Press On - Pt. 1: Ezra 5

Victories: 1. Thanks to Ben 2. Prayer for Rachel and Hannah

Prayer: Brookhaven Wesleyan Tony Bye

Missionary Prayer: Matt & Katie Dooney / Word of Life - Pray for the summer ministries

Intro

We ended last week in our study of Ezra with the people of Judah being forcefully stopped from their job of rebuilding the temple. There in 4:23 it reads, Ezra 4:23 “Now when the copy of King Artaxerxes’ letter was read before Rehum, Shimshai the scribe, and their companions, they went up in haste to Jerusalem against the Jews, and by force of arms made them cease.” This had to be blow to their confidence. Things had been going so well. They had returned to Jerusalem and Judah after 70 years in exile they endured the trip and the years of trying to rebuild the cities. Now when everything was looking up and they were beginning to obey the Lord they were stopped by force of arms. We discussed this last week in that sometimes God allows us to face trials and testings in order to grow us spiritually. Sometimes God’s means of growth is to see if we will persevere, even if to do so we face trials.

Let me ask you a question that I want you to seriously consider. If following Christ weren’t as easy as it is would you be here today? I mean what if coming to church was a hardship to you. People would look down on you, you would be seen as inferior or undesirable. What if coming to church cost you your family or your job? What if believing in Christ made life difficult and you saw no immediate results in making your life better? Would you still come? Would you still believe?

Today sitting here in this place I bet if I went around and asked each one of you individually you would say yes, your Christian faith matters to you enough to keep coming, but in the back of your mind you can’t shake the question so easily. You don’t know how you will react. You don’t know because the truth is you most likely have never been put to the test in such a way. When I think about this specific question I too would like to say that no matter what I would follow my Lord. I will be faithful. but I am reminded of Matthew 26:30–35 “And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. Then Jesus said to them, “All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written: ‘I will strike the Shepherd, And the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ But after I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee.” Peter answered and said to Him, “Even if all are made to stumble because of You, I will never be made to stumble.” Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you that this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” Peter said to Him, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!” And so said all the disciples.”

We all know how this turns out. If Peter, the rock on which I will build my church, Peter can falter in following the Lord in this way what makes me think I will be any different. I want to be but am I preparing myself spiritually for this? Are you preparing yourself spiritually for the trails and hardships that will inevitably come?

Wit that being said let’s see how the people of Judah responded. Before we read let me say we do have another jump in time. The call by Artaxerxes was in 529 BC and as we open up in chapter 5 it is the 6th month of 520 BC. 9 years have passed and no work has been done on the temple. Read with me.

Bible Reading: Ezra 5:1-7

First Things First

To start today I want us to look at those first 2 verses and I also want you to know that in between those two verses a lot is going on. We are introduced to two new people and the scripture tells us that they are prophets, Haggai and Zechariah. Now if those names sound familiar to you it is because not only are they prophets but their prophecies are written down in the books bearing their names, Haggai and Zechariah. What you need to know is that the gumption that Zerubbabel and Jeshua seemingly regain in verse 2 isn’t because they just suddenly woke up from their stupor and decided to begin the work again. No. They were woke from their stupor by the words of Haggai and Zechariah. Therefore, we can’t solely understand this passage without further understanding the words of Haggai and Zechariah. Let’s look at Haggai first.

Haggai

Bible Reading: Haggai 1:1-8

The people of Israel ignored the Lord and ignored what they were supposed to do in the first place. The words of Haggai were meant to be a slap in the face to wake them up from their laziness. Haggai tells them they have rebuilt their own houses, they have started to live lives of comfort once more but they have neglected to be obedient to the call of why they came back in the first place. They were there to rebuild the temple. Obedience had become hard and they chose the easy way out. When following God became an act that was persecuted against they gave up. Haggai’s prophecy called them back to putting the Lord first.

Zechariah begins his prophecy 2 months later but his words are equally negative of the peoples lack of obedience.

Zechariah

Bible Reading: Zechariah 1:2-6

I love verse 5. Zechariah 1:5 ““Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever?”

Zechariah makes it clear that no matter how special we think we are everyone dies. We have this time right now, this speck of time in the sea of eternity to make the most important decision; Am I going to believe and be saved or am I going to deny and face the discipline of death?

Will I Obey?

The same is true for each and everyone of us. You may be here today and you have a past experience of religion, perhaps you went to church as a child and heard all of this, maybe you even prayed a prayer but it never really seemed to make any difference. Because when life got hard and you felt like you really needed God, He failed you or maybe you feel like He let you down, or maybe you just forgot about Him altogether. We all have these problems where we feel like we know the way that life should go and when it doesn’t go that way then you blame God because obviously, God messed up or God forgot about you or God just didn’t even factor into the equation. Sometimes it feels like nothing goes right. Our marriages, our jobs, our relationships, however, maybe they are symptoms of a bigger problem. Maybe God is using these hardships as a wake up call to put things in order. Be aware that this is a possibility. Sometimes God uses calamity in our lives to point us to Him. Sometimes God uses these trials to get us to realize just how weak and useless we really are so that we will turn to Him and put Him first.

God is purposely trying to get the people’s attention. He is blocking them from succeeding so that they will call on Him.  It’s not a punishment per se- it’s God waving his arms and saying… “Hey, remember me?”  He wants the people to call on Him for their needs. They are not meant to be self-sufficient. I heard it put this way this past week by another pastor. We live our lives like we are driving a car. We want God’s advice, kind of like a religious GPS showing us where we should turn and how long it will take to get there but we don’t want God to do the driving. What God wants for our lives is for us to pull over get out of the drivers seat, sit in the back seat and let God do the driving. What we need is to put God front and center and to make our obedience to Him our first and only decision. Everything else will fall into place when God is number one.

