27:02.720 Obey God. 00:27:03.279 --> 00:27:04.559 Listen to God. 00:27:04.960 --> 00:27:07.440 Strive to follow God. 00:27:09.359 --> 00:27:12.240 And all these things will be added to you. 00:27:12.480 --> 00:27:16.400 Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. 00:27:16.559 --> 00:27:20.000 Sufficient for the day is its own troubles. 00:27:20.480 --> 00:27:21.119 Amen. 00:27:22.000 --> 00:27:27.440 As God's people, we rest and we find our contentment in God. 00:27:28.160 --> 00:27:33.279 To be a follower of Jesus is to be a person who belongs to Jesus. 00:27:33.519 --> 00:27:37.440 You're not trusting in yourself for peace or tranquility. 00:27:37.519 --> 00:27:41.599 You're not trusting or looking to yourself for purpose or for joy. 00:27:41.759 --> 00:27:45.440 You're not trusting or looking to yourself to earn God's favor. 00:27:46.000 --> 00:27:48.160 You follow Jesus. 00:27:48.400 --> 00:27:58.640 You've turned from your sin, your rebellion, your selfishness, your waywardness, your judgmental heart. 00:28:00.559 --> 00:28:05.920 You follow God and God alone, for God alone is your salvation. 00:28:06.960 --> 00:28:09.839 God always fulfills his promise. 00:28:10.240 --> 00:28:11.119 Always. 00:28:11.440 --> 00:28:13.680 He always provides for his people. 00:28:14.880 --> 00:28:27.440 When the first wave left Babylon and went to Israel, they were leaving the culture and the people to follow the Lord. 00:28:28.559 --> 00:28:35.359 As people of the kingdom of God, we are to live differently than those around us. 00:28:35.839 --> 00:28:37.839 There is a distinction. 00:28:41.759 --> 00:28:44.559 This is a line that we often can get off on. 00:28:45.039 --> 00:28:52.079 I'm not saying we often dress weird or we have to drive cars that are all 30 years old or older. 00:28:53.759 --> 00:28:57.920 I'm not saying we have to do all these things, but we do live differently. 00:28:58.720 --> 00:29:03.759 Why we have a house is different because we're Christians. 00:29:04.319 --> 00:29:11.200 We own a home or we live in a home and we rent a place because we want to house our family and we want to raise them to love the Lord. 00:29:11.359 --> 00:29:15.839 We want to use that space to be hospitable and to show others the love of Christ. 00:29:16.079 --> 00:29:26.559 We have cars, we have clothing, we have bank accounts, we have all these things for one reason, and that is to follow Jesus Christ for no other thing. 00:29:27.279 --> 00:29:46.000 If you're looking to those things for satisfaction or for your identity or your fulfillment or for anything other than I want to use this to honor the Lord, because in reality it was the Lord who gave it to you, then you're using it for the wrong reasons, and it will corrupt you. 00:29:46.480 --> 00:29:49.119 You cannot serve two masters. 00:29:49.920 --> 00:29:54.079 We the church, we need renewal. 00:29:55.119 --> 00:29:59.279 We need the Lord to restore our love for Him. 00:30:00.240 --> 00:30:08.480 As David cried out in Psalm 51, restore the joy of my salvation. 00:30:08.799 --> 00:30:11.519 That should be our cry regularly. 00:30:11.680 --> 00:30:14.000 Lord, restore the joy of my salvation. 00:30:14.160 --> 00:30:16.960 Restore the joy that I'm saved by you. 00:30:17.119 --> 00:30:22.319 I'm no longer in death, no longer pursuing the things of the world. 00:30:23.039 --> 00:30:24.880 Restore my joy. 00:30:26.000 --> 00:30:27.920 Restore my love for you. 00:30:28.240 --> 00:30:32.000 So we're called to live for Christ. 00:30:32.799 --> 00:30:39.279 But again, we must be aware of the slow, corrosive effect of the things of the world. 00:30:39.440 --> 00:30:40.240 And we live here. 00:30:40.319 --> 00:30:41.200 We're not going anywhere. 00:30:41.359 --> 00:30:44.400 We're not going to bug out and kind of build a compound and do our thing. 00:30:44.559 --> 00:30:45.519 That's not what Jesus did. 00:30:45.599 --> 00:30:47.119 That's not what he called us to. 00:30:47.920 --> 00:30:51.359 We are to be like Christ with those who are around. 00:30:51.680 --> 00:30:57.359 We are to be aware again of how easily we take the world and we take our faith. 00:30:57.440 --> 00:31:00.319 We want to just kind of weave them together nicely. 00:31:01.599 --> 00:31:07.680 We belong to the kingdom of God, to his kingdom. 00:31:08.640 --> 00:31:11.599 Christian, I want you to be encouraged. 00:31:11.839 --> 00:31:12.640 Be encouraged. 00:31:12.720 --> 00:31:21.200 Take heart because Jesus, King Jesus, he has come, he has died for your sins, he has shown you great love and mercy. 00:31:21.519 --> 00:31:25.680 God has adopted you in, and you belong to Him. 00:31:25.920 --> 00:31:27.279 You belong to Him. 00:31:27.519 --> 00:31:31.839 You have the Holy Spirit, the third member of the Trinity, dwelling within you. 00:31:32.079 --> 00:31:33.200 So take heart. 00:31:33.359 --> 00:31:46.079 Even as we're trying to navigate all these things and the confusion of the world and the difficulty of living here, but being a part of a kingdom to come and all these things, brother, sister, take heart. 00:31:47.119 --> 00:31:48.799 God has redeemed you. 00:31:49.920 --> 00:31:57.440 Friend, if you have rejected God's call to repentance and to life, I want you to know two things. 00:31:57.839 --> 00:32:10.799 If you continue to reject God, whether this is with your words and your actions or just your actions, eventually you will be given over to your desire completely. 00:32:11.440 --> 00:32:15.920 You'll be given completely over to that desire that is against God. 00:32:16.000 --> 00:32:25.920 And you will spend eternity in hell being tormented by Satan, separated from your creator, because you continue to reject your creator. 00:32:35.359 --> 00:32:46.400 Not your good works, not your good deeds, not your church attendance, and no one is too far gone. 00:32:47.279 --> 00:32:51.200 No one is beyond God's grace. 00:32:52.640 --> 00:32:53.279 No one. 00:32:58.960 --> 00:33:02.079 Seek Jesus Christ, and he will save you. 00:33:02.400 --> 00:33:12.559 John 6 37 says this all that the Father ha gives me, this is Jesus speaking, all that the Father gives me will come to me. 00:33:13.680 --> 00:33:17.839 Whoever comes to me, I will never be cast out. 00:33:18.480 --> 00:33:19.359 Let's pray.