Both Haggai and Zechariah cried out to the people to return to obedience because to not do so was a return to why they were sent into exile in the first place. Disobedience leads to the discipline of death. Friends that was the case in the time of the returning exiles and it is still the case today. Disobedience to the Lord means God will and must sentence your life to death. But Jesus changes that. For Jesus is the merciful hand of God whose life death and resurrection brought about the possibility for our disobedience to be forgiven and wiped clean for Jesus took the punishment of our sin. Upon the body of Jesus the sentence of death for the disobedience of all humanity was placed and He willing gave up His perfect sinless life so that we might receive forgiveness. It is that forgiveness that Christ extends to all humanity but the gift of mercy isn’t done there. No. Jesus not only forgives our disobedience but His resurrection gives us new life. We are not just forgiven we are reborn with new lives, given the ability to not sin not by our power but by the power of the Holy Spirit living inside each and every believer. We can face the trials and hardships of this world because our hope is no longer in our strength or in the strength of the government or the military or any number of other human devised methods of power but in the strength of our all powerful God. Do you know Him? Are you ready to? I will get to the how to of that belief in just a moment.

Listening & Obeying

When Zerubbabel and Jeshua heard these words of Haggai and Zechariah they were cut to the quick and they knew they had to listen and Obey. Ezra 5:2 “So Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak rose up and began to build the house of God which is in Jerusalem; and the prophets of God were with them, helping them.” They could have denied the messages of Haggai and Zechariah. They could have said you two have no idea of what we have gone through and you don’t really understand the danger of going against the proclamation of the King of Babylon. But instead they listened and obeyed.

Lessons to Consider

This is where we too need to come. We need to decide if this whole following Christ thing is worth it. Back to the original question: If following Christ weren’t as easy as it is would you be here today? It is truly easy to hear the word of the Lord. It is easy to read our Bibles, show up to church, maybe even attend a Bible study on occasion but obedience is hard especially if that obedience means enduring trials. Zerubbabel and Jeshua’s decision to be obedient to the call from God to rebuild the temple had an immediate response from those who were opposed to the rebuilding. it says right there in verse 3 “At that same time.” They didn’t have to wait for the trial to come find them it happened immediately and Tattenai just like Rehum and Shimshai the two oppressors who sent the letter to get the work stopped the first time, Tattenai shows up and begins to start problems all over again. However, there is a difference this time. Look again at verse 5. Ezra 5:5

Ezra 5:5 NKJV

But the eye of their God was upon the elders of the Jews, so that they could not make them cease till a report could go to Darius. Then a written answer was returned concerning this matter.

They chose obedience in spite of the consequences. Obedience to the Lord is in direct opposition to the world. And opposition to the world will always bring hardship. Are you ready to face the hardship of opposition to the world in order to follow Christ?

Lessons to Apply

Choose Obedience: As we bring this to a close we need to continue in obedience no matter how it might affect us. If our faith actually means something to us then we will look choose obedience over the pleasures of this world for we know as James 1 tells us.

James 1:2–3 NKJV

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.

Be Obedient even when it is hard and do so quickly. Don’t wait till you get caught in sin, don’t wait till it suits your timeframe. Do it now. Slow obedience is no obedience. It is worth it.

Be the Temple of God: Remember to always be working on building God’s temple. He no longer lives in a physical building here on earth; instead, Jesus sent The Holy Spirit to live within us.

1 Corinthians 3:16 NKJV

Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

We are now the temple of God, so we must be constantly putting our spiritual growth front and center in our lives. 

Repent and Believe: When we mess up, because you know we will, remember that God desires for us to come back to Him. He has never changed, He never will, His statutes and Laws are the same yesterday, today and forever. It is we who must change our ways and repent of our sins so that we can be reconciled to God, and we do so because of the sacrifice of Jesus. If we believe in Him and we repent of our sin we too can be saved.

Gospel

‌If you are here today and you know that you are not a believer, you have never asked Jesus into your heart, or maybe you did but haven’t ever allowed God to change you, then let me tell you how you can change that today. Your sin and your brokenness are there to point you to Jesus because only He can provide you with a real solution. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is that solution. Here is the Gospel: Jesus died on the cross for our sins, and because He did, we can ask for our sins to be forgiven, and the Bible says He will forgive them. Jesus is the Lamb of God who died for your sins. God sent Jesus so that Jesus might take the punishment we deserve so that we might return to God and be called His own.

Romans 10:9 “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” ‌It is just that easy. You can confess Him as your savior. If that is your desire today, you can say this prayer with me. Bow your heads. God holds out His outstretched hand for you. Are you going to continue in your sin, or are you going to take His Hand? He is calling, and all you have to do is believe.

‌It is just that easy. You can confess Him as your savior. If that is your desire today, you can say this prayer with me. Bow your heads.

‌Dear Lord, ‌I know that I’m a sinner. I’m sorry for my sin, and I ask you to forgive me. I believe you died for my sins and rose from the dead. I repent of my sins, and I ask you to come into my life and take control. I make a commitment to follow you, and I trust you as my Lord and Savior.

‌Friend, if you prayed that prayer today, I ask that you come and speak to me after the service.

‌Benediction: Romans 15:13 “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”